Vice Beer brings nostalgia, fun and ‘2 extremes’ of beer styles to Vancouver

Six months ago, four people had no idea they would own and operate a brewery in August.

Bria and Michael Perozzo were running the Juice Box, their Centralia beer bar. Cameron Johnson was a brewer, and his wife, Erica Johnson, was teaching.

Now, the two couples – and unexpected business partners – on Friday open Vice Beer, a brewery and taproom in east Vancouver that takes over the former space of Barlows Brewery, which closed after the pandemic.

“We were busy up north with the Juice Box,” Bria Perozzo said. “I keenly remember someone coming in once and asking when we were going to open a brewery, and I was like, never. We don’t brew, so we were content to serve beer others make.”


      

That all changed earlier this year, when Barlows’ owners, Brian and Alicia Rummer, decided to sell Barlows and move back to their native Texas. The Rummers inquired with the Perozzos and the Johnsons about buying the business.

Michael Perozzo’s Zzeppelin agency did marketing and branding for Barlows, Bria ran Barlows’ taproom, and Cameron Johnson was its brewer, so the appeal made sense.

“It was really amazing to have the Rummers think of us when they were selling the brewery,” Bria said. They were like, if anyone can make it happen and do it great, it’s you. I said, wow thanks!”

A handful of harried months later, Vice opens to the public with two visions for its beer.

“From the beginning we want to be pushing the envelope of what we see as two extremes,” Michael Perozzo said. “On one, you’ve got the new school of beer, which is double dry hopped, double hazy IPAs and smoothie sours and pastry stouts. On the other extreme, you’ve got the resurgence of lagers, and all the different styles of lager you can make.”

Vice is the second brewery ownership stake for Cameron Johnson, who founded Young Buck Brewing in a Spokane brewing incubator he helped launch in 2014. But he sold that in 2018 when the Johnsons moved to Clark County to be closer to family.

Holding degrees in architecture, Johnson then worked as an engineer for a brewing equipment manufacturer but longed to get back into brewing. A Barlows brewing position came up, and he was back in the brewhouse. The opportunity to be a part of ownership when the Rummers left fulfilled his creative and engineering sides.

“It was nice to be back at a brewery and focus on making beer and building a brand, but not have the stressors of ownership tied to that,” said Johnson, Vice’s director of operations. “But I found that that was theoretical and not reality. I couldn’t divorce my mind from that element of ownership I had developed in Spokane.”

Smoothie sours and lagers

The first beers out of Johnson’s Vice brewhouse have been on track for the two paths Perozzo described, including a pineapple orange guava smoothie sour, two double dry-hopped double IPAs, a mimosa sour, other IPAs and a lime-added Mexican lager. Also planned are numerous pilsners, with an Italian-style and a Czech-style to be released soon.

They’re not interested in what Perozzo called the “middle ground” of beer styles.

“I can’t tell you we have any immediate plans to brew a hefeweizen or a brown ale or a red ale – those aren’t on our list,” he said. “We’re going to leave classic pub styles to other people.”

Vice has already done numerous collaborations – including with Threshold Brewing & Blending, Trap Door Brewing and Fortside Brewing – as a way to build brand awareness.

Perozzo’s agency Zzeppelin, which he founded in downtown Vancouver, has been marketing and branding area breweries for over a decade. He said for their own brewery, the Vice partners wanted to focus on the decades that raised them – and most of the drinking public right now.

“That’s the ‘80s and ‘90s,” he said. “We worked hard to make sure our place did not pinpoint one decade. You’re not going to walk in and go, gosh this place is straight out of the ‘80s. But there will be some things that make you remember your childhood or that time.”

Those things include a functioning rotary phone on the wall, and Vice will soon put out a beer whose name will include that phone’s number – one of many creative Vice beer names. The owners are putting together an arcade in the taproom that will include a four-player “The Simpsons Street Fighter 2″ and a Ninja Turtle pinball machine.

Vice’s vibrant color scheme is a mash-up of nostalgia, evoking fun times at beach parties and the icons of decades past. Think Miami Vice’s neon blues and pinks, or flamingos meet the Parrotheads of a Jimmy Buffett concert, but all brought together with deft modern design.

