Terminal Gravity microbrewery expands distribution

Partners Dean Duquette, Ed Millar and Steve Carper run Terminal Gravity microbrewery, which produces 6,000 gallons of beer a year. In the next year they hope to add another tank and boost production to 7,500 gallons per year. - Observer file photo

In May, Terminal Gravity’s India Pale Ale showed up in the Enterprise, La Grande and Pendleton Safeway stores, and as of July 1 Click Distributors added them to its list of choice micro-brewed beer it distributes in the Seattle area.

Terminal Gravity beer has been well recognized in the Portland market ever since the beer was first brewed 12 years ago. Steve Carper and his brother-in-law, Dean Duquette, would drive eight kegs of beer a week to Portland bars. Now they work through their distributors, mainly Graeybel and Point Blank, to deliver their beer locally and to stores, restaurants and pubs in Portland and Eugene.

 “Distributors are key,” Carper said.

Ed Millar, another partner, added, “Our relationship with Graeybel (who recently bought out a local distributor) is going very well.

“The relationship between the manufacturer and the distributor is symbiotic. “The distributors know their market well. There is a lot of back and forth between the distributors and us. We communicate several times a month.”

TG has been a “demand-driven business from the start, which is the right way to run a business,” Millar said.

With equipment purchased from a brewery in Crescent City, Calif., Terminal Gravity began bottling its IPA and Extra Special Golden four years ago. They ordered another bottler that Millar described as “absolutely horrible, it almost made us go bankrupt.” They were losing almost half of their beer due to the defective machine. Now, with their Italian-made bottler known as a Prospero, they make a ‘‘run’’ of eight pallets a week, which equals 504 cases. Cases and kegs together, they currently ship 23,000 pounds of beer a week.

Terminal Gravity IPA and ESG are already available at Fred Meyer, QFC, Thriftway, Plaid Pantry, Nature’s and Whole Foods in Portland. Locally, it is Dollar Stretchers’ best selling micro brew.

Getting into Safeway has been a slow procedure.

“Safeway is really corporate,” said Millar, and has been a difficult market to enter.

With help from local Safeway manager Katie Wightman, TG is making inroads with Safeway corporate. Now that the IPA is in regional Safeway stores, TG management is hopeful they can start selling them their ESG as well.

With good sales numbers in the local stores since May, Millar says it’s time to start pushing the corporate office to expand into Safeways statewide.

Presently, TG produces 6,000 gallons of beer a year. In the next year they hope to add another tank and boost production to 7,500 gallons per year.

“The micro beer market is tough,” Millar said.

What makes TG beer different from other micro brews?

“We make better beer,” Millar said. “It is naturally made, not filtered and not pasteurized.”

Recently TG entered its double IPA into the Oregon Brewer’s Festival held at Tom McCall Park on Portland’s waterfront. The OBF is one of the largest brewer festivals in the country, second only to the Great American Beer Festival held each fall in Denver.