Going into business with friends can be tricky, but I don’t know any homebrewing, beer lover that would want it any other way. Right now we are trying to convince our dear friends to leave their home in San Diego, with their two small daughters and take a gamble in the brewery business with us. That would mean taking a chance on a big vat of bubbling malt and hops. We have all become present day prospectors looking for our pot of gold, only we are redefining that pot as we go along. In this case, is the gold in the money to be made from the brewery, the amber and clarity of a well crafted beer, or the self fulfillment of getting to do a job you are passionate about with people you like?

So this is going to be a story about our young family and what we will do to open a brewery. Aside from recruiting our friends we have many tasks to complete. We need to find a location, a warehouse where we can build the system and host a tasting room. We need to buy a system new or used and then figure out how to build it. There is a business plan to write and numbers to figure out. There are vendors to talk to. Since this is to be Organic Beer, that limits us in many ways. There aren’t many organic barley farmers out there and even fewer organic hops. But that is changing. We have to figure out a system for cold storage: Do we buy/lease a refrigeration unit or do we build one? There are licenses to obtain, and Chad has to finish his program at UC Davis and take the brewer’s certificate exam. There is so much more, and along the way, there is a story to tell.