Reflections on Two Years July 16 2014, 0 Comments

Now that we have been open for two years, we can't help but reflect on over 700 days of being your local neighborhood bottleshop.  We have been thinking back now on how and why we got started and how you, our customers, neighbors and friends, have helped shape what Bier Cellar has become.

I grew up in Buxton, about half an hour outside of Portland.  Portland was always the big city to me, and when I moved here to go to USM in 2000, I knew I wouldn't leave.  The vibrancy and culture of this city, while somehow still feeling like a small town, are the perfect combination to me.  I have worked in Portland for over 14 years now, but before we opened Bier Cellar one thing missing for me was a bottleshop that loved beer as much as I did.

I have been a homebrewer for about 5 years now, and through that scene I got to meet many of the people who make up the Portland and Maine beer scene, and I was hooked.  Both Katie and I completed the Uprising at Novare Res (greatest beer bar on Planet Earth), drinking 230 beers on their list as a palate education.  I worked on and got certified by the Beer Judge Certification Program and then got certified as a beer server in the Cicerone program.  The people, the beer, the passion, I knew that I wanted to be part of this world.  I also knew I wanted to build a business here, to be part of this neighborhood and give back to the city that I called home.  So we opened Bier Cellar in 2012, as a way to give back to the beer scene we love so much. 

There is not much better than turning a new customer on to a new favorite beer, it is one of the best feelings on Earth.  Seeing a new customer become a regular, and interacting with our customers on a daily basis is what keeps this job so fun, interesting and rewarding.  We love the trust a customer puts in to us when they ask for a recommendation for a beer, wine or cider.  We take that seriously and take great pride when that recommendation nails it.

We have never been bent on world domination.  We just want to be your local bottleshop.  We work hard to help every customer find something they will love, to make their day just a little bit better.  We love to tell the brewer's stories, and be the craft brewer's advocate to get people to drink beer made with purpose.

We didn't get in to this business to be rich, we knew better than that.  We didn't get in to this business as a retirement plan.  We figured we would figure that stuff out later, we just knew we wanted to talk about beer all day, to help our friends/brewers get their beers in to the hands of our friends and neighbors.  We aren't in this industry because we thought it was just a good business move, we are in this industry because I realized I had to be, it was an itch that needed to be scratched. 

So we are two years in, and we plan on many more years of being your locally owned bier store.  We love this city, our neighbors and our beer scene.  Thanks for your support.