# Stern Pinball's Brewcade Hopping with Two Brothers Brewing Company

**Source:** Stern Pinball  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2025-01-23  
**Duration:** 7m 30s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3rz0fFr15I

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## Analysis

Stern Pinball has partnered with Two Brothers Brewing Company to install six pinball machines at their Tap House in Warville, Illinois. The family-owned brewery, founded in 1996, hosts monthly tournaments with 15-25 participants and has successfully integrated pinball into their customer experience. The partnership exemplifies Stern's expansion of bar-based pinball machine programs and the growing intersection of craft beer and pinball communities.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Two Brothers Brewing was founded in 1996 by the speaker's father and uncle — _Direct statement: 'Two Brothers was first founded in 1996 by my dad and uncle.'_
- [HIGH] The brewery is still 100% family-owned after 28 years — _Direct statement: 'We're still 100% family-owned. Here we are, 28 years later, still making beer.'_
- [HIGH] Two Brothers' history with pinball began about a year ago when Stern expanded their bar-based pinball machine program — _Explicit statement in video: 'Two Brothers' history with pinball began about a year ago. They saw an opportunity as Stern has expanded their bar-based pinball machine program.'_
- [HIGH] The Tap House has six pinball machines and hosts tournaments once a month — _Direct statement: 'Over here at Two Brothers, there's six pinball machines. We have tournaments once a month.'_
- [HIGH] Monthly tournaments typically draw 15-25 participants — _Direct statement: 'There's usually about 15 to 25 people per tournament per month.'_
- [HIGH] Chicago is the pinball manufacturing center of the universe with Stern being the primary local manufacturer — _Speaker statement: 'Chicago is the pinball manufacturing center of the universe, right? You got Stern, which just makes the best pinball machines out there, and they're local.'_
- [HIGH] A player has logged 559 days straight using Stern Insider Connected account over nearly two years of pinball play — _Player statement: 'I've been playing pinball for almost two years now. I've been keeping track with my Insider Connected account and I've logged in 559 days straight.'_
- [HIGH] The venue was one of the first places to receive the Stern Uncanny X-Men machine for launch party — _Statement: 'We're typically one of the first places to get some of these new machines. So we have the launch party.'_

### Notable Quotes

> "Chicago is the pinball manufacturing center of the universe, right? You got Stern, which just makes the best pinball machines out there, and they're local."
> — **Two Brothers representative**, ~03:30
> _Demonstrates local pride and Stern's dominant position in pinball manufacturing centered in Chicago._

> "I've been playing pinball for almost two years now. I've been keeping track with my Insider Connected account and I've logged in 559 days straight."
> — **Tournament participant/community member**, ~06:15
> _Shows the depth of engagement and role of Stern Insider Connected in player retention and commitment._

> "X-Men is a very cool game, actually. A lot of stuff going on on that one. It's like different than all the other ones. Like the flippers are slanted to the side, which like makes it a whole new thing."
> — **Tournament participant**, ~07:45
> _Commentary on Stern's Uncanny X-Men machine design innovation, specifically noting the slanted flipper design as a distinguishing feature._

> "I think the pinball and craft beer scene—that little union—is really nice."
> — **Tournament participant**, ~08:30
> _Articulates the synergy between pinball community and craft beer culture at location-based venues._

> "We brought pinball machines to the Tap House because we always try to create a real experience for our guests."
> — **Two Brothers representative**, ~05:30
> _Explains the strategic rationale for integrating pinball as an experiential element in the brewery/restaurant business model._

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Two Brothers Brewing Company | company | Family-owned brewery founded in 1996 in Chicago area; operates Tap House in Warville with six Stern pinball machines and monthly tournaments. |
| Two Brothers Tap House | location | Brewery taproom/restaurant in Warville, Illinois featuring upscale pub menu, craft beer, and Stern pinball arcade with monthly tournaments. |
| Stern Pinball | company | Chicago-based pinball manufacturer with expanded bar-based machine program; machines installed at Two Brothers include Jaws and Uncanny X-Men. |
| Stern Uncanny X-Men | game | Recent Stern pinball release featuring slanted flippers as design innovation; launch party held at Two Brothers Tap House. |
| Jaws 50th Anniversary | game | Stern pinball machine tied to brewery's 'Shark' beer; release party and special 'Finball' beer collaboration mentioned. |
| Stern Insider Connected | product | Stern's digital platform for leaderboards and player tracking; heavily used by tournament participants at Two Brothers for competitive engagement. |
| Chicago | location | Described as 'the pinball manufacturing center of the universe' with Stern as the primary local manufacturer. |
| Warville | location | Illinois town where Two Brothers Tap House and main brewery production facility are located. |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Bar-based pinball location strategy, Stern Pinball community partnerships, Monthly tournament infrastructure and community engagement
- **Secondary:** Stern Insider Connected platform adoption and engagement, Craft beer and pinball community intersection, Stern Uncanny X-Men machine features and reception, Location-based experiential entertainment strategy

