Brewer Magazine – Alley Brews Interview/Feature

Chelsea Rhoads and Liz Hess, hosts of the Body by Beer podcast, are now the owners of Berkeley Alley Beer Company in Denver. Brewer Mag Executive Editor Jon Sicotte chatted with the long-time friends about the decision to buy the veteran nanobrewery, the risks and rewards of rebranding a 12-year-old company, and how they’re using lessons from their podcast and craft brewery experiences to create a diversified, all-day neighborhood space.

TRANSCRIPT:

0:02

[Music] I am John Cott, executive editor of the Brewer Magazine. Welcome to another edition of the Brewer Magazine podcast.

0:09

We are sponsored by Keglo Logistics and you can go to keglolegistics.com/bwermag for more details. Don't forget you can

0:16

like and subscribe to the Brewer Magazine podcast. We're both on YouTube and Spotify. You can find us also 24

0:22

hours a day for your business resource needs at brewerme.com. Well, what's going on on the podcast

0:28

today? We're heading to Denver where a new brewery is getting a brand new chapter. In fact, it's Berkeley Alley

0:35

Beer Company. They are now in the hands of two emerging voices in craft beer as Chelsea Rhodess and Liz Hess who co-host

0:42

the Body byBer podcast purchased the brewery just a few months back. And Chelsea and Liz aren't just behind the

0:49

mic anymore. They're now stepping behind the bar and the brew stand as new owners. And they're betting big on

0:55

diversification. And we talk about this from adding food and coffee, matcha flights along with carving out half of

1:02

their tap list for gluten-free and low or no ABV options. And we're also going

1:07

to dig into why they bought the brewery at this time, the challenges of taking over a 12-year-old brand with some

1:14

history and what lessons they're carrying over from the podcast into ownership and what they plan to do with

1:19

the podcast as well. We're going to be talking branding and ROI, community involvement, and the realities of

1:25

running a brewery in 2025. This Brewerme podcast is sponsored by Keg Logistics.

1:31

Now is the perfect time to review your keg management strategy. Whether you're seeking a truly flexible keg rental

1:37

program or intrigued by the seamless distribution freedom of paper, Keg Logistics is ready to craft a

1:43

personalized solution for you, ensuring you receive the kegs you need precisely when you need them. For details, visit

1:49

keglogistics.com/bwermag. Keg logistics, modern solutions for keg

1:54

efficiency. And we are joined by Chelsea Rhodess and Liz Hes of Berkeley Alley Beer Company.

2:02

And uh guys, thanks so much for joining us here. It's uh it's always fun to have other podcasters and brewers right here

2:08

on the Brewer Magazine podcast. So, thanks for jumping in with us. All right. Thanks for having us. We're

2:13

excited. Yeah. Thank you. Awesome. Well, um, congratulations first and foremost. Uh, you guys are now

2:19

brewery owners. Um, when what was the what was the date on that for you guys? When did you guys uh sign the paperwork?

2:26

June 30th. So, so a little less than two months. Uh,

2:34

well, let's just talk a little bit, you know, like we kind of brought it up here is the fact that you guys uh, you know,

2:40

uh, have obviously uh, brewery experience. you guys started a podcast a little over 18 months ago or something

2:47

like that. Does that sound about right? Um, you know, kind of kind of lead us up to the journey of of opening a brewery

2:54

and kind of where you guys came from. Um, so yeah, I mean Liz and I have been,

2:59

you know, kind of looking around on websites and breweries for sale for the last five, six, seven years.

3:06

Uh, went through some due diligence on a few locally, even looked at some like out of state. Um, and some made it

3:13

further than others down due diligence. And this one just kind of kept working out, having good feelings, and just kind

3:19

of kept plugging along. And honestly, about 10 days before we closed, we were like, oh man, I think this is actually

3:26

going to work. Like, oh goodness, it's a whole different level now that we like it's actually going to go through.

3:33

Yeah. Yeah, but you know, we joked it's we're putting our money where where our mouth is and you know, it's been a dream and

3:41

we had maybe feeling pretty confident about being able to pull this off and

3:46

make it work. And so we went for it. We we dove in. Yeah. That's been a whole culmination

3:52

I'm sure you know you talk about it all the time of just like for two years almost 18 year 18 months you know we

4:00

just talked about beer and we went visited breweries and we talked about beer and the business of beer with some

4:05

other amazing brewery owners and brewers that are out there and tapper managers and and learned just an insane amount of

4:13

information. And then uh and then of course having experience behind the bar

4:19

in the back of the house, that sort of thing. And then it was like really just putting all your eggs into that basket.

