THE TAP & FORNO
“I think we are incredibly fortunate because we have a restaurant, the Tap & Forno, attached to us now.
We have two big Italian pizza ovens in there. So our big thing is handcrafted beer and delicious food – and that’s good for the local area. We are so lucky to be surround- ed at our location by so many different condos and apart- ments and businesses. We’ve become a haunt for a lot of the locals. We are also very family-friendly. Our owner Brock Rodgers is a lover of great food and owns a few restaurants around the greater Vancouver area, all focusing on craft beer, home-style comfort foods and a wholesome family atmosphere. We’re a restaurant kids can be in from open until close, so people feel comfortable bringing their family here, having something to eat with their friends and col- leagues, and being able to drink a few beers and just relax. It’s a really great location and I think we’re going to be around for a long time. Our IPAs pair well with any type of pizza, especially something with spicy meats on it. There’s something about the bitterness that just cuts you that nice spiciness of salami. The Chocolate Milk Stout really goes great with pastas. It balances really well with anything kind of creamy and it’s also a fantastic dessert beer. If you don’t have anything sweet, it’s nice to have a stout to go with it. The pilsner, Pils, is great for just sitting around and talking with and it’s great with pretty much any dish we serve. It is quite light and accessible but the hops are complex enough – they’re nice and floral – that it puts a little bit of spice in there. It just marries so well with anything Italian, salsa, beans, or burgers. Burgers are the other thing
that point I was with BrewDog for about four years and that’s when I took three months off to do some snowboard- ing – and never went back. They were super supportive. I remember calling them and being so worried about their response. Martin Dickie, brewmaster of BrewDog, said he knew I would fall in love with Canada. I remember him saying, ‘We weren’t expecting you to come back.’ After traveling around in Western Canada for a while, I respond- ed to an ad on Craigslist looking for a brewmaster. I sent a long and wordy email about how I was not yet a brewmaster but would love to be involved. We set up a meeting where I met Brock Rodgers, the owner, and I was basically given keys and we just went for it.” “I liked to work hard and I had no problem with the long hours, so one day they just gave me a shovel and said, ‘George, you’re mashing in today.’ That was my first brew.”
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • FEBRUARY 2018
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