Celebrating locally crafted beer

KIERAN ANDREW KHAN

John Tannous is aiming to connect customers with locally crafted beer, and also to the process behind it all.

The founder of Tommy’s Brewing Company, a restaurant and micro-brewery opening on Monday as the latest addition to Movietowne Port of Spain’s Fiesta Plaza, is sure to attract a slew of new clientèle – ranging from the Trini hipster circle seeking out micro brews, to those who want a fun or family environment with excellent food and in-house crafted beer.

Starting in the beer business in 2008 with the importation of Coors Light, Tannous went on to develop a full portfolio of imported beverages and brands in a market that immediately embraced them for their youthful feel with strategic marketing that went around the traditional approach to connect with consumers. While successful in its own right, the new entrants to the market faced stiff competition from the existing local breweries determined to maintain their market share.

He explained, “Besides having to face higher tariffs and other non-tariff barriers, we faced a slew of challenges as the incumbent local beer producers began to muscle their way back in to the market share we had won over.” That led to the idea, that a locally-brewed beer brand would help to overcome this challenge while offering something new and fun to the market.

“Tommy’s Brewing Company is a small-scale restaurant and micro-brewery that places an emphasis on quality, flavour and brewing techniques. After travelling around to a number of similar microbreweries internationally, particularly in Denver, I realised that this is something that would work well here. We craft our beer, which is different to manufacturing it. In manufacturing, there is a focus on cost-efficiency over say, quality of ingredients, so while we do focus on the science behind it, we are really placing an emphasis on the art of beer-making. It’s been a passion of mine to create something like this and share it with patrons and the market,” he detailed.

“While we do have locally manufactured beer and also do have a number of imported craft beers, Tommy’s brews are made right here at our Movietowne location and can be consumed fresh from the micro-brewery.” When asked about the size of the investment, Tannous responded lightly noting, “It wasn’t insignificant! This new establishment will create permanent jobs for 50 people with another 20 part-time roles as well.” The founder also noted that while entrepreneurial activity is high in TT, much has to be done to foster this type of activity that goes beyond the status quo, to businesses such as his that have placed an effort on stimulating local production, employment and perhaps even fostering positive changes to the current foreign exchange situation.

Patrons of Tommy’s will immediately notice the massive steel tanks located in the restaurant space but separated by a glass partition – which means that customers will actually get to witness their international award-winning brewmaster Saty, at work on the next batch of brewed options – and there will be lots of options.

“For our opening, we have selected six house brews that will be available year-round ranging from traditional pale ales to IPAs to stouts and Dunkels, but we will also take note of seasonal options, so you may at one point find us brewing a beer with hints of real mango or sorrel – this really is just the start of the journey for us,” Tannous commented.

That journey has seen him come up against as many as 18 governmental and regulatory organisations and laws related to the industry that were instituted at the turn of the 20th century; an adventure that was two years full of 24-hour-days of work and commitment. “There is also an extensive menu of food items… we partnered with well-known restaurateur Peter George of Prime/Trotters/Buzo fame to bring the best options to pair with our beers, forward,” he pointed out. “The choice was clear when it came to bringing his experience of the food market and the best quality to the table for our patrons too.”

Menu items range from shareable platters to bison burgers, Shepherd’s pie, tacos, and salads for the discerning. The space too, has its own charms – with a rustic but modern finish, smartly using a mix of concrete with lots of local wood and local craftsmanship to complement the industrial feel of the micro-brewery which is part of the charm of the dining experience. Tannous added, “We want people to feel at home here – almost as if it’s a family on the inside and definitely a space where people are excited to interact with our staff and learn about crafted beer and the food that goes best with it. There is the opportunity to learn, to have fun too and put down the phone and interact with your table or other customers at the bar, that’s what we intend for it.”

More than anything, patrons will immediately notice the quality of flavours and notes in each offering, something that is only possible by offering the freshest crafted beers that only have to make the journey of a few feet, direct from the micro-brewery to the bartender’s tap.

As for the inspiration behind the brand, the name and the logo of a shipwrecked sailor sitting atop a beer keg lost at sea, Tannous owes that to his grandfather, from whose journal entries he’s crafted an entirely new casual dining experience, taking patrons across the world with a mix of food and beverage as they sit either in the cosy interior or outside on picnic style tables astride turf grass and under hanging Edison bulbs.

There’s nothing quite like Tommy’s and with the innovations planned, the team behind the brand will surely have an adventure of their own to tell, in the years to come.