From Maine, With Love - An Allagash Brewing Podcast

S1 Episode 10: A Trip to the Warehouse

• Allagash Brewing Company • Season 1 • Episode 9

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To make beer, you need stuff. And our friends at the Allagash warehouse know a lot about sourcing and storing all of that stuff. In this episode, you’ll hear from Dave, Mitch, and Pete about: the oddest things we happen to store in our warehouse, how we check and maintain the quality of all of our ingredients, how we unload big old barrels from a truck, and so much more.


Brett Willis:

So this is episode 10 from Maine with love an Allagash brewing podcast, where we talk about beer, our community here in Maine and things that generally make us happy. This is a super fun episode. Uh, we were talking to, uh, three of our friends from over at Warren avenue, our warehouse, uh, where we have so many different materials, uh, and just a lot of interesting stuff, how we handle barrels, how we move them off the truck,

Liz Wilson:

How we throw them on mattresses very safely,

Brett Willis:

Very safely, actually safely.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. Yeah.

Brett Willis:

You know, grain, quality of the grain that we're getting in quality of all the materials we're getting in, how long it takes to, uh, you know, how far in advance we are working to make sure that we have everything we need.

Liz Wilson:

They're logistical wizards. I would say a hundred percent is a key takeaway that I have from that shop. Yeah.

Brett Willis:

Yeah. And so you might even hear what the oddest thing we have in our warehouse is actually you will cuz we asked that question. So if that sounds good to you give it a listen. Uh, we had a great time. Uh, so with me today, I'm Brett Willis. I've Liz Wilson here, also on the marketing team. Hello? Hello. Hi Liz. Uh, and Pete Denoia our senior manager of supply chain, warehouse operations. Dave Perry, our warehouse operations specialist,

Dave Perry:

Howdy!

Brett Willis:

And Mitch Turgeon warehouse manager. So we're gonna be talking about a fundamental part of how we make beer and that part, uh, takes place in the Allagash warehouse. And so there's so much of what goes into, uh, what goes on in the warehouse, ordering materials, storing materials, quality control, shipping beer, and these, uh, three will be able to tell us quite a bit more. Um, so I'm really excited, but before we get into the warehouse, I have some other questions and I'm gonna start with Dave. Yes. Dave, what is your preferred strike in bowling? Is it a normal strike or is it like a, a Brooklyn strike or is it one where the messenger comes across and does

Dave Perry:

A little, I mean, as long as they're going down, I'm taking a strike anyway, I can get it. Uh, I like a Brooklyn strike. Most people get down on a Brooklyn strike. I love a Brooklyn strike. Like you think that it's a terrible shot and then you get'em all down. It's a great feeling.

Brett Willis:

I'll I'll let everyone know what a Brooklyn strike is. Yeah. For normal strike is when, well, first you have to go to Brooklyn. No, you, you travel, you shoot the ball. And when it's a normal strike, it hits, uh, between what I looked, I had to look this up before, it's the one in the three pen. Right. And so Brooklyn is when it actually goes and crosses the middle of the lane and hits the opposite two pins. And so it kind of, it just kind of knocks'em over from the other side. Mm. Uh, so Dave, I used to use a lane like a lane ball, a ball that you like, that you get at the bowling lanes. I didn't have my own ball. And like that was for some reason, the way that I could get strikes was with Brooklyn strikes. So I'd actually shoot for them, which is not a good strategy. Uh, I learned,

Dave Perry:

Nope, Hey, as long as they go down, they go down. Uh, but yeah, usually I'm aiming for the right side, the normal strike right. Between the one and the three. But if they're ending up on the left side of the head pen, I'm, I'm gonna keep shooting that shot until it stops working.

Pete DeNoia:

<laugh> you still using those gutter guards or have you graduated from those<laugh>

Dave Perry:

I usually try and grab the, uh, the little, uh, slide for the ball before I get nice and spiny and then write down. No, I, uh,

Brett Willis:

Dinosaur-shaped.

Dave Perry:

Yeah. Again, as long as they go down.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. Yes.

Brett Willis:

Yes. All right, Pete. Uh, so in another life you worked for a company that makes or made cookies makes cookies. Do you happen to have a favorite cookie?

Pete DeNoia:

Ooh, that's a good one. Um, I did, I actually spent a little time in my previous life at a company called Nabisco and, um, you know, I would probably say Oreo, I mean, who can't go wrong with the twist dunk that, uh, motions that we always did, you know, I'd say the Oreo.

Brett Willis:

Great. I, a little, uh, uh, lore for myself, you know, the Costco, uh, Oreo sized, like the, where they have the sleeves you could pull out. Oh yeah, yeah. I think it was 10 or of sleeve. I don't think I actually know it was 10 hours of sleeve. Cause I would literally take a sleeve out when I was in high school and playing a lot of sports and I could do this and I would just eat 10 Oreos. That was my serving size. Mm. So

Pete DeNoia:

We always had a slogan. We'll make more. So, uh, we appreciate your, uh, your business that's for sure.