4:26

Not to be cliche or anything. So it's that culmination, right? That that u

4:32

pulling the trigger, hold my beer, watch this. And uh the journey so far is very

4:37

good less than two months into it and having to literally check all those

4:42

boxes, right? From janitorial to accounting to quality assurance.

4:49

That's the best one. Yeah. Well, quality of control. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

4:54

Well, and I think, you know, I've been doing brewer now for over 10 years. Um,

4:59

previously I was, you know, the president of a homebrew club. So the natural progression of our club was

5:05

always whoever was president ended up opening a brewery here in the Toledo area. Um I I killed that streak. Uh and

5:12

the number one reason that people ask me is like I have talked to so many people

5:17

that I understand the pro what needs to be done and I knew I wasn't the person

5:24

that wanted to jump into it that way. Mind you, Tyler, our publisher, opened a

5:29

brewery in 2019. So, we've had kind of what we call our test kitchen uh since

5:35

then. And it's been and it's great. It's opened up so many avenues, questions that we never would have thought of

5:41

asking as a brewery magazine because we didn't have the expertise background and

5:47

were able to learn that. And I and I'm sure it you guys probably had that situation. Props to you though. You you went, you

5:53

know, talking to people left and right, hearing all sometimes probably horror stories and or the challenges and you

5:59

guys still went through it. So that shows some gumption on on your part as well. I mean, was that in those last year and a half like, yeah, we want to

6:05

do this, but then remember we've heard all these stories. I mean, was there any of that kind of conflict uh by

6:11

listening? Oh, for sure. Um, but you know, throughout the interviews, it really

6:16

just we have even more friendlies in the space now than we did going into it, right? So many more people in our circle

6:23

that we can reach out, ask questions to. Hey, this like didn't quite come out the

6:28

way we expected it. how do we tweak this next time or what can we do and like how did you set up this process that we have

6:35

now just this whole gambit of different experiences to reach out to that

6:40

I know we were looking before but the timing really felt right that

6:45

it helped build our confidence and knowing we had so many people we could reach out to and help us in this space

6:51

and I mean John to your point I don't know how anybody does this on their own so for you to just jump in and do it solo is bonkers like we're we are, you

6:59

know, putting in huge long days between the two of us. We have extra help and we're still just like, how the hell does

7:06

anyone do this solo? Like, kudos to those people. That's an insane amount of work and trying to keep organized. I

7:13

would say from that this experience, it's really given me a better perspective on like why some things fall

7:19

to the wayside that I'm like, how do you let that fall to the wayside? You can't do that. You need that to succeed. And

7:25

now into it I'm like, "Oh, I could see how a lot of stuff falls to the wayside.

7:31

It's a lot of work, but gratifying." Well, exactly. And why why the thought

7:38

process? Why the purchase finally? And why, you know, what made sense to you guys at this point

7:44

to be able to go, you know what, financially this is going to be a a good thing for us to do because it is a a

7:51

scary industry at this time. and you had I'm sure you had some of that knowledge going in, but it you know why why was it

7:57

the time now? Um I'm just going to come right out and say it however that comes across. Um

8:04

financially it made sense because the market's low. Yeah. Uh so we were able to come in at a price

8:12

point that made sense for us. Uh and it it was uh purchased as a turnkey, right?

8:18

So there was product involved in that. So, basically, we closed on the 30th and

8:24

we're able to get the doors open by July 3rd because we wanted a bit of renovation right uh out the get-go, but

8:31

because of that, you're able to start recouping some of that cost right out

8:37

the gate, which is pretty cool. And that played into the factor of things. Um, I

8:42

think that's the biggest point for me. Uh, I mean, you we could get into it's a dream, it's a passion, right? Because

8:48

we're already touching those points, right? And you know, perseverance will get you so far, but at the end of the

8:54

day, checks and balances, right? And so being able to come in on an opportunity

9:00

where, mind you, the market is kind of terrifying if you look at it strictly from just craft beer perspective,

9:08

but that's not what we're doing, right? Like we're opening the door to so many more things, uh, coffee and food and

9:16

then getting the brew pub license. So having liquor and wine and cider.

