Local Beer

Learn how one local brewery incorporates history and artistry into its products, how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the hospitality industry, and why ABS supports small alcohol manufacturers. ABS Retail Operations Chief Sean Peters and Silver Branch Brewing Company’s Chief Operating Officer Brett Robison join host Jocelyn Rawat to explore how art, science and geography come together at Silver Branch Brewing Company to create Dr. Juicy IPA, Gnome for the Holidays saison, and Glass Castle pilsner, which are available in the brewery’s taproom and in ABS retail stores. Guests discuss the fast pace of change in the hospitality industry since 2020 and the ways ABS helps small businesses get a foothold in the competitive market.

Episode Transcript

Announcer (00:00):
Welcome to Spirited Discussions, a podcast by
Alcohol Beverage Services,exploring alcohol products,
trends, and policies inMontgomery County.

Jocelyn Rawat (00:12):
Thanks for joining us.
I'm your host, Jocelyn Rowat.
Today we're going to talk aboutlocally produced beer.
And for that, I'm joined by theDivision Chief for Retail
Operations at ABS, Sean Peters.
Sean has been with ABS forabout a year, joining us after a
more than 20-year career in thehospitality and alcoholic
beverages industry, ranging fromBaltimore to Charleston, South

(00:35):
Carolina.
Hi, Sean.

Sean Peters (00:37):
Hi, Jocelyn.

Jocelyn Rawat (00:38):
I'm also joined by Brett Robison, who is the
founder and COO of Silver BranchBrewing Company, which started
in the heart of downtown SilverSpring and has since expanded to
Warrington, Virginia.
Brett has been an integralplayer in the development of the
craft beer scene in the county,and he continues to be a strong
advocate in this localindustry.
Hi, Brett.

Brett Robison (00:58):
Hey, Jocelyn.

Jocelyn Rawat (01:00):
All right.
Well, thank you both forjoining us.
And Brett, I want to start withyou.
Silver Branch is well known inMontgomery County for its
excellent beer and it's for itsrelaxed vibe.
Can you tell us a little bitabout your concept and what
you're trying to bring to thecommunity?

Brett Robison (01:14):
Yeah, so we started really with a pretty big
focus on our tap roomoperations and creating a
community space for people tohang out.
And the original goal was tobring in the four major brewing
cultures under one roof so thatyou could kind of think about
it, you know, as like beer fromaround the world, but all in one

(01:35):
location.
And that's really like how thestory began, you know, and then
it's obviously evolved quite abit since then.

Jocelyn Rawat (01:42):
So what are those four beer cultures?

Brett Robison (01:44):
Yeah.
So we generally see them as uhthe four major brewing cultures
being um Belgium, the BritishIsles, Central Europe, and the
Americas.
And so you can think of CentralEurope as like Germany,
Chechia, Austria, Belgium iskind of, you know, a little bit
of a unique thing by itself, andthen the British Isles
obviously being, you know,Britain, Ireland, uh, Scotland,

(02:07):
uh, and then the Americas wouldencompass also like Canada and,
you know, Mexico and parts ofSouth America as well.

Jocelyn Rawat (02:15):
Okay, so I know you brought some beers with you,
um, and you're gonna walk usthrough them.
But before we do that, I I'msorry, we're audio only today,
and I wish everybody could seethese labels because they're
really beautiful.
Can you tell me a little bitabout the concept behind these
labels and how did you get hereand and what do they mean?

Brett Robison (02:30):
Yeah, so I'll start at a really high level,
and then hopefully everybody canstay with me.
But there's a concept thatSilver Branch naturally fell
into that is a pretty prominentconcept in the world of branding
and marketing for really anyentity like a brewery uh that

(02:50):
makes a bunch of different kindsof beer.
And that major concept is thedistinction between branded
house versus house of brands.
So a branded house is whereeverything looks a little bit
more uh templated and it's veryconsistent, and there's
certainly some merit and somevalue for creating brands that,

(03:12):
you know, whether it's thePilsner or the IPA, it looks
very similar.
It's kind of set up in asimilar template.
Uh, maybe the colors areslightly different.
But that was very much whereKraft Beer was a few years ago
with respect to creating labels.
Nowadays we've evolved muchmore into what people refer to
as like a house of brands.