Brett Willis:

I helped it. Yes. Awesome. All right, Mitch, what I know, I know you play golf. So what is your favorite type of club to hit? Are you a fan of driver? You irons, wedges putter.

Mitch Turgeon:

Yeah. It's a tough question. Uh, probably depends on the day, cuz I'm not good enough where I'm consistent with the same clubs all the time. Sure. So some days the driver is my favorite club. Some days the putter is my favorite club, uh, a club. Um, but I would say, you know, definitely the driver feels the best when you're hitting it well, like, um, you know, it can make for a long day on the golf course when the driver is not, um, your friend<laugh>, um, spend a lot of time in the woods, looking for your golf ball.

Brett Willis:

Liz, you a golfer?

Liz Wilson:

No, nor a bowler. So, um, oh jeez. I can't add much, but I'm an avid cookie eater, so nice. Um, I just had a couple Oreos before this. Um, so I'm feeling good, but I feel like before we jump really in Brett, you mentioned Warren Ave at the top of the show. Yes. Can Dave, Pete or Mitch explain what Warren Ave is? Because I bet a lot of people don't know that the warehouse is actually not directly at the brewery.

Mitch Turgeon:

Sure. So, um, yeah, like you said, Warren Ave is, is uh, where we're located, which is about two miles down the road from the brewery. Um, you know, we have a 70,000 square foot facility here and, you know, basically house, most of the material that the brewery uses, um, here at, at Warren Ave and, uh, we truck the material back and forth from, from Warren Ave to the brewery.

Pete DeNoia:

I think the big thing too about, um, just the fact that we're not on set at the brewery, excuse me. It just takes a lot of coordination as to what, you know, what goes on each and every day to Mitch's point the, um, receiving of inbound goods, the outbound shipments that take place and then the back and forth that we do to support the and day logistics. It's, it's really about just being turnkey.

Brett Willis:

Didn't we win some award or haven't we gotten some recognition as being like wholesale. I feel like there's a big kudos due to, to your team. Number one, what was, yeah, number one. What was, was it Tamarron? Is that what it is?

Pete DeNoia:

It was Tamarron. It was and, uh, just, uh, an annual survey of our wholesalers. And, uh, we were very fortunate to be recognized as one of the top supply chains, uh, based on the survey that they did. So we learned a lot from it. We we're, we're excited by it, but we also know that there's always a lot of work to be done each and every day to get the best beer out out there and support them. So yeah, it's, it was cool.

Brett Willis:

Very cool.<laugh> so sorry. I have a question that's kind of, it's a right in line with that. So let's say everything's going great at the warehouse. Like it's running smoothly. What would you say? The three of you are the things that are going right to allow for that to happen?

Pete DeNoia:

That's a great question. Nice. Dave, Mitch, you want to keep track of that?

Dave Perry:

Sure. Uh, I mean, I'm first shift, so making sure that I got a nice fresh cup of coffee in the morning for everybody is key. I think that that definitely helps smooth things over for everybody to start the day

Liz Wilson:

<laugh>

Brett Willis:

<laugh>.

Dave Perry:

Um,

Mitch Turgeon:

Absolutely.

Dave Perry:

Yes. Um, yeah, I do a lot of shipping and receiving, so trucks showing up taking care of those in a timely manner. That way we don't fall behind, or we have a schedule that we try to keep to too. So trying to keep that all in order is very important, especially for timing things up when things need to get there.

Mitch Turgeon:

Yeah. I think the, the biggest thing for me, you know, when things are going smoothly is, um, you know, I kind of think of it as the brewery, as our customer. And so we wanna make sure, um, they have what they need when they need it. Um, so the biggest thing for me is, you know, if I don't hear anything, um, you know, they're not emailing us, Hey, we need this last minute or, Hey, we're running out of this. That's usually a good sign. That usually means that, you know, the, the folks who are driving the trucks are on top of things. Um, we're, we're driving the trucks in a timely manner and, and delivering what they need. Um, so basically as long as I'm not hearing anything, um, from the brewery like, oh, we need something ASAP or running out of this, it's usually means things are going pretty well up. And, uh, and I'm happy

Brett Willis:

<laugh> that reminds me so much of like it where it's like our IT, you never notice when it is going great. And then it's only when things are going down so much appreciated.

Pete DeNoia:

It it's interesting because during the, uh, pandemic, one thing Rob said to, you know, pretty much all of us was don't run out of beer. And, um, I think that challenge was taken on by everybody. Um, the one thing I would add to that, we are really fortunate that we have great suppliers that we work with and, you know, some of our challenges can become their challenges and, or vice versa. So I think the success of what we do here, really a lot of it starts with them and making sure that they have what they need to provide us with what we need. So it, it really works nice from an external perspective, but certainly as Dave and Mitch described from an internal perspective as well,

Brett Willis:

I would just wanted to follow up quickly too, like on the suppliers. Like, I guess it's kind of a later question, I think, but like the thought of, so what sort of suppliers do we work with? Like, you know, what sort of inputs are there for the brewing process?