9:21

Um and what ties that in and makes even more sense to us from a business

9:27

perspective is um those are different ways to bring in

9:34

that revenue, but then also then share that similar craft story outside of just

9:40

the craft beer part. Like we get to tell really cool stories about

9:46

beer plus. Yep. I would say the quick plug on that is I mean the podcast was is and will

9:51

continue to be part of that journey and storytelling telling of building our audience and building our

9:57

offerings and honestly it gives us a different platform to market on that most other places don't have and ours is

10:03

pretty well established so that helped out as well. Um yeah it's just kind of

10:09

it just uh the best way to say is it just kind of kept working out. Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's touch on that aspect.

10:16

the the the Body byBer podcast that you guys started. Um it is um you know

10:22

there's obviously a lot of brewery podcasts and uh you know there you see I

10:27

know like Land Grant does a podcast where they actually we just talked to them a few uh months back about the

10:33

reason it started was because the brewers wanted to make sure the salespeople knew what they were what the

10:38

beer was so they could listen to it on a car ride while they're you know driving to the next stop and be able to learn a

10:44

little bit about something without having to physically sit in a chair at the the brewery and and hear about

10:49

things. Well, then they're like, "Screw it. Let's just have more fun with it and turn it into a, you know, a beer podcast about us."

10:55

Yeah. So, then for you guys, what was the genesis of the the podcast and how is it

11:01

going to kind of be a part of what Berkeley Ali Beer does?

11:06

Yeah. I mean, honestly, it's very deeply rooted in the bulk of our marketing. Uh,

11:12

even your everyday posts, right? like sometimes little generic ones pop

11:17

through here and there because it's a lot of work, but the goal is to really emphasize the story and emphasize the fun facts and the history and all the

11:24

stuff that we did on the show, but now through kind of a different platform uh more of like a real life in it. So

11:29

instead of just being like, oh well, we made this beer and it had Citra hops and shinook hops and blah blah blah blah,

11:35

come try it. It's like here's a fun fact about Citra Hops and here's like a fun history about Chinook and like where it

11:41

came from. and intertwining all of those pieces together into more of a storytelling. Uh the people behind it,

11:47

the people that invented it, you know, we focus on a lot of local, so that gives us a whole lot of stories we get

11:53

to tell amongst products that we bring in. Um so again, it's it's that storytelling building over and over. Uh

12:00

we're we're working toward uh basically adjusting our interviews into tiny bruise is what we're calling them. Kind

12:06

of like the tenny desk series. uh where instead of going to these other locations and doing interviews, we'll do

12:12

a interview and a brew on our little system. And it gives users this whole other way to interact with the show

12:18

because now they get to watch it get made. They get to see the interviews, learn about the person, and then come in and drink the beer at the same time. We

12:24

think it's a really cool full circle uh kind of next level experience for people

12:30

that's beyond just a look at our pretty beer on our patio kind of marketing.

12:36

Yeah, I was just I was just going to add because you asked about the genesis of the podcast and so essentially uh when

12:44

Chelsea and I left uh our breweries respectively, you know, it was a way for

12:50

us to stay in the industry and kind of like taking that bar on the road, right? Like taking taking the conversations

12:58

that you have with people um from behind the bar out onto the road. And then it was also like a means of

13:05

um taking kind of like similar to the brewer stories, right? It was a way for us to like show and tell about um the

13:14

consulting experience, right? Like things to do, things not to do, here's why it works. Um here's why it doesn't

13:20

work. What are other people doing? What are other people doing? Exactly. And just having that proof is in the

13:26

pudding, right? If you will. And so and then eventually we bought the brewery.

13:32

So now it's not a virtual bar anymore, right? So you can come to the bar. It's a real bar.

13:37

It's a real bar. Yeah. And it it it obviously like you said before we started recording, you got

13:42

some beers coming out uh soon. Um you kept the name Berkeley Alley Beer.

13:48

Obviously, you know, reading up on it a little bit. It's, you know, the where you guys are located, you know, kind of

13:54

what it means. It's a 12-year-old brewery. Um, it's already had a name change.

13:59

Yeah. So, did keeping the name matter to you guys or was there kind of a discussion of, okay, uh, you know, this is a

14:05

turnkey. We want to get open quick. We're not going to rebrand, start all over and have to introduce ourselves in

14:11

that aspect. What why keep the name and, you know, kind of what was the decision process on that?