(03:33):
And there's some psychologybehind that, but the but the
major takeaway is that a houseof brands allows you to drive a
little bit more towards thespirit of that potential beer
drinker or the person who mightgravitate or that might resonate
with them.
And it allows you to kind ofstand out on the shelf a little

(03:55):
bit better.
So two examples that I havehere, and uh, you know, one more
that I'll talk about is thinkof a house of brands as like a
stable, you know, and you havedifferent almost lines within
that.
And so one of our most popularones is Dr.
Juicy, and that's our IPA, andit's an anthropomorphic hop on a
surfboard, you know, and it'skind of like out there and it's

(04:18):
meant to like sort of have funwith it and kind of we see it as
playing into some of the spiritof maybe the IPA drinker.
It kind of represents a littlebit of what is prototypically
American in terms of, you know,it's like extreme, you know,
like even we did a label withthis same hop character where

(04:41):
they were chilling by the pooland relaxing, but they were
extremely relaxed, you know?
And so it's kind of just likeit's going hand in hand with
what we identify as somethingthat people look for when
they're searching for an IPAstyle.
They want big flavor, they wantstuff that's kind of going to

(05:02):
stand out, they want brightcolors.
And so our line of IPAs aredesigned to represent that and
kind of match where we think thedrinker might be.
Conversely, we have our kind ofmore classic-leaning, you know,
Central European styles witharchitecture that's influenced

(05:24):
by the cities that theyoriginate from.
You know, so you've got allthis fine detailed line work on
our Cloud9 uh German Hefeweizen,uh, and that is really meant to
sort of evoke the sense of whatit might be like to drink a
German wheat beer in Germany,right?
And uh more specifically, ifyou're in Munich, for example,

(05:47):
like what it would be like.
And so that's kind of anotherone of those like, you know,
lines of brands that we havewhere we make a lot of like
classic uh logges and such.
And then the last one, which uhwe may be most well known for
is our gnomes.
And we have a big one comingout this year, which you'll see

(06:07):
everywhere.
Uh, gnome for the holidays,that seems to be the most
popular.
Um, and it does, and that oneis really fascinating because
almost like Marvel has auniverse of characters.
We've built a universe ofgnomes, and the the goal of that
is to bring a style that's nearand dear to our hearts, which
is primarily Cezanne, but justwe can say Belgian beers

(06:28):
generally to a wider audiencebecause they see the can label,
they're like, oh my God, thesegnomes are so cute.
It's almost like I want to trythis.
And it gives us an opportunityto reach a beer drinker on a
style that, you know, is maybenot quite as popular in this day
and age, but they're so excitedabout the artwork that they
they kind of explore and theytry it and they're like, wow,

(06:49):
that's like delicious, and Ireally like this now.
And all of a sudden somebodyfigured out that they like
Saison or Whitbeer, you know.
So it's fun.
We kind of we try to have funwith it, but we put a uh we put
a lot of energy into our uh intoour labels.
And shout out to Chris, who'sour art director.
I think he does a very good jobwith it.

Jocelyn Rawat (07:09):
I think you sold me.
I I'm the customer who's gonnabuy the beer because it has a
gnome on it.
Uh that just speaks to me.
Okay, so you brought somesamples with us.
Can you walk us through thebeer that you brought?

Brett Robison (07:20):
Yeah, so so kind of tying onto the labels and
trying to make the labels matchnot only the flavor, but the
spirit of that brewing cultureand that origin and where it
came from.
Dr.
Juicy is a modern IPA.
Uh, a lot of people have atendency to want to classify
IPAs as like either it's a WestCoast or it's a hazy IPA.