Pete DeNoia:

You know, that's a, that's a, that's a really good question. Um, we have suppliers that, you know, truthfully span the globe. I mean, we get some of our, our bottles in from Europe. We get, um, bottles in from Canada, we get cans, we get grains domestically. Um, we get some of our, um, packaging, believe it, not from Italy. So lead times are important with our suppliers and we work very closely with them, but, um, it really does vary across the, the globe a lot, obviously domestically. And I would say very close in, you know, the state of Maine, we do a lot of work with different suppliers from a truly, from a grain perspective. And, um, we're proud of what they do for us and we're proud of what we do for them. So it's, uh, they keep us on our toes, but we work really closely with them on a day in day out basis.

Liz Wilson:

Awesome. And then I think just to sort of follow up on that, can you talk a little bit about how the quality of beer comes into play at the warehouse? So any of that grain, sensory or quality sensors and trucks, or sort of, what does that look like on, on your end? Um, before things actually head over to the

Mitch Turgeon:

Brewery, we definitely have all sorts of QC checks and, um, you know, just like you bringing up a couple of'em like, oh yeah, it's kind of, you know, when you start peeling it back, it's, there's a lot, but you know, certainly like you said, starting out with incoming grain, uh, you know, we, we do QC checks on all the batches of grain that we get in to make sure, you know, the quality is, um, is where it's supposed to be. There isn't any issues, um, which, you know, has happened in the past. And luckily we've caught in some, so, uh, you know, that's great that we do that, uh, to QC checks, um, you know, with lab beer, um, you know, every batch of beer is tasted on a panel before, um, before it's released to the public. And, you know, part of my job is I help kind of, um, the lab over at the brewery, um, kind of archive the beer and, um, when they make the requests, we send that over and, and then also like do follow up checks as need be. So we store all the lab beer in the, in our warm room as well, um, to, to, you know, something that Dave's can speak to, which is, you know, dock checks.

Dave Perry:

Sure. Yeah. Um, yeah, part of, to touch on something that Mitch said earlier, um, treating the brewery almost like, uh, there are customer, um, everything that goes over there has either been checked to make sure that it is good to go. We rework the kegs to make sure that the pallets are good enough to be worked over there. And there are no flying kegs around at the brewery. You know, that's the last thing we want, but the grain is checked right, as it comes in to make sure that that's up to our standards before it makes it to the brewery. So the brewers don't have to worry about, you know, X, Y, and Z on why, why is this pallet all screwed up? Why is this grain leaking? You know, they don't usually have to deal with any of that. Hopefully we've gotten that as it's come off the truck or while it's in our warehouse. Um, but yeah, in terms of shipping trucks, there's, we have a whole process of checking that the order has everything that we need on it and making sure that everything has shipped properly on their truck, making sure that their truck is up to our standards. There aren't holes in divots in the, in the truck. So when people are unloading and unloading, we don't want our product to get damaged. So there's a lot of checking and double checking and triple checking to make sure that things are, um, you know, up to our standards, which are, you know, don't damage cases, everything that should ship is shipped. Um, so yeah, quality is definitely at the forefront of our thinking.

Brett Willis:

Yeah. And one part of one specific part, I feel like that I thought was just so interesting was that grain sensory panel of like, you know, how do you check grain? And so it's yeah. I mean, does, do one of you wanna speak to like literally what that is?

Mitch Turgeon:

Federico is our grain master over here. So he's, he does a lot of our QC checks when they come in. Basically every time we receive in grain, um, and it's a new batch, we'll set one aside and, you know, a lot of it are in 50 pound bags. So he'll just cut a little hole, take a sample. And we check for, you know, you do a visual inspection, make sure there's no pests or anything in there that the, um, you know, they're not sprouting or they don't look weird or the colors off. Um, we have samples of basically what grain should look like. And then also, you know, we'll do we get 2000 pound super sacks of grain as well, which, um, you know, we have the, the boom stick I think, is what they call it, which is like a large, um, stick that they'll, they'll actually open up the super sack from the top and stick the stick, the boom stick down inside. And it just collects a sample all throughout the, uh, the bag and, and Federico will also check the, um, like again, the same thing, the moisture content and stuff like that to make sure, um, you know, the grain is not, you know, high moisture, which can cause issues in the brewing process. You might have some issues with even potential grain storage, um, like capabilities or even potential like comp, like we've had an inch situation in the past where potentially like grain was starting to go bad very quickly because the moisture content was so high. So all of those processes are kind of in place. Um, for good reasons. We've found stuff over the years in make, in ensuring that the products we're getting in are, are, uh, okay to use.

