An American (Brewing Company) Tale

Starting a successful brewery like American, isn’t enough for Neil Fallon. He had already picked an underserved location, started with an iconic head brewer, and grown his business and beer portfolio in just four short years. His brewery now has a fervent following with a constantly sold out mug club. He’s even done a major league collaboration with Celebrity Chef Simon Majumdar.

It sounds like American Brewing is doing just fine…right?  But no great story would ever end there.

Did The Godfather roll credits after the restaurant scene? Did Rocky IV end after Apollo died? Did The Santa Clause fade to black after Santa fell off the roof? No. Because if they had, we wouldn’t have been given such classic stories.

Neil is a former home brewer with an eye for business. In a time when the brewing industry’s Voldemort is snatching up craft breweries like E.T. with Reece’s Pieces, Neil has a different idea: He wants to expand his beverage business.

Which is where we join our hero. Act II begins with a growing brewery; a new head brewer with a penchant for science and numbers; a partnership with the local minor league hockey team; an IPO (ABRW); and most recently, the acquisition of a Kombucha brand. American Brewing Company is driving their plot towards beverage industry domination.

The  recent acquisition of California-based bucha…live kombucha may sound strange for a brewery in Washington, but it makes a lot of sense. Kombucha is a tea that is made by boiling tea and sugar, then fermenting it with cultures. While it is a tea and contains probiotics and other fancy sounding things, it does tend to be alcoholic, and therefore is closer to beer than you first think. And if you are working on building a beverage empire, why not branch out a bit and diversify your portfolio?

Not to be overshadowed by that acquisition, American Brewing is now being run by a future star. Adam Frantz came from the Redmond-based Mack & Jack’s – one of the regions most well-known breweries – with a love of numbers and a passion for science. He earned a degree in marine biology, before he and his wife sold everything and travelled the world for over a year. We will flashback to Adam’s past in a later piece.

Adam told me he wanted to try new things, create a barrel program, and play around with farmhouse ales – which received great feedback at last week’s Great American Beer Festival. He has forged a relationship with a distillery across the street to create unique distilled spirits from Breakaway IPA. He allows his team to try new things and has started a “Test Batch Tuesday” in order to gauge customer interest in beers they are toying with. He’s a man with talent and ideas.

Future Acts include a potential distribution other markets, more collaborations, and the release of Pale-gator Session Pale Ale.

Neil, Adam, and the rest of the team at American Brewing Company have built a thriving brewery and are telling an amazing story with their beer. And if the sequels are as encouraging as their current releases, we can all expect bigger things from up in Edmonds.