(07:45):
And we are reticent to say thatit's anything like that because
we don't see it as neatlyfitting into one box.
We kind of characterize it asbeing driven by the flavor.
So it's got a really big,juicy, kind of tropical nose on
top, but then it's not maybequite as thick as a hazy, so

(08:06):
that you could drink a few moreof them.
And the way that we producethat is we use cutting edge
techniques.
So we use this liquid hopextract, which is called
incognito, and that helps usboth preserve the quality of the
beer on the shelf for longerand it gives it a more kind of
explosive aroma.
You know, you brewers weren'tdoing this not even five years

(08:27):
ago.
So when you're making an IPAand there's so much American
innovation, the way that weproduce it is trying to embrace
all of that innovation.
Another beer that we have withus today is Glass Castle, and
that's our really ultra classicCzech Pilsner.
You know, and I won't go downthis long rabbit hole, but what

(08:48):
is now Chechia was a bit of likea beer time capsule for the
about 80 years there.
You can look into history ifyou want to try to understand
what where I'm going with this.
But uh, so we believe the bestway to make Czech Pilsner is to
embrace all of these techniquesthat are maybe outdated in
modern brewing terms, but we'resomewhat dogmatic and we're

(09:10):
trying to give reverence to thetradition of how that beer is
produced.
So we'll use classic um CzechSaz hops, and we don't really
deviate from that.
We'll use reverse osmosis waterso that we can perfectly
recreate the water profile fromthe town of Pilson, which is
where Czech Pilsner originatesfrom.
We'll use a procedure called adecoction mash, which is a

(09:34):
labor-intensive, old school wayof making beer, but we do it
because part of the point is toacknowledge the sort of the
traditional character of thatbeer.
And that's why that one getsthe, you know, the city of and
the line work label, becausewe're we're evoking more of that
kind of tradition of styles.

Jocelyn Rawat (09:52):
I think that's great.
How history meets art meetsscience.
Um, so uh, Sean, does ABS carryall of the Silver Branch uh
beers in the 27 retail stores?

Sean Peters (10:02):
Yes, uh, as part of our robust uh local program, uh
all these products areavailable in our retail stores
and alongside some other greatMaryland-made beers, but Silver
Branch being one of thoseproducts that gets a lot of
recognition, a lot of searchingfor and people coming in to look
for.
So they they're prettyprominent in our features.

Jocelyn Rawat (10:23):
Yeah, I noticed that when I go to the stores.
Usually the first thing I seeis that nice big long row of all
the beautiful cans.
So tell us more about the LLCprogram.
How did it get started andwhere are we going with it?

Sean Peters (10:34):
So in 2018, uh ABS started ramping up our local
program uh to feature a few upand uh coming local
manufacturers uh in our retailstores.
We started small with onlyabout six businesses.
And that first year we camejust shy of about $70,000 in
retail revenue worth of productssold.

(10:55):
Small but measurable success,but ABS committed and saw the
potential in the program.
Uh, so we started increasingour allotments to the store and
growing the uh local program.
Uh main design of the programwas to allow local, small
suppliers to use ABS as astepping stone to gain
recognition and distribution asa local manufacturer and to use

(11:18):
the revenue from the countyorders to gain capital and
expand operations.
You know, some may even benoticed and picked up by a
national wholesaler.
So uh really kind of pushingout all the great things that
people can produce here inMontgomery County and giving
them that platform uh as part ofour support of the community
and the industry as a whole.

Jocelyn Rawat (11:38):
Okay, so you said that this program really
started to ramp up in 2018.
So I think we all know whathappened next, right?
The COVID-19 pandemic hit, um,and that affected a lot of
businesses, but especially thehospitality industry.
So what happened next?

Sean Peters (11:52):
Yes, that's right.
It was a, you know, sort ofwhat everyone says, that
watershed moment.
ABS then became a lifeline fora lot of local suppliers.
We added over a dozenadditional businesses to the
local program, increased ourmarketing efforts, and now our
local program features over 31manufacturers and posted nearly

(12:12):
$2 million in revenue last year.
Quite an exponential growth inthat.
Uh, most importantly, most ofthe businesses that entered the
program are still in businesstoday.
As uh local business employees,county residents contribute to
the local economy and putMontgomery County on the map as
a destination for beveragealcohol.

(12:34):
Uh, the success of thesebusinesses is everyone's
success, not only from that jobcreation standpoint, the revenue
standpoint, but really becomingthat great cultural
destination.
Yeah, just making us cool.

Jocelyn Rawat (12:47):
Yeah, yeah.
Okay.
So you said there are 31 localmanufacturers in the LLC
program.
How many of them are beer?

Sean Peters (12:54):
Uh currently there are about five existing uh beer
manufacturers in the program.
Uh the beer scene in MontgomeryCounty is is really fantastic,
uh, not only just within withinour program, but independent
ones that are still yet to enterthe program.
There are a lot of brewersmaking excellent products in the
county.
Uh, we're very, very lucky tohave uh the innovation and the

(13:17):
growth here as a homegrownindustry.