Brett Willis:

That's awesome. Did you like steep it and sip, sip it too? Is that right, Dave? You wanna speak to that?

Dave Perry:

Yeah, I was gonna bring that up. Yeah. Weekly. We do a, uh, like a malt sensory, um, Keith who works over here, he, uh, yeah, he's in charge of all of that. And we have like random samplings, so he'll just take some grain that we have lying around and he'll steep it for us. And we go to draft labs, great little application to, um, fill out all of the, all of the information about what we're seeing and what we're tasting and what it looks like. And, uh, that all goes back to how we describe how this grain is gonna taste in our beer. Uh, I'm sure you, you guys can speak to how those sensory things are so important for, uh, you know, what the consumer can expect when we use those grains.

Brett Willis:

It's like a little grain tea.

Liz Wilson:

<laugh>

Brett Willis:

Exactly.

Dave Perry:

Yeah.

Brett Willis:

A little grain tea. Pete, you're gonna love this question. Could you tell me about the focus on safety in the warehouse?

Pete DeNoia:

That's a great question. Um, you know, we, obviously everything that the teams described, we take safety very seriously. It's, it's at the, you know, front and center of everything that we do. We have been really fortunate over the years. Um, we've gone over 2200 days without a lost time injury. And I say that because it's really a team effort of, you know, kinda how we view safety, um, the processes and procedures that we have from a training perspective. We don't just allow someone to jump on a forklift or get behind the wheel of a truck. Um, there's different aspects of the training requirements that we, you know, look for. We, we wanna make sure folks possess, um, I'm wearing a high vis vest as you can see. Yeah. And, um, I didn't have one on the other day. And two folks out in the warehouse called me out and said, Hey, what are you doing out in the warehouse without a high vis vest? So, I mean, that's kind of cool. It's, it's the, the atmosphere that we work in. And, um, it really makes sure that we have each other's back each and every day. So yeah, safety's really important to us and not only here at Warren avenue, but throughout the brewery. Um, you'll see, there's not a moment that doesn't go by that, that people are either talking about safety or making sure that we're safe in a particular, um, function that we're doing or an application that we're working on.

Liz Wilson:

Yes. It's like a, a neon dream over there. I feel like it's, uh, it's good. And it's helpful to find, to be able to find you all amongst the sea of cans and other things over there. So, um,

Pete DeNoia:

The can city, sea of cans. I love that.<laugh>

Brett Willis:

Yeah,

Liz Wilson:

That's great. Yeah. So I think sort of going back to sort of the logistics and the day and the, you know, day in and day out, um, how far in advance are we working to make sure we have what we need to brew beer? And I know there was probably, there's probably many answers to this question and I'm sure now is longer than it's ever been if I was willing to wager a bet, but, um, can you talk a little bit about the supply chain and just how far in advance we're ordering things. I know, you know, everything from getting cans in to the, for grain recently. So, uh, yeah, just talk to us a little bit about that.

Pete DeNoia:

You know, it's interesting. The, um, pandemic has put supply chains probably upside down and, and we've had our challenges certainly throughout the last couple years, I would say Liz, that, you know, our relationship with our suppliers has really is very, very strong and has really given us the ability to look out in advance as to what the needs are that, that they need from the perspective of getting us the materials and the packaging and everything else that goes along with it. But also our internal processes. We have a very robust, um, beer to market pipeline. We talk about the inception of a beer to Ollie, to getting it to market, as well as a very robust, um, twice a week forecast, cross functional meeting that we have with various members across from various departments. Um, our suppliers have been tremendous throughout the pandemic. They've really helped us to understand how far out they need from a lead time perspective. Some are five weeks, some need some forecasts that are 14 weeks out. So today's, you know, into June, we're talking to some of our suppliers about orders that we need in October, November, December right now. So we have to look out pretty far to ensure that we have what we need to brew the beer, not only from a packaging perspective, but from a raw material perspective. So staying very close with our suppliers is, is critical. Um, also from the perspective of whether it's a keg a can or a bottle, um, we need to make sure that we have every type of packaging ingredient for not only something that we're carrying today, but something that we be may be introducing down the line. So relationships are very healthy and, and we really work hard to make sure that they have what they need so we can have what we we need when we need it.

