The story of how we met is a bit of a wild ride with chance encounters, family friends, and a little bit of Kevin Bacon. All four of the Indie brethren had dreams of starting a brewery that stretch back almost 6 years. Connor, a recent graduate in the pits of the Great recession used the opportunity to “look” for a real job, all while scheming to move to a ski town and rack up a hundred days of skiing a winter. James, an aspiring brewer, was starting his beer education while working at a Brewpub in Utah. Morgan, an advertising professional, was just starting to drink the juice and allow homebrewing to turn into much more than just a hobby. And Kevin, a finance lawyer, was realizing drinking beer was way more fun than doing lawyery things.
Connor and James worked at the same brewpub in Utah starting in 2009. Connor had brewed a few batches of terrible homebrew, and James was very anxious to start. After an afternoon skiing Alta in December, James and Connor brewed their first batch together. From a 1.5 gallon spaghetti pot on an electric stove that first brew, to a 15 gallon kettle and propane burner, this little homebrew operation expanded quickly. So every week snow or shine, they’d be brewing 10 gallon batches. The homebrew bug quickly grew and became a homebrew monster. The idea of opening a production brewery took over and the quest had officially begun. But where to open? Utah? Mmmm, maybe not. How about Connor’s hometown of Los Angeles? Yes, please!
So Connor moved back to Los Angeles in the fall of 2011 while James started a brewing job at Uinta Brewing Company in Salt Lake City. But it wasn’t until March of 2013 that things started to fully take shape. Somewhere across the LA expanse, Kevin was dreaming of quitting his job as a lawyer to make beer full time. Connor and Kevin were introduced through Kevin Bacon. Well, not quite but his whole six degrees of separation was at work. Kevin’s best friend’s sister dated Connor’s dad’s agent. Take your time to figure that one out.
Around the same time, Morgan and Connor started to homebrew together. Morgan and Connor knew each other through only 2 degrees of separation, sorry Mr. Bacon. Morgan’s wife is Connor’s sister’s bestie from high school.
Morgan’s garage had become a homebrew haven. No longer were cars welcome inside. This space was reserved for burners, and mash tuns, and chest freezers, oh my. A perfect place to brew up a brewery.
Once Morgan, Kevin, Connor and James were all linked up the dream to a fast track to reality. And kids, thats the story of how I met your Brewery.
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