Jocelyn Rawat (13:20):
Brett, from your perspective as a small business
owner, how does the partnershipwith ABS work?

Brett Robison (13:26):
Honestly, we were one of those people that were
scrambling for a solution whenCOVID had happened because we
were still so taproom heavy.
And we reinvested in a bunch oftanks and shortly thereafter,
we were able to set up ourrelationship through the LLC
program with ABS, and that hasbeen instrumental to our kind of

(13:50):
growth and then us growing intoa bigger wholesale brand
overall.
Uh today, ABS represents oursingle largest customer.
And, you know, without gettingtoo much into the specifics, um,
Maryland as a state is doesn'treally have like a chain setup.
So it's really nice to be ableto work with one entity and know

(14:10):
that there's a pretty stableline of revenue coming in the
door every day.
It's sort of the wholesalebusiness isn't that different
from the bar business.
You got to have your regulars,right?
So I'd like to say that ABS isuh one of those very important
regulars.
So yeah, I mean, it's beenhuge.
It's been a great relationship.
And, you know, having evenbefore opening the brewery,
having worked in the county, Idefinitely think this is a great

(14:33):
time in Montgomery County.
And the the setup is prettyfavorable for a beer
manufacturer overall.

Jocelyn Rawat (14:39):
So Okay, I'd like to change uh gears with you a
little bit, Brett.
Um, you're also the chair ofthe Alcoholic Beverages Advisory
Board, which is tasked withmaking recommendations to the
county about ABS's enforcementand distribution functions from
the standpoint of efficiency,service, and convenience to the
public.
Can you tell me a little bitmore about the board's work?

Brett Robison (15:00):
Yeah, so we we meet uh once every other month a
year, and uh that board iscomprised of a few other
individuals, and it's a goodopportunity for the senior
management here at ABS and otherentities in the county more
generally to kind of providestatus updates on what's going
on in the county, what we whatresidents need to be looking out

(15:22):
for with respect to regulationandor enforcement.
We get an update from thepolice chief as well.
And it it what it does for me,but is really helpful, I think,
for everybody, is it creates aprocess whereby we can
understand what's really goingon, you know, and it and it
helps everybody for me.
I see the progress that'shappening.

(15:42):
And I've been sitting on theboard for a few years now, and
it really is interesting to seethe way that these things are
developing.
And and I just, you know, Ithink uh this isn't a shill.
I'm not here to shill, but I'mI'm impressed with an
organization this size, thecontinued progress that's made.
And I think I wish everybodycould attend the AB A B

(16:05):
meetings, and technically thereis a public comment section.
So it's open to the public.
Anybody is welcome to attend.
Um, and if they were, I'm surethey'd also be impressed to
learn everything that goes onand sort of how the ABS plays a
pretty big role in the continuedsuccess of Montgomery County
overall.

Jocelyn Rawat (16:23):
Yeah, well, I'm glad you mentioned that the
meeting is open to the public.
Um, you know, alcohol beverageservices is a part of Montgomery
County government and thereforeis uh subject to the Open
Meetings Act.
And all um meetings, boardmeetings are open to the public,
including the AlcoholicBeverages Advisory Board and the
Board of LicensedCommissioners, which uh grants
licenses to local businesseslike restaurants and specialty

(16:46):
venues and beer and wine stores.
Okay, so that's it for ustoday.
Um thank you, Sean Peters andBrett Robison, for participating
in today's spirited discussion.

Sean Peters (16:56):
Thank you for having us.
Yeah, I really appreciate it.

Jocelyn Rawat (16:58):
If there's a topic you would like us to cover
on the podcast, email us atabs.spirited discussions at
Montgomery CountyMD.gov.
And thanks for listening.

Announcer (17:08):
Alcohol Beverage Services is the alcohol
wholesaler of beer, wine, andspirits for Montgomery County,
and it operates neighborhoodretail stores.
ABS also manages alcohollicensing, enforcement, and
education for more than 1,000businesses.
Its profits are used to pay forresident services that

(17:29):
otherwise would be funded bycounty tax dollars.