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| Courtesy of Reuben's Brews |
Continued growth spurs new hires for taproom and brewing team
Highlights 2017 for the brewery include:
- Industry-leading growth in Washington State. In IRI data for the six months ending 6/30/17, Reuben's Brews was growing at 104 percent in dollar sales - the highest growth rate among the top 30 brands in Washington.
- Production is on track to increase by more than 50 percent compared to 2016.
- A Pacific Northwest distribution footprint has been built by adding Northern Oregon, Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho.
- The brewery has continued to win awards for its brews, with more than 30 awards received in 2017 so far.
- Numerous new beers have been brewed, including Reuben’s Crush Series, the release of Pilsner in cans, and the launch of the annual Hop Idol Pro-Am competition and release.
Given all of this, Reuben's Brews needed to bolster its existing staff by adding key leadership positions and promotions to add strength and depth to its already amazing team.
- Grace Robbings, Co-Founder:
Although she’s always had a hand in things behind the scenes, Grace Kim
Robbings (aka Reuben’s Mama), officially joined the team earlier this
summer. She left her teaching position at Bellevue College to focus more
on the business side of the brewery. She’s managing the taproom and
administrative teams, running communications, and building a
sustainability program at the brewery. She will continue her work on tax
compliance and running the brewery’s charitable programs, in particular
the Thank You Thursday program
- James McDermet, Head Brewer: James joined the company last April and came to Reuben’s from Fremont Brewing. He has been using his experience at a fast-growing brewery to help Reuben’s Brews’ continued growth with a focus on brewing the highest-quality beers. Leading production, he’s working closely with co-founder Adam Robbings, along with Mike Pfeiffer and the rest of the brewing team.
- Mike Pfeiffer, Production Manager:
As the brewery has grown Mike’s role has also grown. Mike helped open
the brewery – he literally built large parts of the original brewery, he
now regularly brews production batches while also managing the
production schedule to ensure the right beers are brewed and packaged in
the right format. Not an easy task with five distributors and 23
fermenters!
- Thor Stoddard, New Beer Manager: Previously the taproom manager, Thor now helps founder Adam Robbings manage new beers, particularly with the barrel program and the development of the sour and brett program. Thor has a hand in the brewing process, brewing small batch beers and production size batches, while also experimenting with infusions and the cask program.
In addition to these leadership changes, Reuben’s has further strengthened its taproom team and brewery team. Regulars to the taproom may have noticed some new faces with team members Dave Patania, Jess Keller, Matt Ellis and Ashley Hermosillo. Many of these new hires were (and still are) regular customers of the taproom, they’ve just shifted roles! And in the brewery, Khris Lloyd recently joined in a cellar role, and Nigel Lassiter has joined part time too.
About Reuben’s Brews
After the birth of their first child Reuben, Adam and Grace embarked on a mission to brew bloody good beer. Originally from the UK, Adam turned a passionate hobby into a family-run brewery crafting nationally and internationally recognized beers in a wide variety of styles. Since opening in 2012, Reuben’s has won awards for its beers around the world including at the Great American Beer Festival, the World Beer Cup, the US Open and was named Mid-Sized Brewery of the Year at the 2015 Washington Beer Awards. Find Reuben’s Brews in Western Washington and at its taproom located at 5010 14th Ave NW in Ballard, open 7 days a week. For more information, visit www.reubensbrews.com or follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@reubensbrews).
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