Liz Wilson:

No, I, I think, uh,<laugh>,

Mitch Turgeon:

I'll say Pete's being pretty modest. Yeah. Pete's being pretty modest there. I would say, um, you know, just, just to build on that, I think Pete and the rest of the supply chain crew, um, you know, Donny, Don and Dave, um, the amount of work like Pete alluded to with the pandemic, the amount of work they put in just, um, making sure, um, we have the materials when we need it. Um, securing them. I mean, over the past few years, it's almost been the supply chain, like yeah. Hits different things at different times and their ability to kind of, um, pivot when they need to, whether it was, you know, like Pete alluded to like, um, lead times on certain products just happened to keep expanding with, you know, last minute. Um, and he, his ability to forecast that out to, you know, there was a, a huge demand on, uh, securing freight, um, and, and having to the struggles of dealing with getting trucks in here to ship out our products and the amount of work that took, um, in, in making sure that we could make ensure that our wholesalers weren't running out of beer to just, just, you know, making sure during the pandemic, um, acquiring supplies for our, our staff, you know, to continue to work during the pandemic was a struggle. Um, so that whole supply chain crew really deserves a lot of credit, I think. Um, um, obviously it was not easy for anybody to work through the pandemic, but certainly the supply chain challenges, uh, did not make things easy. So I think I just, just, I just wanted to say something, I think Pete was being a little modest there,

Pete DeNoia:

It's a total team effort. Trust me,

Liz Wilson:

We, um, Brett and I both work closely on that beer to market team. And I think there is so much organization that goes into that entire process. I'm so continually impressed by that. And I, you know, I think we've talked a lot about our inbound supplies, but getting Mitch to your point, our beer out there into our wholesaler's warehouse and on the shelves for people to enjoy and making sure there's not out of stocks and that the beer is fresh and high quality. Yeah. I've been lucky enough to be able to work with Don on, on, you know, understanding what beer goes, where, and, you know, that is just an incredible process that, you know, he, he keeps organized too. So, um, yeah, I, a lot of work goes into to that aspect of getting the beer on the shelves

Pete DeNoia:

And, you know, Liz you're bring a really good point. I mean, we ship beer from Maine to, I call it Maine to Miami, basically. Yeah. You know, Maine to Florida, um, go to every state in between, go out to, um, go out to Chicago, Wisconsin, California, um, having the right beer at the right time at the right spot is critical. And, um, this team, they, they do it flawlessly. And I think at, at, at times it's like transparent to the, the customer and the, the moment of truth of reaching at the shelf and, and finding the beer being in the restaurant, our, our, our beers on tap. So a lot of work goes into this and the new thing is the cross functional teamwork that people work on each and every day really is the secret of our success.

Brett Willis:

Totally. Uh, that's like kind of, what's been going through my head during this whole conversation is thinking of that, that sort of transparency and communication that we have, you know, in the warehouse between the warehouse totally. And the brewery, like, you know, everyone is very aware of what is happening in other places and in a deliberate way, you know, we have these meetings set up to have the conversations that wouldn't happen otherwise so that you can know all this stuff. And I will also say just having peered into the window of like logistics, it like breaks my brain, trying to think of all the different things you guys have to coordinate. Like, I feel like there's the, there like different analogies for it, but it makes me think of like, I'm a fish who would be trying to walk if I was trying to do that. Like, I just ha feel like that's not how my brain works. So kudos to all of you for doing it so well, cuz it's, it's uh, critical. It's crazy. So we had last year, our first, uh, paid warehouse intern. Um, and I just am, I'm interested to just talk to you guys. Cause I think all of you kind of had, uh, different roles in it. I know Dave, you were, you were a mentor mm-hmm<affirmative> um, but yeah, if you just speak more about that, that, uh, paid intern experience, I just am interested to hear, uh, from you guys about it.

Dave Perry:

Sure. Uh, I can start. Yeah. Um, yeah, last summer boy was it a busy summer and uh,

Brett Willis:

<laugh>

Dave Perry:

You know, uh, we had a couple of new faces at the warehouse, so it was definitely a learning curve cuz be prior to that, I got hired before COVID right happened and there were no other new hires until these two came in last summer. So I was excited to not be the new guy. I was like, all right, let's go<laugh> um, so yeah, to have the opportunity to work with like Langaba, our paid intern, uh, who we had last summer, who was still with us now, currently, uh, was amazing. I mean, it was just so good to have a complete different perspective of warehousing. I had come from a working in a warehouse, I had a little bit of experience, so I kind of knew what to expect, but he came in really fresh, just didn't really know our beer at all. Didn't really know the warehousing or the beer industry. And um, he just was so, and still is just so, uh, positive and uh, like just comes to work with such a great attitude, um, ready to learn, um, which fits the Allagash vibe. Uh, since I got here, just everybody's so interested to hear what you're up to and what you did, what, you know, what have you been up to? What do you like to do? Um, so yeah, it's been a great experience. It's been great to have'em on the team.

Brett Willis:

That's awesome. And just so just to make it clear, we hired Langaba after he's so he is not still an intern. He's actually a full-time employee now<laugh>

Pete DeNoia:

Yes, he is. Dave did a great, uh, job training him and um, yeah, I mean, it was supposed to be a summer position and after not, we didn't have to have a very detailed conversation. It was very clear that um, Langaba needed to be, uh, an uh, a great member of this team and has worked diligently to really learn the rope. So what we do over here, so yeah, he's, he's doing great.

Brett Willis:

That's awesome.

