Twin Creeks Brewing Company is a dream that has been growing for over eight years. The dream to build a brewery, to make beer, to be a part of a community, who wouldn't love to do that? We can spout off vision and mission statements all day long but in reality, it all comes down to the love of craft beer. A passion for great flavor, excellent quality and a crazy variety is what motivates us. WE LOVE BEER!!! Now that that is out of the way, here is our story.
In 2008 two of the owners of TCBC, Andy and Jason, bought their first home brew kit because they wanted to make beer. Simple and easy enough, right? Nope. That first brown ale was less than stellar and they made a heck of a mess in Jason's kitchen. It was apparent from the start that kit beers would not be enough, something had to be tweaked. With each new brew the kits were 'adjusted' by adding new ingredients and before long original recipes were being designed. From there, things got somewhat better. These guys started to make some drinkable beers and most importantly, they were having fun. After about 30 extract batches, it was time to move on to the next step; all grain brewing.
Fast forward to 2011. Not completely happy with the results of brewing on the stovetop or the higher costs of buying malt extract, Andy and Jason set out to design and build their first all grain homebrew system. After months of research on the web and talking with other friends who brewed, they finally had a homemade all grain brewing system. On a cold November Saturday on Jason's back porch, they lit the burners for the first time to brew an all grain amber ale. While not as good as they wanted, it was a huge step in the right direction towards what became Twin Creeks Brewing.
Jump ahead now to 2013. Barry joined in with Andy and Jason because he too liked craft beer. Almost as important, he, like the other guys, liked the idea of creating and manufacturing a product. Andy and Barry are both engineers, and Jason is in the business world, so they decided to take their understanding of business, equipment and process control and apply it to brewing their own beer. When the idea of starting a brewery became more than just a fleeting thought, the guys began to stop in at the local breweries whenever they traveled. Overtime, they have visited over a hundred different breweries both large and small. They have met many wonderful people that work in the industry and asked a ton of questions! Using what they learned from people in the industry and along with their professional backgrounds, started something called Project Ale Works.
Project Ale Works was like their own small homebrew club. All three guys knew the value of good equipment and process control so they pitched in and bought a really nice 1/2 barrel brew system and three 1/2 barrel conical fermenters. They added a small glycol chiller to the mix to control their fermentation and built their own microprocessor controller for the fermenters. In October of 2014, they brewed their first beer as Project Ale Works. It was Project 1.1: Pale Ale and the beer was really good. This first brew was the catalyst that propelled them to brew almost every week for almost two years.
Now to 2016. Twin Creeks Brewing Company will be Vinton and Roanoke County's first micro brewery. Back before prohibition here in America and even back further in Europe, most small towns and cities had their own local brewery and beer. These pubs were a source of pride for the citizens of each town. Town meetings and elections were held at pubs and even the American Revolution has it's roots in pubs. Small town breweries were the heart of communities because it was where the citizens got together and shared something that was truly their own, local beer. Twin Creeks Brewing will be the place in Vinton where folks stop by after work or on a weekend to get a great craft beer and enjoy time spent with family and friends. Cross the creeks and come join us for some great craft beer!