What was it like to win top honors at the New York State Craft Beer Competition?
It’s pretty crazy. Threes’ actually won that award, the Governor’s Excelsior Cup, last year too. It’s a very new prize and our ethos is pretty non-competitive, but winning was actually pretty cool. We won it for a less fashionable style of beer (the Passing Time Grissette) which I think makes it especially pleasing.
To win two years in a row, and to go up against so many great beers from all over the state, we were like, “Oh, yeah. This feels really good.”
Best book discovery of 2018?
I just finished McGlue by Ottessa Moshfegh yesterday. Super depressing, super beautifully written. She’s been getting a lot of press for her fourth book, which just came out. But this first book of hers, a novella which won a prize from a small press and jump-started her career, is one of the best books I’ve read in years. Incredible: it took my breath away.
Also, for a throwback, Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander. Yes, the novel about the British navy during the Napoleonic Wars. Found it in a used bookstore, read it, loved it.
What’s your favorite Threes beer can design?
I love Constant Disappointment. I love that can. Also our whole lager line — super simple, recognizable, and more abstract. It started with Vliet, its blue waves design, and seems to be endlessly adaptable.
We’re lucky to work with an amazing branding company called Yard NYC, they’ve designed our entire packaging aesthetic and we couldn’t be happier working with them – they get us.
Picking the designs is a deliberative process, it’s a very small group that decides. Often times Yard will give us a few ideas for each beer, but they’re all so good, it can be hard to choose. We’re very lucky to have found them.
What’s an obscure area of knowledge that fascinates you?
Other than beer, the New York City Subway is something that fascinates me. I’m a native New Yorker, I remember the graffiti-trashed trains growing up. But even with all the schedule and service problems now, I still think of the subway as the heart of New York.
Everybody takes the subway. New York is full of so many different people, so many different ethnicities and languages. To me, it’s vital that we get on the train and just see each other every day.
The fact that it runs 24 hours … it’s metaphorical for me. It’s got its problems, but it does work, mainly, and it has this history. I just have a lot of loyalty to it.
What’s a non-profit organization people should support?
Make the Road New York. It works with communities of immigrants, potentially disenfranchised communities, underprivileged and underserved groups of New Yorkers.
A lot of these small, local organizations that rely heavily on volunteers don’t get as much funding as some of the big national nonprofits. Make the Road provides legal services, education, resources to combat discrimination and poverty … things our city needs right now.
What surprises you about working for Threes?
Probably the fact that we put our intentions and beliefs into actions. I’ve never been a part of an organization that does that so genuinely.
From the very beginning, the Threes founders wanted to do something brick-and-mortar in Brooklyn. Something community-based, going back to the old idea of a “public house” where people gather. Even though we’re on our phones and the Internet all the time, people actually still want to meet people, be with their friends and family, socialize, and drink beer.
In a way, it makes sense that an old friend recruited me to Threes. The idea of getting to work with this friend and do something new was a no-brainer. And I do love beer, but at the start I didn’t know anything about it. Some might say I still don’t.
The community aspect of the brewing world is such a huge thing. All these breweries are genuinely helping each other. There’s tons of transparency, there’s tons of communication, there’s tons of friendly support and knowledge-sharing. It’s so collaborative, and it’s a unique thing to be a part of.
What’s your favorite building?
My favorite building is the salt storage facility on the West Side Highway, right near the Holland Tunnel.
It’s a great color, kind of a sandstone, and it doesn’t have any windows. Initially, I couldn’t really tell what it is from the outside. It was designed very much to store road salt, and I think it’s designed to echo the shape of a salt crystal. Driving by, I’m always like, “Oh, that building’s so cool.”
What’s your superpower at work?
My stink eye?
Besides that the first thing that comes to mind is – I’m trying to think of the right way to say it – making people feel valued for what they do and what they can do. Encouraging people’s potential. I’m also very much a mediator.
That’s just my personality, so I think that’s naturally what I can bring to the company. I’m there to sort of help everybody communicate and see eye-to-eye.
What advice do you give people when they’re planning an event in your space?
Right, ok, the number one consideration to keep in mind is this: don’t think our space is something other than what it is. When you’re electing to have your wedding at Threes Brewing, don’t forget that we’re, you know, a brewery.
That has to be part of why you want to do it here. The space is versatile. We have a beautiful backyard and a bar inside, which are major selling points. Those are great reasons to want to have a party here. But, it’s a functioning business space too.
Whether it’s a wedding, birthday, reunion … people understandably want things to be as perfect as possible. But sometimes we have to disappoint people when they ask, “Oh, wait, you can’t move those massive tanks?” Or when they want to know if we can do anything about the kegs stacked along the east wall of the yard. Appreciating where you are is step one.
