P A L AT E
Pedro Tap House, the brand's
latest venture. Top: A collaboration
between Yardstick Coffee and Pedro
Brewcrafters resulted in the Space Out
Coffee Stout, which carries hints of
Yardstick's Golden Ticket flagship blend
The night was still young. People of all stripes were
coming and going - friends, guests, people from the
industry. A newcomer excitedly approached Nadine
with this recycled mineral water bottle with something
inside in hand, asking her to smell it. Nadine gushed as
she did, eyes lighting up. Later, Jaime popped back out,
excitedly asking Nadine if she has tasted whatever was
in that bottle. Shop talk ensued, and I got this feeling
that I witnessed the continuing birth of something really
special. Which, Nadine said with a wink, I shouldn’t
really talk about for now.
I asked how this venture has affected their
communities in its many forms - their immediate
families, the area where the plant is physically located,
and the craft beer scene in the country.
“Our families are actually invested in the brewery,
they believed in our crazy idea enough to become our
partners,” Nadine shared. “At times they even ask ‘Hey,
do you need help? I don’t mind putting some labels on
bottles’ and we go ‘...what?’ There were times where we
really needed to rush on surprise orders, and my sister
was like, ‘Hey, I can make boxes’. We never had to ask for
help; thankfully they’re the first one to offer it.”
Going for San Pedro, Laguna was a no-brainer,
from their perspective. “We went for San Pedro because
it's near enough Manila. Jill (Gerodias Borja, managing
director) grew up there, and her family had businesses
there, too. There weren’t many warehouses of that
size for that price in Manila, and the utility rates are
lower. It matters a lot when you use a thousand liters
of water at a time for six fermenting tanks. The area
where the brewery is is slightly industrial but still have
people living around; they were pretty curious when
we were moving in with all the tanks, asking if we
were going to make wine. Surprisingly, you don’t need
a lot of people to brew beer; for our system maybe two
people can do it. Other than that we’re a pretty lean
organization. We have an assistant brewer, a general
manager, a sales administrator, an all-around person and
someone who services the keg customers.”
“Does it smell when you brew?” I asked.
“It doesn’t smell like beer; it smells awesome when
we’re brewing - sweet, biscuit-y aroma from the malt,
then herbal, citrusy when you put in the hops.”
The craft beer scene now is going through very
interesting times, Nadine opines. One reason for
building the taphouse was to support the craft beer
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