Pam Remmel: On Crochet and Common Beer
Pam Remmel is a self-proclaimed “typical Westsider” – born and raised in Delhi, she never dreamed of leaving the west side of Cincinnati, and married “an Elder boy” with the same vision. They raised their children here, and play with grandchildren here, and now co-own the brewery that sits at the center of it all: West Side Brewing. We joined her there to chat about crocheting, good beer and memory, specifically that of her late mother. Pam was nominated for Women of Cincy by a stranger, who bought a blanket created by Pam’s mother. It’s the story behind this blanket that brings us here today.
Interview by Rachel Valerio. Photography by Chelsie Walter.
Can you tell me about yourself? Where did you grow up?
We grew up over in Delhi. We lived at the corner in a circle, it was a dead end street, and all the kids gathered in the circle and played “kick the can.” I graduated from Oak Hills. I'm a typical Westsider. Married an Elder boy. You stay on the West Side, you don't leave. We raised our kids over here by St. Teresa and both the kids are now married, so we're empty nesters. I'm into crafting like my mom. She passed that down to me. But not the crocheting part. That skipped me, I think. But other than that, I'm just a grandma of six, so I spend a lot of time with the grandkids.
How did West Side Brewing get started?
This started in about 2014. For Christmas, we got our son [Kurtis Remmel] a home brew kit and he started brewing in his garage. And the next year Brian, his cousin, decided we needed to start a brewery. So it started with my son and a Christmas gift.
Is it a family affair then?
It is. My husband and I, and my son and my daughter-in-law are owners. And then Joe Mumper is someone that my nephew brought in. He's an owner as well. So it's the five of us right now and we have investors that helped get us started, which we greatly appreciate.
What's the best beer here? What are you drinking?
My favorite is the new Sea Salt Common with Lime. The Common beer is one of our flagship beers. It's like Miller Lite. It's the “common beer for the common man.” I like this one, but I'm a dark beer girl; I love the stout here. Both of the stouts are really good. There's a peanut butter stout that is amazing. Colin [Foy] is our head brewer. He's great. I can't even praise him enough because all of our beers are solid. My son did a few of the flagship beers in the beginning because he had worked on them in his garage and he's a chemical engineer by trade. We've got so many beers right now, and a lot of the ones that they test – some are good, some sell well, some don't. We did a German Irish lager a couple of years back. We launched it for St. Patty's Day and everybody wants it all year round. We never have any left after St. Patty's Day, so hopefully that'll be on the menu here coming up.
Is there a particularly memorable moment in your career with the brewery?
We did the first braille can wrapper, I think, in the United States. The CABVI was really cool. It's the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired. We did their sour, had the big launch here and a lot of the proceeds went there. We partnered with them, and Q102 came up and did the launch of the beer. They were on the news, and that's pretty much been the biggest beer I think that we've had so far; it was a huge seller. People really liked it. I personally thought it was really cool with the can. I'm behind the scenes on all that stuff. I try to stay behind the scenes because there's a lot that goes on, and we both still work full-time, so this is kind of like our second home.
What do you think sets West Side Brewing apart from others?
I feel like this is more like a neighborhood bar. There's a lot of regulars that we get, people within walking distance since we're so centrally located. We're in a DORA district now. The Cincy Brew Bus comes through every now and then – when the weather's nice, we're one of the stops. There's one family who came in when we first opened up with this little itty bitty baby, and she was so cute, and her name was Mabel. Well, Mabel's now in the first grade, and every time she comes in, she's all happy to see us and everything. It's kind of fun that way because you get to know everybody when it's more of a neighborhood setting. I've had my last few birthday parties up here. My nephew got married here in November. So we've had some weddings. We've had baptisms. We had a wake for my mother-in-law here. We had the funeral next door, and then everybody just came over here.
Can you tell me how your mom got into crochet?
My first recollection of my mom crocheting… I was watching The Brady Bunch, and one of the girls had one of those crocheted vests on over their turtleneck, and I wanted one.
Well, I got one of every color! She had always sewn. I never had store bought clothes, never, when I was growing up. And my sister and I always matched for Christmas holidays and things. She just always crocheted as long as I can remember.
Did she ever try to teach you?
Oh, yeah, she tried. My sister caught on, and I did for a minute. I can make a chain, but I don't know how to come back. I can make a real long chain, but that's about it. But for being self taught, she could look at any instruction and do it. Anything I wanted, she would make for me.
