2021-05-19 - Raise a Glass

Bennie is actually set up to work the bar tonight, even if that means she's leaving the true mixology to the more experienced bartenders. Her hair is up in a messy twist on top of her head, held in place with a few take-out style chopsticks that she's decorated with shiny rhinestones. She's toting a cardboard box out of the back towards the u-shaped bar that has FRAGILE stamped on the sides.

Tor also has his hair up in a twist, but it's not the deliberate messiness of Bennie's. This is 'my hair's in my damned face' bun, and the tie is an elastic band with a produce stamp on it from the kitchen. He's leaning against the bar. There are three pint glasses in front of him, with a bit of beer in each. He's frowning at them. There's a pad of paper beside it with notes in his distinctive impenetrable-by-cops shorthand he developed as a fence. He looks up when he spots movement behind the bar. "Hey. D'ya have much of a beer palate?"

There is a clink of glass from the box as Bennie hefts the box up onto one of the reach in coolers, "Um. I mean, I drink a lot of it, so I must be qualified in some way, right? If you're looking for 'it has notes of honey' or something like that, I can do my best to make it up." Her hand pats the top of the box. "Gotta present for you!"

"Well, you probably represent the average Gray Harbor beer consumer, so you'd probably be the one to ask. Still struggling with making something totally consistent but also decent." Tor nudges one of the pints towards her. "Lager." And then he eyes the box, eyes Bennie. There's the distinct sense that he doesn't get presents often. Or at all. "...yeah?"

"Hey, Lager I can do. I'm normally a Pilsner girl, but don't get me started on anything super hoppy. 'Cuz, ew." Bennie first accepts the glass and takes a deep swig from it. As foam is licked from her upper lip, she gives an enthusiastic nod. "Doctor Pizza Boy needs a new name, now."

With a Vanna White flourish of her hand, Bennie peels a strip of tape off the box and lets him take a gander inside. It's a carton of pint glasses emblazoned with his logo. "Figured a giveaway should help the launch."

"Pils," says Tor as he nudges the second pint glass towards Bennie. There's only about an eighth of a pint in it, so he's not asking her to shotgun a whole beer. Yet. "Thinking this one's a bit too...uh, flavourful for your average beer drinker."

He genuinely doesn't seem to know what to say as he pulls one of the pint glasses out of the box and inspects the logo. He's touched, but he doesn't seem to know how to express it. He slides the glass back in and nods once. "Yeah, definitely. A good idea. Thank you." It's sort of a stilted collection of words, but he does seem to mean it.

Bennie slips up onto a stool behind the bar, now known as Bennie's stool, as technically no one should be sitting on the job, but dating the owner has its perks and she's often here after already working on the Rig. "Sure!" Bennie chimes to the thank you, a little shrug of 'no big', "My little contribution to your venture to show my support. That. And by drinking all the samples." So it's onto the Pils next, which she drinks as she swings her legs.

"How is it? I'm not doing anything fancy for the launch beers. One, I gotta learn how to be consistent and be fancy at the same time. Two, I wanna do stuff that's people's go-to beer. Not just something they try 'cause it's different." The pils is smooth and full-bodied with a bit of a caramel note. It is a big flavour, but not unpleasantly so for those who actually like beer.

"I like it!" Bennie decrees, but the realizes she's probably meant to give more input. "Reminds me of summer, and summer is my absolute favorite. You stick a little umbrella in it and I'm right back on vacation. Not. That. You should put an umbrella in it, or that it needs it." She's quick to add.

"You don't think it's too strong? I want people who usually go for like, Sam Adams or Bud to go for this instead," Tor headwobbles, "Uh...maybe not Bud. It's kinda hard to compete with cheap shit that's just meant to get you wasted quickly." Says the guy who up until recently, always ordered whatever was cheapest with no regard for taste. He tugs out one of the glasses again and looks at it, finger going over the etching.

"Mmm. If you want people to drink it in quantity, you might want to tone it down just a bit." Bennie makes a flappy hand gesture, "But like I said, what do I know, beyond knowing what I like. Oh god, you hate it don't you? The glass? Too much?"

"Yeah, that's what I was worried about. I followed the style guide really closely. But I'm not trying to win awards for being true to style. I'm trying to move product." Tor comes from a family of entrepreneurs, which means he's deeply pragmatic about these things. And then she's mentioning the glasses. "Oh, no, not, no." He lifts a shoulder. "This is gonna sound kinda..." he sucks in a breath, "...just, my family hasn't been very supportive of this whole thing." Or of him in general, is the unspoken addition. "And that's...well, this..." he holds up the glass, "...is the first time I've seen the logo on something other than a piece of paper. It's made it more real."

Bennie's foot juts out to nudge his leg with her totally-not-wise-for working-in-a-bar sandal. "They're probably just upset about losing their best delivery boy. Though I'm sure most of the income was from tips they weren't entitled to. They'll come around. Just give it time?"

"I think they figured I'd just be schlepping boxes around my whole life. Like my cousins." Tor's cousins aren't generally known for being the sharpest tools in the box, whereas he could've been top of his class in high school if he actually tried. He slumps against the bar and looks at the glass, turning it back and forth to examine the logo. "If this doesn't work? I will be schlepping boxes. At least until I've paid off my loans. Which would only be five or six years. With shortcuts."

"The good news is if you flop miserably, you'll always have a job here! I mean, Easton hasn't fired an employee yet, so those are good odds. Besides, your beer is good and the whole local brew thing is like really hot right now. It'll be like printing your own money in no time." Bennie levels a pointy finger of doom at him. "So no shortcuts."

"I dunno about no time. Equipment's expensive, as is the time of my brewmaster friend." Because Tor may be trying to learn, but taking over that part himself will take time. If he ever does at all. His talents are better put to use on the marketing side of things. "But I really appreciate your support. Both of you." He sort of mumbles that and rubs the back of his neck as he does.

Bennie hops down from her perch, reaching out to give Tor's cheek a rueful pinch. "Stop that now. You're family! And family helps family. Like. There are half a dozen more of those boxes that need to be unloaded from the back of the Jeep. Will you be a peach?"

Tor rolls his eyes in a good-natured way at the pinch, and at her request. "Yeah, yeah. I really am family if you're asking me to schlep boxes." He reaches back and tightens his kitchen elastic ponytail, then starts for the back. When he's almost gone, he calls back, "Just don't be like my real family and ask me to boost a car."