Beer and beards: The two go hand-in-hand at Beerded Brothers Brewing Company. The company was founded by Max Scudder and his stepbrother, and today you can find Scudder and his team serving up delicious craft beer at their new taproom, located in Downtown Vancouver at 106 W. 6th St., which opened in October 2017.
While recovering physically and emotionally from a bad accident, Scudder discovered the comradery of the local craft beer community. He started filling his days being around friends and learning how to homebrew different beers. That time with his friends turned into time with the local beer community at large, and he was hooked.
For Scudder, it wasn’t necessarily about the beer; it was about the connection with the community. He soon made it his mission to use beer to connect with people around town.
When the company was initially founded in 2013, it included only two employees until the new location opened in 2017. It was then that Scudder added on his stepbrother, Tyler Klink. In addition, Scudder’s fiancé, Ashli Pope, works alongside them. Growth isn’t their primary goal, though. While they hope to build up enough capital to move their brewing equipment out of its current residential space and open a new production facility, Scudder shares that their focus is always on their beers and building a space that people love to go to.
“Growth isn’t our biggest concern, we want to focus on our brews and current location in Downtown Vancouver, building a space where everyone enjoys coming and hanging with their friends, as well as our relationship with our city,” Scudder said.
When asked about what makes Beerded Brothers stand out in the saturated Pacific Northwest beer scene, Scudder said: “We’re all about standing out. Of course, we make delicious brews but we also hand make all the gear, from hats, shirts and sweatshirts, all the way to decals/stickers. You name it, we make it. As for beers, we always try to think outside of the box with ingredients.”
Scudder said that a key component of their success lies in having fun and listening to what people want. They focus on making the environment fun and create many of their beers based on what customer and community feedback is.
“It’s often easy to brew to your liking and forget what your customer base wants and likes,” Scudder said. “We also take the time to treat each customer as if they were our friend.”
The brewery serves a variety of different brews, but their signature beer is the Agave Amber Ale, which was developed after Scudder made batches of Amber Ale with honey for his brother’s wedding. The guests loved it, but he decided to switch it up a little bit with the next batch by using Agave. The result was a smooth Amber with unusual and delicious spiced notes.
The Black Beerd IPA is also a staple on the menu and is infused with Centennial and Citra hops. Scudder shares that many people say that it’s so good, it’s hard to have just one.
“Ultimately, we want to have fun and continue to meet amazing people, brew delicious beers and build our brand – one ‘beerd’ at a time,” Scudder said.