And crocheted clothing is in style right now.
Oh, I know. And I don't have any of that stuff anymore. I remember that on my First Communion, I had a white poncho over my little dress. It was cold and I didn't want a coat. She crocheted me this white poncho, it had fringe on it. And because she made it so big and so long, I was able to wear it for years.
Do you feel that crocheting helped her stay in the present [with her Alzheimer’s diagnosis]?
I think it did. I think it kept her mind busy, so she just didn't sit there and worry about things. She crocheted everything all the time. She was always crocheting. She'd have bags of, like, two or three different projects that she had, and if she got tired of working on that one, she'd go to the next one. She did it continuously. Even though she had arthritis, her fingers would hurt a little bit. She's like, “oh, it's fine. They'll be fine in the morning,” and in the morning she'd get up, and start crocheting again.
And you sold some of her stuff at a craft show here at the brewery?
Yeah, at one craft show here at the brewery. I just set up a table, and people were like, “how much is that?” And I'm like, “I don't know, $25 bucks sound good?” You know, we were selling them for way cheaper than you probably should have, but we weren't doing it for that. We were doing it so we could just buy more yarn to keep mom crocheting. I literally brought four garbage bags full of stuff up here to sell, and I had nothing when I left. I sold every bit of it. And a lot of the people contacted me. One of the girls that actually worked here, she bought one and contacted me and said, “Can you make another one of this color?”
And I said, “Get the yarn. Bring it to me.” I got the yarn, and I took it to my mom. And no lie, mom made this afghan in a week. I brought it back to her, and I'm like, here's your afghan. She's like, well, how much do you want for it? I go, “Nothing. Mom just wanted to do it. So there you have it.” So she was still crocheting up until she died.
Is there any particular item she made that is special to you?
I love jellyfish. She goes, well, find me a pattern and I'll make it for you. So I found her a pattern, and she didn't just make one. She made me, like, ten. I worked at OAR and I worked at UCAN, which is a nonprofit, low cost pet care clinic. I love animals. I've had every animal you can fathom in my house at one point, with the exception of snakes. I wanted one. But we never got one.
Did her technique change over time?
Yeah, she'd forget to tie things off. So after she passed, my sister and I went through, and she's like, “Just make sure you tie it.” All those loose ends need to be knotted so they don't fray or they don't unravel in the washer or dryer. I made sure all the grandkids had something when she died. And I sent one to my son and one to my daughter, and I've got a whole lot of them. I've got Christmas ones that I bring out, and then there's this brown and green one that she made that we keep out all the time even though I know they're going to wear. I know they're going to get ruined and they're going to come undone. So there's some I've got stored away for when that happens.
Would you want to talk about your experiences with Alzheimer's Disease?
I did work in an Alzheimer's unit at one of the local nursing homes, and the biggest thing was, and the doctors and nurses both drilled it in my head, “When they are to this point, don't argue with them.” Don't upset them in any way, because that just makes it that much worse. I'd correct my mom sometimes or say, no, that wasn't me. It was somebody else. But I never got her upset about it. It got bad. She'd forget the kids' birthdays. She'd forget and then I had to explain to the kids that she was getting older, and she just didn't remember anything.
Do you have any advice for anyone encountering the disease, either their own or family members’?
I would say live in the moment. Don't wait, you know, to do something next week, because you don't always have next week. I was down to see mom the weekend before she died. She seemed fine. She was pretty lucid at that point. All my memories are from when she was healthy, and that's what I look back on the most. I know my dad misses her. They were together – I think my dad was 17 and my mom was 14 or 15, and they’d been together ever since. Live in the moment. Don't put things off. And the phones and everything. Put them down when you're visiting. Don't be on your phone while you're visiting because you may not get that second visit.
In addition to crochet, what do you remember most about your mom?
She had piercing green eyes. They were like a limey green, just gorgeous. She was beautiful. She was very creative, and she loved her kids. And she always, always, it didn't matter where she went, she was always dressed – hair done, makeup done, and she passed that down to us; I very rarely go out without makeup and hair. She loved babies. She had part time jobs at nursery schools and babysitting. And she did a lot of babysitting at home. She was just your typical grandma type. I'm really sad she didn't get to come up here because she did like to drink beer.
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