“When you look at the popular things of then, you see a lot of thematic things that come from sunnier places,” Michael Perozzo said. “Definitely because of Vice, people go, oh Miami Vice. If you look at the show’s imagery or logo, you’re not going to find anything we’ve used at all, but people say it still makes them feel that way.”

Vice’s cans illustrate its creative approach. Each one, Perozzo said, will have a QR code that says, “Do not scan.” But when the holder invariably scans, they will be taken to an online video the can’s design references.

“Michael, being the marketing and branding wizard, has done a great job establishing a graphic identity and theme,” Johnson said. “Pop culture as a whole has embraced nostalgia, so we feel like we’re really hitting the right market for the zeitgeist of craft beer culture and U.S. culture as a whole right now.”

The partners’ business plan envisions 70% of Vice’s beer being sold over the counter, with the rest being packaged, said Perozzo, who with Bria sold their stake in their Centralia beer bar when they started Vice. The Vice deal included the east Vancouver brewery and taproom but not Barlows Public House, a now-closed restaurant and bar in the Vancouver Waterfront development just west of Interstate 5.

More taprooms planned

But they do plan on opening more taprooms, and a second one is being developed in the near future in downtown Vancouver.

“Finding ways to put a pint in people’s hands more than putting a can on the shelf is what successful small breweries are going to need to do to win going forward,” Perozzo said. “As a small brewery, if your plan is to sell a bunch of kegs and cans out the back door, those margins aren’t great. You need butts in seats.”

Creating fun, relaxing spaces falls to Bria Perozzo, who will manage the taprooms.

“In our beer and our design, playing old VHS movies is the vibe,” she said. “It’s a fun, nostalgic vibe. I want the taproom to be a place to hang out and make friends and feel welcome.”

Erica Johnson, a communications and marketing teacher at Heritage High School, played a significant role in getting the brewery up and running over the summer, and she will be an equal partner in Vice, the co-founders said. Perozzo said the majority owners had also recruited numerous investors in exchange for minority ownership stakes.

The partners recognize the highly competitive craft beer market in the Portland and Vancouver area, but say they believe in their business plan, the quality of their beer, and their ability to create fun, enjoyable spaces in underserved areas.

“We want to make some cool communities where people can hang out and drink some cool beers,” Michael Perozzo said, “and maybe feel like a kid again.”

If You Go

What: Vice Beer, a new brewery and taproom in east Vancouver, with inside seating for about 45, plus two outside patios for another 45.

When: Opens today; planned hours are 4-9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 4-11 p.m. Friday, noon-11 p.m. Saturday, and noon-8 p.m. Sunday. Vice’s website is under construction, but follow Vice on social media for updates and any change of hours.

Where: 705 S.E. Park Crest Ave.

Food: El Viejon will be the permanent food truck, serving Jalisco seafood and tacos, plus birria.

Taplist:

  • Micromachine Micro IPA (3.8% ABV)
  • Breakfast Club Mimosa Sour (5% ABV)
  • Batteries Not Included Double Dry-hopped Hazy IPA (6.5% ABV)
  • Cut My Lime (Into Pieces) Lime-Added Mexican Lager (5% ABV)
  • Arguing With Strangers on the Internet Double Dry-hopped Double hazy IPA (8.5% ABV)
  • Stay Classy San Diego-style IPA; Trap Door Brewing collaboration (7.5% ABV)
  • Y’all Ready For This Double Dry-Hopped Hazy IPA; Threshold Brewing & Blending collaboration (8.2% ABV)
  • Act Like Ya Know Thiolized IPA; Fortside Brewing collaboration (6.5% ABV)
  • Movin’ To The Country Peach Cobbler Smoothie Sour; Stemma Brewing collaboration (5% ABV)
  • POG DRIP Pineapple Orange Guava Smoothie Sour (5% ABV)

— Andre Meunier; sign up for my weekly newsletter Oregon Brews and News, and follow me on Instagram, where I’m @oregonianbeerguy.

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