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February 24, 2016
ABE ERB BREW PUB EXPANDING FROM WATERLOO INTO KITCHENER
THE RECORD
tpender@therecord.com

WATERLOO — After Rob Theodosiou's success with craft beer and artisanal coffee in Uptown Waterloo, he is opening new locations in downtown Kitchener.

"We are expanding," Theodosiou said.

The Abe Erb Brewing Co. has been busy since it opened in November 2014. Ditto for Settlement Co., "a coffee roaster, eatery and meeting place," that Theodosiou opened about two months ago.

Theodosiou has signed a lease to open another Abe Erb brew pub in the Tannery building at 151 Charles St. in Kitchener. It will be in the end unit closest to Victoria Street and will feature outdoor tanks for fermenting craft beer and a patio. The space previously housed startups working out of the Communitech Hub, and before that was a showroom for Miele appliances.

Theodosiou also signed a lease to open a Settlement Co. outlet on the main floor of the condo development at King and Victoria streets.

Both are scheduled to open this fall, and are part of the Theodosiou's holding company called Grin & Grind. He credits his staff, investors and partners for its growing success. His brother Tony is the operator-owner at Abe Erb. The assistant brewer there, Gian Carlo, plays a critical role there too.

"It's not just me," Theodosiou said. "There are a lot of people still working at night when I go to bed."

Theodosiou tapped into pent-up demand for a brew pub located in a city centre when he opened Abe Erb at 15 King St. S. in Waterloo. So many patrons packed the place it ran out of beer in four days. The brew pub expanded its capacity and now produces enough craft beer — about 4,000 pints a week — to supply its own patrons, its own retail operation and many outside accounts.

"I am all about the core," Theodosiou said. "I am a big believer in creating the most exposure and the most exposure is where the most density is."

The brewpub's most popular craft beer is called 1857 Kolsch. It is styled after a beer from Cologne, Germany. It is an ale, but tastes like a lager. That takes a tricky bit of brewing because lagers traditionally require a much longer fermentation. The LCBO will begin selling 1857 Kolsch by this summer.

Brew pubs and coffees are only Theodosiou's latest ventures.

He was a math teacher with the Waterloo Region District School Board. To earn extra money to help pay off his student loans, he started tutoring students privately in 1999. That grew into a thriving business.

"One thing led to another, and in 2006 I sold the whole thing," Theodosiou said.

A restless entrepreneur, he then bought a Cora franchise, which he opened at 75 King St. S. in Waterloo. After selling the breakfast and lunch restaurant, he started looking for a new business. He wanted one that is based on a high-quality social experience. So he put a lot of thought into the interior design of both the brew pub and café.

The interior of Abe Erb has warm, dark wood reclaimed from historic sites such as the Stratford Fairgrounds and the main building in the St. Jacobs Farmers' Market that burned down in 2013. The wood contrasts with the tall stainless steel fermentation tanks beside the bar, and the four storage tanks on the "beer bridge" that spans the width of the room.

There is original artwork and window frames from a building that housed a long-closed furniture company. There are barrels from the former Seagram distillery in Waterloo. A garage-style door opens onto King Street. The chatter, aromas and live music spill out of the brew pub onto the street during warm nights.

The same attention to design went into the Settlement Co., one block north of the brew pub. The space in the building that dates back to 1906 was stripped down to expose the yellow brick walls. A herringbone floor was installed. A living wall is covered with plants, and original artwork hangs on other walls.

In addition to tables in the front half, there are tiered benches in the back and part of the space can be closed off for private meetings. There is a bakery, and coffee roaster. Settlement Co. is licensed and sells a selection of cocktails and craft beers. It also serves cold-brewed coffee made on the premises. In warm weather, a patio opens in the alley behind the café.

"We took a coffee roaster and built a social house around it," Theodosiou said.

The Abe Erb brew pub in the Tannery building will have five times the brewing capacity of the original location in Waterloo. A pair of large, fermentation tanks will be located outside, on the Victoria Street side of the building. It will be able to produce up to 20,000 pints of craft beer a week.

Theodosiou recruited a brew master with a PhD in the philosophy of religion to work in the Kitchener brew pub. Ian Pattendon started doing home brews as he neared the end of his doctoral studies at McGill University in Montreal. He then completed a 16-month brewmaster program at Niagara College.

While visiting family in the area, Pattendon went to Abe Erb and was smitten with the place.

"We walked in there, and being the beer enthusiast I am, I was just floored," he said. He chatted up the manager, and did some brewing there while completing his program at Niagara.

Abe Erb Brewing Co.






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