Liz Wilson:

I don't know, Brett, these next questions. They're kind of fun.

Brett Willis:

Getting, getting some different territory.

Pete DeNoia:

It's true.

Liz Wilson:

Nice. We're getting so the warehouse is rather large as we mentioned, 70,000. Is that what you said? 70,000 square feet. That's big. It's a big warehouse. So what is some of the oddest stuff we have in our warehouse? Does anything take the cake for like the oddest thing you've come across?

Pete DeNoia:

Oh boy. I'm gonna pass.<laugh>.

Mitch Turgeon:

Well, we do have like one section of the warehouse where we just kind of collect a lot of things. I kind of refer it as the junk drawer of Allagash brewing company. It just seems like everything you name it is in there. Um, I found myself scavenging in there plenty of times for stuff. I don't know. It's that's like a treasure trove of things too. We've got, um, some old brewing equipment back there. There's like an old, louder tone and an old Whirlpool. That's just kind of hanging out back there. Oh, um, the Pinewood Derby track is a good one. Um, we used to do, uh, some company parties and we had a tradition every year where, you know, we would build, uh, Pinewood Derby cars and we have like a real track. Um, that's pretty legit. Um, and you know, race him on that track. That was always a good time. That's that's stowed away over there.

Brett Willis:

So this one, this one, this one might be a little selfish. I don't know. I, I just wanted to ask it, but we've been hearing about, uh, barbecues at the warehouse. Ooh. What's the deal with the, with barbecues over there? How you get an invite to one of those.

Liz Wilson:

How you get old brekky sandwich. How you tell'em all about it,

Pete DeNoia:

Oh man. You just have to stop by. I mean,<laugh>, we're we, um,

Mitch Turgeon:

The secret's out,

Pete DeNoia:

You know, just swing by. We'll see what's on the menu for that day and we'll whip you up something. I mean, it's, you know, it's yeah,

Brett Willis:

I'll add on to this. So this is partially a joke, but I do really want to go to the barbecue, but I, I feel like it, it underscores a point of like you guys and your whole team is so accommodating to helping people when they stop by, like you, you said, yeah, just stop by. But it's like, I actually will take you at your word for that. Cause I feel like there are so many times where like, Hey, we just need like these seven random things, you know, and oh, dang, we need it tomorrow. Or we need it like later today. And like, I go showing up expecting to have to like reexplain or like, oh, sorry. I just, and it's like on a pallet sitting there perfectly labeled right where I need to pick it up, like without fail. So thank you for yeah. Accommodating our many, requests.

Pete DeNoia:

Well, I think, you know, honestly, Mitch hit the nail on the head earlier. Um, honestly everybody's a customer and we wanna make sure that we can provide the best service. So, you know, we thank you for the kind words, but truthfully it's, it's really in our DNA and what we do every day. So, um, it was interesting. I was, somebody was tapping on my window right now trying to grab a used barrel. And um, you guys all know about barrel, so yeah.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. We'll get

Pete DeNoia:

Into barrels. I mean, we really, yeah. We really do just try to be accommodating and, and um, it doesn't take long just to go out of our way and you know, do whatever it is that we need to do, whether it's internally within the company or externally. So, um, you know, we thrive on that and we like to have fun. We don't, we don't we're avenue. We don't take ourselves seriously. We, we really do like to have fun and, and make it a good time and make it a fun place to come to work.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. I'm always trying to grab pro tips from the, the Warren a team. Cause I feel like, you know, I don't know we could use, we could use a breakfast sandwich party.

Pete DeNoia:

<laugh> we got it the next, uh, the next barbecue, you guys will be on the invite.

Liz Wilson:

Um, but I feel like something we didn't state from the outset, which might be kind of obvious, but maybe not is like what, what is in our warehouse, um, aside from sort of the strange things, but what is, what, what are we keeping in our warehouse? Yes,

Pete DeNoia:

That's a great question. Um, you know, raw material, so grains hops, um, different ingredients that are needed for the brewery to brew the beer and from a packaging perspective, whether it's bottles, cans, labels, cartons, trays, things along those lines. Um, so you know, really anything that's from an ingredient perspective or anything that's from a packaging perspective is kept over here at the warehouse. Um, we try to keep our inventory levels. I wouldn't say just in time, but we do build in safety stock, particularly with things that are going on right now from the supply chain perspective. But really what we, what we do every day is we send over to the brewery what they need to either make the beer or package the beer. And then that comes back as finished. Good. So not a lot is left over at the brewery. It's pretty much feel like a hub and spoke model where everything's kind of here at the mother ship and then we'll send it over and then it ultimately comes back. Hmm. Yeah. So I mean, our warehouse is broken up into three different, um, locations. We have a dry storage, we have a, what we call a warm room where the beer is kept at 72 degrees. And that beer, um, is, is bottle conditioned. As you mentioned, Matt, it'll stay over there in that section of the warehouse, depending on the beer type, anywhere from on average seven days to 21 days. And then once we're given the, okay, from a quality perspective, um, our QC team will test various aspects of the beer. They'll give us the green light to do what we call migrate the beer, meaning that we can move it from the warm room at about 72 degrees over to the cold room, which is about 50 to 55 degrees. And at that point that beer is, um, gotten the green light to release to our various wholesalers. So, um, from that aspect of the warehouse to Mitch's point earlier, dry storage, warm room, cold room, all under 70,000 square feet sectioned into three different, um, or, or, or in three different sections. It gives us a lot of flexibility to move around if we need to, um, the general dynamics of the building, um, to support the growth of the business. So it's, it's pretty cool, pretty unique, but, um, it's a very structured process as what goes on each and every day here at warmth.

