Allagash Brewing Co. Staff Safe After Brussels Attacks
At Les Brigatine pic.twitter.com/j0m3AlzPGH
— Rob Tod (@allagashrob) March 19, 2016
Allagash founder Rob Tod and some of his employees arrived at the Brussels airport during the chaos there this morning, brewmaster Jason Perkins tweeted, but all are safe and accounted for.
Crazy end to trip – events at the airport occurred 5 minutes before we arrived – All @AllagashBrewing crew are safe, headed out of Brussels
— Jason perkins (@allagashJason) March 22, 2016
Tod, Perkins, and eight others were wrapping up a six-day stay in Belgium, Allagash shared on Facebook. They arrived at the Zaventem airport shortly after two explosions rocked the travel hub. As the news spread across the world of the apparent terrorist attack, Tod tweeted that he and five others were “drinking beer for breakfast and getting out of the Brussels airport,” the Portland Press Herald reported.
Relieved to hear the @allagashrob and the @AllagashBrewing crew in Belgium are all safe. Our thoughts are with the victims today.
— Nathan Sanborn (@risingtidebeer) March 22, 2016
Tod started his Belgian-inspired brewery more than 20 years ago with a lemony witbier, and the founder recently earned a nod from the James Beard Foundation for his contribution to the beer industry. The Belgium trip was for staffers who have been with the Portland brewery for at least five years, with stops at Orval, Cantillon, De La Senne, and other Belgian breweries and brasseries.
@allagashJason @AllagashBrewing stay safe crew!!
— Dogfish Head Brewery (@dogfishbeer) March 22, 2016
While the Allagash crew is safely away from the airport, they are still in Europe and “scrambling to get a Paris flight back,” Tod wrote in an email to the Press Herald. “Things are a little hectic.”
The two explosions at the airport were followed, about an hour later, with a blast at the Maelbeek metro station in the Belgian capital city. At least 26 people were killed and 80 injured, with that list expected to grow.