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.85) — Enthusiastic tone throughout from brewery representatives and players. Strong community engagement, successful tournament attendance, positive machine reception. No criticisms or complaints evident. Content is promotional but grounded in operational reality.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Stern Pinball has actively expanded bar-based pinball machine placement program, successfully integrating machines into craft beverage venues as revenue-generating customer experience drivers. (confidence: high) — Explicit statement: 'Two Brothers' history with pinball began about a year ago. They saw an opportunity as Stern has expanded their bar-based pinball machine program.' Two Brothers brought in new customers specifically for pinball.
- **[community_signal]** Stern Insider Connected leaderboard system driving competitive engagement at location venues, with players specifically seeking to compete on boards during live tournament play. (confidence: high) — 'So Stern has Insider Connected, which a lot of players come out specifically for. And they always use the leaderboard before they start playing games, and it adds to the competition of the night.'
- **[community_signal]** Chicago-area pinball community is active and growing with consistent tournament participation (15-25 players monthly) and multi-year engagement patterns (559-day streaks on Insider Connected). (confidence: high) — Consistent monthly tournament participation, player logging 559 days of Insider Connected usage, families attending practices before tournaments, walk-up registration at events.
- **[market_signal]** Two Brothers Tap House positioned as early-access venue for new Stern machine launches, receiving Uncanny X-Men and Jaws releases first, indicating strategic relationship with Stern. (confidence: high) — 'We're typically one of the first places to get some of these new machines. So we have the launch party.'
- **[community_signal]** Brewery leadership actively engaged in pinball community, with executives attending tournaments and the owner playing machines (Jaws player, Finball collaboration beer). (confidence: high) — Owner statement: 'I do play a little bit of pinball. I'm a Jaws guy—I'm the guy who brews the Shark beer.' Created Finball beer crossover for Jaws release party.
- **[product_strategy]** Stern Uncanny X-Men features innovative slanted flipper design as notable mechanical differentiator from previous Stern releases. (confidence: medium) — Tournament participant observation: 'X-Men is a very cool game...The flippers are slanted to the side, which like makes it a whole new thing.'

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## Transcript

This is our pinball arcade inside our Two Brothers Tap House here in Warville. People can come hang out here, enjoy their beer, their food, and play some awesome Stern pinball machines.

Two Brothers was first founded in 1996 by my dad and uncle. They first fell in love with beer when they were actually studying abroad in France—got to try so many unique styles of beer. And we're like, "Oh my gosh, beer is so much more than just a light lager."

When I moved back to the States, there were no craft brewers. There were barely imports back then. So I started making beer at home, invited my brother to join me, and we'd make beer and we would drink beer and we'd talk about the fantasy of opening our own brewery. My father worked at a brewery out in Colorado, first really fell in love with the processes as well. And then him and my uncle have always been talking about opening a brewery, and then in '96 they're like, "You know what? Let's do it."

We're still 100% family-owned. Here we are, 28 years later, still making beer.

This is our brew house. This is where all of the magic happens. This is where we actually brew the beer. All of our grain gets fed up here into the lauter tun, where it's then mixed with water. So we really extract all those sugars. Once the beer comes out of the brew house, it's moved into this area, which is our fermenter farm. That's where we add our yeast. It metabolizes all those sugars that we just extracted from the grain and turns it into alcohol and really settles those flavors to exactly where we want them to be.

And then here, in this spot of the brewery, this is our barrel rooms. This is where we get to make awesome, unique beers like barrel-aged stouts, barrel-aged sours, even barrel-aged IPAs—all sorts of unique styles. This is where our creative juices really get to flow.