Brett Willis:

And just to kind of elaborate real quick on one topic, the bottle conditioning like that is basically a re fermentation inside the bottle. So the idea being ferment, the beer pretty much most of the way or just a little bit. And then the beer goes through the bottling line, gets a little bit of extra yeast and sugar added to the bottle each bottle or can itself. And then it goes to the warm room. It needs to be warm for that yeast to be able to eat that last little bit of sugar or whatever it's eating. And then that's when it comes up to full fermentation. Um, so yes, definitely more QC involved in that process. Mm-hmm<affirmative> uh,

Liz Wilson:

Not complicated at all.

Brett Willis:

No. Yeah. It's pretty simple. No, I really, I really experienced explained it too long. I definitely don't understand that process.<laugh> uh, alright. We, we said we were going to, and now we are going to, you wanna talk about barrels?

Liz Wilson:

Yeah.

Pete DeNoia:

Barrels. Yeah. Nice.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah, I guess where do we, I mean, we have a lot of barrels. Uh, we have a lot of barrels because we make Curio amongst other things that we have in barrels. But do you wanna talk to us about the barrel Bonanza? Is that where we wanna go with this<laugh>

Brett Willis:

Or not? We were, but we weren't, we're not gonna do it anymore. That's

Liz Wilson:

True. Or we're

Brett Willis:

Not doing it this year, but we have done it. So I don't know.

Pete DeNoia:

Yeah. So let, I, I think that's a great, it's a great segue. Um, yes, we purchase barrels from Jim beam and, um, they're predominantly four years old. And to your point, Liz, we use those for barrel age beers, uh, Curieux Tripel barrel and bean. We only use'em once. And then what we do is we we'll resell them and we'll resell them to either, um, various suppliers here that use the barrels for different concepts here in the state of Maine, or we'll sell them to the general public. Um, the last few years we've had a, um, fun little activity called the barrel Bonanza where we sell barrels to the general public. And the first year we did it, I think we sold a few barrels. We thought we were gonna sell maybe$500 worth of barrels. Um, donate the monies to a local school. And lo and behold, we sold about$12,000 worth of barrels. So we really, we really overshot with regards to what our expectations were, which is so cool. And, um, the last few years we've had last year, we did one pro food insecurity and the proceeds of about$30,000 went to food insecurity across various organizations within the state of Maine. The reason that we're not having a Bonza this year and we're, it's open to the general public to sell barrels and as well as our suppliers is because truthfully as quickly as we empty barrels, we're selling them. And, um, we've had folks call looking for 20 barrels, 40 barrels, 15 barrels, um, a lot of bulk sales. So the intent this year is to fulfill our commitments, to generate certainly a portion of the sales to, uh, again, food insecurity across the state. Um, but the good news is we're able to move these barrels very quickly, sell them to the general public or, and or our suppliers, um, not take up valuable space in the warehouse, but also support some very, very, um, you know, causes across the state of Maine that we believe deeply. And as a company

Brett Willis:

Is, uh, I just, because it popped in my head, isn't one of the people we sell barrels to named Bobby the barrel man,

Dave Perry:

Shout out to Bobby, the barrel.

Brett Willis:

<laugh><laugh> oh yeah.

Pete DeNoia:

Yeah. They're tight with Bobby. The barrel man.

Dave Perry:

Oh, are we ever,

Brett Willis:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's not leaving any ambiguity in his business model. He's a barrel man.

Pete DeNoia:

Mm-hmm<affirmative>, he's a barrel man.

Dave Perry:

He's the barrel man. Uh, yeah, when we unload a barrel truck, it's a full tractor trailer, barrel stacked, pretty high. It's a very sticky situation. I mean, just, we can sweat the, we feel the whiskey just on us.<laugh> on a hot day and this guy, Bobby, the barrel man just shows up and wrangles these barrels around like, they're nothing, it's the craziest thing to watch. And he's a lot older than I am and he has no problem slinging these things into his truck. So he really is the barrel man.

Liz Wilson:

That's amazing.

Dave Perry:

He lives up to the name.

Liz Wilson:

We have a barrel that we cut in half and use as planters. And I can't even move one half of the barrel when it's full dirt and with a plant. So that's impressive.

