Two Trees Brewing Interview

Somewhere near the bottom of Two Tree Hill you will find a residential neighborhood like many in Ventura with shady, tree lined streets casting dappled shadows across front lawns and cars parked in driveways.  Nothing looks out of the ordinary and you certainly wouldn’t expect to find a brewery hidden on this street.  But that is exactly what you will find if you walk up Al Trevisan’s driveway and into his garage.

My interview with Trevisan was more like two old friends getting together over a couple of beers more than anything else. We spent two hours talking about his brew system, fermentation procedures and anything else in-between all while tasting a couple of his homebrews and enjoying the warm SoCal sun. Oh yeah, the life of a beer reporter can be pretty tough.

Trevisan has been homebrewing for four years and like most homebrewers he started out brewing small batches on the kitchen stove.  As many of us homebrewers remember, that is a foot in the door start to our homebrewing obsession.  However, we soon realize, as Trevisan did that we can’t keep up with demand brewing small batches in the house. So, after purchasing a larger system he moved his “operations” to the garage.

It wasn’t until he read an article about nanobrewing in All About Beer that Trevisan started to seriously consider turning his hobby into a profession. With support from acquaintances, loyal friends and most importantly his family, he started the process of turning his home brewery into Two Trees nanobrewery.

Operating a nano-brewery out of his garage is quite appealing for Trevisan for a few of reasons.  First, he would be able to use his current homebrew system so he wouldn’t need to rent or purchase any more storage space or equipment.  Second, the brewery’s size and location means he wouldn’t be brewing anymore than he is right and since it is in his backyard he wouldn’t miss out any additional family time.

State and federal requirements deal mostly with tax issues but they do specify that the brewery need to be located in a detached permanent structure. The catch is a Ventura city ordinance that prohibits residents from operating a business out of their garage. Until the city ordinance changes, Trevisan’s professional aspirations are on hold and for now he is content to hone his brewing skills by brewing as often as he can.  Last and possibly the most convenient, Two Trees beer is kegged in five gallon soda kegs and Trevisan can easily self distribute his beers to local bars and/or pubs.

Currently, Trevisan is brewing as often as he can, about ten gallons every two weeks.  He enjoys sharing his brews so much that he brews beer for friends and colleagues whenever there is a request. Don’t worry if you don’t know Trevisan personally because you will have the opportunity to taste Two Trees beer in September at the California Beer Festival.

One of the most exciting things happening in the craft beer world is the explosion of local breweries in the U.S. and Ventura county is no different.  We have finally topped pre-prohibition brewery numbers and the market doesn’t show any sign of slowing down.  Two Trees could be the next brewery providing fresh local beer but not until an exception is made to the current city ordinance.  Show you support for Two Trees by visiting it’s Facebook pageand ask what you can do to help change the ordinance.

Learrn more about brewery sizes @ http://www.brewersassociation.org/pages/business-tools/craft-brewing-statistics/market-segments

Or

http://www.craftbeer.com/pages/beerology/small-independent-traditional