In this area, the brew house—when we started the brewery, we really wanted to do unique beers. Our very first beer we made was a Hefeweizen, which is a German wheat beer. We have Domaine DuPage, which is our kind of flagship beer now. It's a French country ale. Those are some of our newer styles that tend to be a little more trendy—they're hop-forward, fruity. Sometimes we have small batch stuff that might be a few barrels, just goes to the Tap House here, and those can be a little more nuanced. But the weird stuff is what makes, you know, the brewing fun.

Yeah, here at our Tap House in Warville, our main production brewery is here. So this is where we produce all the beer, package it, and send it out to our distributors, who then sell it throughout the market. A lot of canning of some of our spirits happens here as well, and our coffee roasting company is also based out of here.

Tap House is one of the OGs of when brewpubs started coming around and everything. We do an upscale pub menu. Everything's made from scratch here—from salad dressings to pretzels. We'll highlight things on the menu and tie it with stouts. We've had pairing dinners here. I'm quite proud of the menu here. We do a good job.

Two Brothers is a multifaceted company in general. They have a spirits division, a coffee division, plus the brewery. So the Two Brothers Roundhouse in Aurora is basically the flagship of the company. And everything that they're doing over at the brewery and corporate-wise comes to play and comes to life right here.

We named our Pale Pinball for a couple reasons. Chicago is the pinball manufacturing center of the universe, right? You got Stern, which just makes the best pinball machines out there, and they're local. Just thought it sounded great, and it's a good story to connect the beer to Chicagoland.

I do play a little bit of pinball. I'm a Jaws guy—I'm the guy who brews the Shark beer. So I was excited for the release of the machine. So I just made a fun crossover beer called Pinball. More like Finball. And it was a cross of the Pinball Pale Ale with a hazy IPA. We brewed it for the Jaws release party we had here.

Two Brothers' history with pinball began about a year ago. They saw an opportunity as Stern has expanded their bar-based pinball machine program. We brought pinball machines to the Tap House because we always try to create a real experience for our guests.

Yeah, once we added this, I think we brought in a whole bunch of new people—people that maybe never heard of Two Brothers, or maybe even didn't. They just love pinball. They love following Stern pinball machines and got to come in, try our beer, enjoy our food, and then also enjoy playing pinball.

Over here at Two Brothers, there's six pinball machines. We have tournaments once a month. We start about 7:00 and go until the funds run out. There's usually about 15 to 25 people per tournament per month. Sometimes we have more, sometimes we have less, but we're always having a good time.

Tournaments are a lot of fun. We have some families that come in—like, maybe a few hours before they'll practice. Even people that are in here just at the bar, maybe having a beer with a friend or something, and then they realize we're having a tournament. We have had people just kind of jump in at registration at the last second.

I've been going to tournaments over the last probably two and a half months, but I've been playing pinball for almost two years now. I've been keeping track with my Insider Connected account and I've logged in 559 days straight.

The age groups that have been showing up at these tournaments are anywhere from maybe in their 20s to younger.

I've been playing pinball for basically my whole entire life. We found out there was going to be a tournament here every month, so we've been here every single month.

We're typically one of the first places to get some of these new machines. So we have the launch party. We have a full pinball tournament tonight.

So tonight, over here at Two Brothers, we have the Stern Uncanny X-Men launch party. We're going to crown a champion after we do four rounds with one final round. Somebody's going to be going home with a plaque tonight.

X-Men is a very cool game, actually. A lot of stuff going on on that one. It's like different than all the other ones. Like the flippers are slanted to the side, which like makes it a whole new thing.

So Stern has Insider Connected, which a lot of players come out specifically for. And they always use the leaderboard before they start playing games, and it adds to the competition of the night. It's really fun.

It means a lot to me to try to get achievements at home, but then when I come out here, it's nice to try to get on the board. And I think the pinball and craft beer scene—that little union—is really nice.

Yeah, I think we have a great atmosphere in the building—really a cross between a neighborhood bar and a good craft beer bar. Our goal is to have somebody have one of our beers, come to our restaurant, and take their mind off everyday bothers. Yeah, we'll come hang out here, play pinball, while we're eating dinner or whatever. Just hang out with everybody that's hanging out here too. And definitely a pinball family across the board.

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: c935fa73-84a1-497f-8789-7a01a2a38263*