In today’s episode Marcel Gomez is joined by Sean Towers from The Seed: A Living Beer Project, recently named USA Today’s best new brewery. Located in Atlantic City, The Seed has 10 taps and a 7-barrel system. The Seed is a passion project of Sean and Amanda Cardinali and grows and changes with every new beer they introduce.
Both Sean and Amanda were brought into craft beer by their families. Amanda had older siblings into brewing and Sean’s dad was a homebrewer. His dad believed he could go around and teach people about homebrewing and sell his brews. This was in the 70’s and 80’s before Sean was born but the culture definitely left an indelible mark on him. Some of Sean’s first brews were made with his dad’s old equipment.
Sean and Amanda began brewing in college, around 2008 when they would experiment with different flavours and debut them to family and friends. The first homebrew kit they got; they had no idea what they were doing. They loved learning the process and began jumping into different processes. After a few years, Sean was in school for microbiology and marine biology and both he and Amanda had grown bored with the process. They decided to start learning about the microbe side of brewing, it was a natural progression both in process and their palate. They were challenging their palate and finding new things, trying to expand their repertoire and knowledge.
One thing that stands out strongly for Sean was trying sour beer. Initially Amada encountered one at a bar and told Sean about it. Their curiosity was piqued and they began seeking out more sour beer and finding out what happens in the process to create them. Shortly after college, Sean and Amanda were seeking work in their fields. Amanda had graduated with a degree in Sociology and Anthropology but there were no jobs and no money in it at the time. Around that time, Tuckahoe Brewery was being run by it’s 4 owners with no employees, Amanda went in to interview and a few weeks later she became their first employee. She learned the brewing process from the ground up while Sean worked at a private tech company down the road from Tuckahoe.
Eventually, Sean and Amanda began experimenting with different ingredients at the brewery and creating small batches. At the time, the craft beer scene in New Jersey was non-existent so they weren’t creating them for profit, they were creating them for passion and for experience. It was all about finding flavours that were interesting and that worked. Now, with their experience, Sean and Amanda are starting to revisit those first beers and apply their knowledge to get the best out of the flavours they created back then.
After bugging the Tuckahoe owners for space to make mixed ferm beers in barrels, Sean and Amanda got hold of some old barrels from a distiller and after soaking the barrels to get the spirits out, they began creating their own mixed ferm beers. The original Tuckahoe brewery had a 3-barrel system, but Amanda was with the brewery for a long time, through expansions, and was able to get experience brewing in an even larger format.
When they began making Saison’s, it went well. It was different and exciting. They would fruit beers in the barrel with apricot at first and sold the bottles out in a day. Eventually, Sean and Amanda released 5 or 6 different types of beer out of Tuckahoe. In October 2017, Amanda left Tuckahoe and her and Sean announced their intention to create their own space. While they began the process of figuring out what they needed to do to create their brewery, Amanda worked at Ludlam brewery helping out whenever needed. Bill, the owner knew that they were working on opening their own space and was supportive when they needed it.
Since 2019 The Seed, and Amanda and Sean themselves, have built up a large following. Initially, they had no intention of opening a brewery. They wanted someone else to deal with the headaches, but they soon realized that they couldn’t achieve what they wanted any other way. They needed to tell stories through their beer. They needed to create something different, apart from the other breweries in the area. There was no marketing strategy, just the intent to make a creative, story driven and substantiative experience.
The Seed: A Living Beer Project is about driving local agriculture and products. It’s an ongoing project rather than a set-in stone brewery. Sean views The Seed as his creative outlet, he can’t express what he feels through any other medium. Art doesn’t come naturally to him, but storytelling through his brewing does. Sean deals with OCD on a daily basis, this leads him to being hyper-critical of what they make. Sean is all about first impressions, he has been to so many places where he has been left feeling less than enthusiastic about the experience. It’s about making sure anyone through the door feels welcomed, included and appreciated. Sean is willing to take a loss if what has been made hasn’t worked, but he’s not afraid to try and triage it and see what happens first.
When it comes to flavour and aroma profiles, The Seed has a tendency to lean towards flora bouquets and fruity flavours. Up until recently, The Seed has only had 3 fermenters, making the lager turnaround a little stifling, but worth it. Sean and Amanda use all New Jersey grown ingredients where they can.
The lease for The Seed was signed in December 2018, but they couldn’t start brewing until August 2020. They had their first official release under The Seed umbrella in October 2020. It sold out. Fast. For Sean and Amanda, they didn’t have a choice when it came to creating their space. It was their passion, if they hadn’t done it, they would have been leaving a huge part of themselves behind. Despite the pandemic, The Seed bloomed. There was always an intention for slow and steady growth, but they are seeing themselves getting close to running out of beer at times. There’s a fine line to walk to balance the brewing and demand.
For Sean, Amanda and The Seed as a project, it’s about promoting community and authenticity. Anyone they collab with has to be authentic and not just pushing a marketing strategy.
Find out more about Sean, Amanda and The Seed: A Living Beer Project: http://theseedbeer.com/https://www.instagram.com/theseedbeer/ https://www.facebook.com/TheSeedBeer
