Vice Beer 3.0 Upgrade taps more beer, food, new patio & investors in Vancouver
There will soon be more Vice’s to indulge in as the Vancouver, Washington-based Vice Beer greatly expands production, increases their food options, and installs a permanent all-weather year-round patio. The big upgrades are thanks in part to new owners and investors helping power exciting new plans and collaborations, and the new free-play retro Atari arcade games at the taproom may be a little preview of what is yet to come …
Founded in 2022 in east Vancouver, Washington by occasional New School Beer contributor Michael Perozzo and wife Bria Perozzo, Vice Beer expanded to a downtown Vancouver taproom called A Little Vice in July 2023. Initially coming out of the gates with an emphasis on hazy IPA, fruited sour, smoothie beers, Vice has shown range in developing traditional and contemporary lagers, West Coast IPAs, even a few brown ales….all with a playful but earnest 80s-90s pop-culture nostalgia baked into the brand.
El Viejon Taqueria & Mariscos Expanding
Vice Beer has also been notable as the home and launching pad of El Viejon, a Mexican Taqueria & Mariscos food truck that quickly gained a following and now has outposts at Fortside Brewing in Van, WA, and Gigantic Brewing on Hawthorne and Brujos Brewing in Portland. With the increased popularity, El Viejon needed to expand out of their original food truck parked outside of the primary Vice Beer. Soon El Viejon will be moving out of a drivable cab and into a luxurious new 22' trailer custom designed to fit a new patio. This new trailer will feature 3 windows for ordering and delivering food. The expanded kitchen will allow for El Viejon to diversify their menu with new items, and be able to serve guests quicker and more efficiently. Look for nachos, breakfast burritos on the weekends, burrito bowls, flautas, posole, Mariscos-style sushi, and other items that are currently at Brujos and Gigantic but not at Vice or Fortside.
Expanded Year-Round Patio Upgrade
Vice is working with the city on permitting a new 18' x 64' patio to create a much better year-round experience outside of the main taproom. The patio will include year-round features and protection from the elements. Overhead fans in the summer and overhead gas heaters for a comfortable winter. This will expand the seating capacity by over 40% in the summer months and over 120% in the winter months.
“Previously, we would lose something like 60-70% of our seating in the rain or cold,” says Vice founder Michael Perozzo. “All 40 patio seats are worthless most of the year because we were not built to protect against the elements. Now it’ll be a warm cozy spot with 60-65 seats in the winter and an open air space in the summer. Seating will also be versatile enough to allow us to host large standing-room type events.
Construction on the new patio will begin November 1st with a goal of being ready for Vice’s New Years Eve party (also Bria’s birthday.)
Double the Brewing Capacity
Along with expanded seating comes more brewing capacity as Vice is one of the few small breweries using all of their’s. Vice recently took delivery of 2x 30bbl fermenters, 1x 30bbl jacketed brite, 2x 20bbl jacketed brites, and 1x 7bbl jacketed brite. This is in addition to the current fermentation footprint of 4x 7bbl fermenters and 2x 20bbl fermenters. The new tanks will increase total annual capacity from 760bbls in 2024 to up to 2,200bbls in the coming few years.
“We’ve not been able to keep our distributors in product since opening,” says Perozzo. “We’re looking forward to having more beer available via Day One across all of Oregon, Orcas Distro around the Puget Sound and Eastern Washington, and Last Call Beverage in the Boise market.”
Many of Vice’s IPAs last just 3-4 weeks at the taproom and not nearly enough goes out to Distro. The brewery only sells to about 5 accounts in Clark County at this point, simply because inability to meet demand while also supplying their 2 taprooms.
“The change this will bring to Vice is absolutely huge but at the same time not a lot of change either,” says Vice’s departing head brewer Bryan Hochrine. The new tanks will double brewing capacity over the next year or two, primarily allowing them to make a lot more clear and hazy IPA for the draft beers market. “Now where we won't change much is the plan to keep our focus heavily on one off beers. Primarily we will continue to focus on hoppy beers of all the kinds, but the added fermentation tanks opens up our existing 15 bbl & 7 bbl fermentation tanks to do more traditional lager and other beer styles we have been wanting to produce such as the occasional Wit or Saison style beers, and yes even a Brown Ale just for you Ezra!”
Bryan Hochrine is leaving Vice Beer to join the brewteam at Brothers Cascadia Brewing, but I will still hold Vice Beer to his promise of more brown ale. Vice’s past head brewer is now also the new one as the prodigal Aaron Copelin returns from a year-long stint brewing and studying at the VLB Berlin institute Germany. In the interim before Copelin returns in October, former Von Ebert Brewing, The Commons, and ForeLand Brewmaster Sean Burke is filling in.
Stephen & Alix Kick at their shared birthday celebration with a custom beer label by Vice Beer
New Co-Owners, Investment & Partnerships
All of this expansion to feed Vice’s vices is possible thanks to new investors like Stephen Kick, Eddie & Kellie Mendenhall, Charlie Berman, Tyler Walden, Greg Babonis, Sarah Ogden, Kimbree Gobbi, Doug Kiner and Andre Watson who is also a minority stakeholder of San Diego’s North Park Brewing.
Stephen Kick really kicked off this round of expansion by taking a major 20% stake in Vice Beer. Kick’s main job is the studio head of gaming company Nightdive Studios, which was acquired by Atari in 2023. Nighdive remasters classic games using their proprietary engine technology. Some of the games they’ve worked on include: Doom, Quake, System Shock, and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter.
“I was invited to Vice by a close friend who raved about not only the fantastic beer, but also El Viejón Taquería y Mariscos food truck that’s outside the brewery. I was really drawn to them by the retro aesthetic of the bar, and the presence of classic games and media inside. It really resonated with my work at Atari/Nightdive and it’s a great place to hang out anytime of day,” says Kick.
On his first visit to Vice, Kick was offered a brewery tour and met co-founder Michael Perozzo, immediately hitting it off because of their mutual love of classic movies and games, as well as beer. “His [Michael Perozzo’s] love of the craft and his willingness to share with others made me feel like I was a part of his mission which is when I decided to explore opportunities to help him reach his goals of bringing more beer to the ever increasing crowd at Vice,” adds Kick.
Vice Beer is now in active discussions with Atari to license classic games like Pong, Basketbrawl, Asteroid, Paperboy, System Shock, and turn them into official beers. Though no agreement has been finalized, this could be a huge natural extension of Vice Beer’s retro pop-culture brand identity.
3rd Anniversary
Many of these developments culminate with Vice's 3rd anniversary celebration slated for September 26-28. A three day celebration with 3 collaboration beers for three years, naturally. Cloudburst Brewing of Seattle, Washington, Ism Brewing of Long Beach, California, and Fort George Brewing of Astoria, Oregon have teamed-up with Vice on new anniversary beers. Each day from 3-4pm there will be a beer available for only $3. Hats By Hudson will be custom printing hats on Saturday & Sunday with your choice of hat color and custom design or art from Vice Beer or El Viejon. Plus DJs and live music in the evenings, live painting by MAYFAIR for a new Vice can label. A second El Viejon food truck with anniversary food specials. And maybe even some special appearances and photo ops.
“While our Vice team and ownership group has worked tirelessly to make this expansion happen, it's our dedicated customer base that allows us to expand a little bit all while keeping up our pursuit of becoming a world class brewery! We wouldn't be here without them and just wanted to make sure they know that! Vice Beer might be growing but the variety and quality of the beer won't skip a beat,” promises Hochrine as he heads out the door to Vice’s neighbors to the west.
VICE BEER, 705 SE Park Crest Ave D430, Vancouver, WA 98683
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