Pete DeNoia:

Yeah.

Brett Willis:

What is an empty, not like what's an empty barrel way. Yeah. Yeah.

Dave Perry:

What are we calling that like

Pete DeNoia:

Say guys a hundred pounds.

Dave Perry:

Yeah, I was gonna, yeah.

Brett Willis:

Cause they're unwieldy. They are very big.

Liz Wilson:

They are very

Pete DeNoia:

Big. They're no fun.

Brett Willis:

There's no way to get around.

Dave Perry:

You gotta know how to, how to maneuver them. Otherwise it's the heaviest thing in the world. Um, Bobby is clearly a veteran, so he knows when he is doing.

Brett Willis:

Yeah.

Pete DeNoia:

So here's what we were thinking. We were thinking the next, um, marketing barbecue that we do over here. We'll invite you the day that the barrel drop. Wow. Then you guys can'll feed you and you can help new barrels

Brett Willis:

Learn how to move, move a barrel

Pete DeNoia:

Biz. Yeah.

Liz Wilson:

<laugh> I'm in,

Pete DeNoia:

I'm in, I think we're on is something. Yeah, that's it? Yeah, no doubt. Seriously.

Brett Willis:

Is it like a, is it like a throwing forward rolling process? Like I feel like I saw, I've watched our brewers do Pura barrels a couple times and it's like a very, like, you have to be very assured of yourself that you're kind of rolling it over, right?

Dave Perry:

Mm. Yeah. Uh, well we have the process to unload the barrels. It's taken a couple of different forms, but the way that we, we do it now we have a couple of pillows that we put on the ground and we're kind of just tossing the barrels and they roll out onto the floor.

Brett Willis:

That wasn't I was expecting? That was good.

Dave Perry:

Yeah.

Pete DeNoia:

I mean, they're not even pillows, isn't it? Like somebody's old mattress.

Dave Perry:

Yeah. I won't say whose mattress it is, but it is somebody's mattress.

Liz Wilson:

This is way better than I ever anticipated.

Pete DeNoia:

Yeah. It's it goes back to what happens at Warren stays on, oh,

Dave Perry:

Well, Hey Leo, our safety guy, Leo, he, he came and watched us doing, he said plenty safe. He was fine with the way that we were doing it.

Pete DeNoia:

<laugh> we get that in writing Dave?

Dave Perry:

Uh, it was more of a informal handshake

Brett Willis:

We'll have Leo on. So we'll get to hear his full story actually.

Dave Perry:

Perfect.

Brett Willis:

That's amazing. All right. I think we have, we have one more. I have one more. Oh yeah. This is maybe a personal question. Uh, but I think this is a fun one to end on cuz you could just be like, I don't know. And that can be the end of it, but um, I don't think I can ask what exact beers we have, but like how is our can, well first, can you explain the deep stash and then also how is our stock on it or do we have a lot, a little what's uh, what's the situation.<Laugh> Dave is wiping his face<laugh>

Dave Perry:

We got quite a bit. Well, you got quite a bit, uh, I have the pleasure of counting it from time to time and there are quite a lot of brands and we have at least a couple of almost every cool ship that I know of. Um, the oldest specialty 3 75 that I've seen, I think goes back to 2007.

Brett Willis:

Wow.

Dave Perry:

Um, it's tough to tell cuz a lot of'em are just like, it just says red on it and there's no year or batch or date. So I usually defer to Dave York. He, he kind of has the institutional knowledge to figure that stuff out.

Brett Willis:

Dave, Mitch, Pete, anything else that you want to say that you didn't get to say?

Pete DeNoia:

No, just thanks for having us. It's been, uh, the hour went by really quick and we really appreciate the, the questions and the insight and um, look forward to chatting with y'all in the future. Oh yeah,

Dave Perry:

Yeah, absolutely. Come on down for uh, Pete's griddle, uh, this Friday. I'm sure he'll have it going.

Brett Willis:

Perfect. Perfect.

Pete DeNoia:

We have a barrel truck on Friday.

Dave Perry:

Oh, I think we might. I think that might time up really nicely.

Brett Willis:

<laugh> that's awesome. Well, yeah. Well thank you all. Thank for taking the

Liz Wilson:

Time. Yeah. Thanks everybody.

Brett Willis:

That's

Pete DeNoia:

Awesome. Yeah. Thanks so much. We appreciate you guys

Brett Willis:

All cut you later. Bye bye.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. Thanks everybody for, uh, sending us your emails to podcast allagash.com. We love getting'em and we love answering them. So

Brett Willis:

We've gotten a couple, we have not gotten to necessarily many of them yet because we've been trying to plan this show out, but we're definitely gonna get to them. I'm I'm excited to answer some of these questions. I think they're, they're really insightful ones and very, uh, yeah, uh, specific in some cases, which is awesome.