Opening a brewery has been my dream since my senior year of college. I had spent the majority of my life changing my mind about my future career. As a kid I dreamed about being a train conductor, fighter pilot, and even to be the first person on Mars. Then it was a professional baseball player or pro snowboarder. In college it went from I-Banker to environmental lawyer to research geologist to radio DJ. I never had a clue what I actually wanted to do. But one day in the fall of 2008 it clicked. I want to own a brewery.
Once this idea had inceptioned my brain there wasn’t much I could do to shake it. It slowly grew and grew and grew. Jobs that I took along the way, I went into them knowing it was only temporary. I was moving in one direction. And that direction was beer.
So when I took a job as a structural geologist a few years ago, I had unknowingly stumbled upon the perfect job. Not only was I interested in rocks and stuff, I now had a job that had a lot of down time. Since structural geologists work hand in hand with the construction industry and I was a field guy, there was a whole lot of hurry up and wait. So sitting on a construction site, waiting to do what I needed to do, I could do what needed to be done for the brew. My portion of the business plan was written, I jumped on countless numbers of phone calls, and I told every contractor that would listen to look out for our beer in the future. I got tons of support and met a lot of great people. Even my boss was supportive, though I think he figured I be back to work for him eventually.
So taking the plunge into beer for me was always the end game. Since the seedling of a thought about opening a brewery entered my mind, I have been working towards it ever since. It has been a wonderful adventure and I can’t believe it is a reality.