14:17

Uh, the the name will get updated. Um, we've been kind of joking that like Zary

14:22

said, we didn't it was it's already gone through name changes and ownerships and

14:27

we've been kind of just focusing on a refresh, right? Uh, Berkeley Ali Beer Co

14:33

is very long and there's a lot of ease into it. My joke is my email address because my name also has two E's in it.

14:40

Like I was going to burn out the E on my keyboard. Like it's atrociously long. There's too many E's in it. um is we're

14:46

just going to freshen it, shorten it, just go with what really everyone that comes in calls it anyways with the

14:52

alley. Um it doesn't it doesn't need anything huge. There's a great following behind this bar, uh this brewery, a

14:59

great uh group of locals and people that have been coming here for 12 years. They don't need a huge shake up and change.

15:06

But we do need new people coming in. We needed it to look like women owned it. We didn't want it to kind of have that dive bar feel anymore. And so it it's

15:14

more of just a refresh, just looking to refresh things up to kind of meet our expectations. And you know, like we

15:21

said, Liz is getting her first uh beers that she brewed out this Friday. We're really excited about that. Uh and that's

15:27

just kind of that that's like a big tipping point for us, right? Like we can do all of the paint, we can do all the things, but end of the day, like people

15:33

come here for the beer. Can we rock out the beer? And I will tell you one thing, this beer is really good.

15:40

Um and we're we're excited for that. like to kind of continue getting more of ourselves throughout the space. But

15:46

again, that's also why it didn't make sense to just like hardly everything because it's not all us. There's a lot

15:53

of love, sweat, and tears that came through with people that were here before us and we're not looking to erase them. We want to keep that story alive

15:59

and just put our spin and our little refresh on it. Yeah. The the whole point is having the doors open, right? So, it made zero

16:07

sense to us outside of the couple days that the doors were closed that they were going to be closed any longer.

16:13

Right. The biggest push is you're paying rent, open the doors. Open the doors.

16:19

Open the doors. People want to be in. So, keep it open. Right. And, you know, kind of how how's

16:25

that um that transition been? I mean, you guys did you know much about the brewery before you started researching

16:32

for it? Had you been there before? you know, what did you know about the people, the area, you know, how are

16:38

those people responding to having you guys as new owners? Um, we definitely knew about the area.

16:44

We knew some about the people. We knew, honestly, probably a little bit more about uh the original brewery than uh

16:50

the secondary owners. Uh, but love the area. It's on a a strip of Denver called

16:56

Tennyson Street. It's a hip, up and cominging, familyfriendly. uh lots of really good food, food foodie

17:02

type of uh establishments that we knew we wanted to be part of this community.

17:07

Uh so that was also kind of part of the it working out. We were we were very excited to have an opportunity to be a

17:12

part of of Tennyson Street. Uh so it definitely wasn't unknown to us and we

17:18

knew they, you know, they had some awards. We knew the main brewer. Uh actually kind of knew him a bit from way

17:24

back at the first brewery I helped open. Uh it's a it's a small world. There might be a lot of breweries here, but

17:30

it's still a very small world. So, it just it was it was cool. It just again, it just kind of kept working and

17:37

it made sense. And we're we're so excited to be part of Tennyson. Yeah. And it's been really supportive.

17:42

Um the everybody that's come in has really enjoyed the change. Uh, I'm sure

17:49

not everyone, but all the feedback that I've heard and that Chelsea's heard has been nothing but supportive and positive

17:55

for having um people come in and give it some love that it it was needed and

18:02

wanted. And so, so you get to take, you know, and talk about a 12-year legacy, if you will, of

18:10

this brewery that's been here, and you get to keep it going. You get to keep it alive, and people want that. And so that

18:16

has been nothing but obvious from the community. So pretty cool. Yeah. And we touched on it already, but

18:22

uh let's dig into it a little more. I mean, you guys want to do things like adding your own food, uh gluten-free NA

18:29

options, the coffee, the the matcha bar, you know, like where are you getting

18:34

these ideas other than the fact that we want to do these, you know, like I mean are you how much thought process was put

18:40

into it? like why are those pieces important and diversification of your portfolio being able to bring in

18:47

different types of consumers? You know, you guys have done some research, you've talked to people, these pieces made

18:54

sense. Why? Yeah, I mean that that's another big piece just looping the podcast back in,

19:00

you know, um in every conversation, you know, it's it wasn't just about what are

19:05

you brewing and what events are you holding, it's also what are you seeing in the market, right? and and and that's

19:12

uh front of the line stuff. And and and then of course, you know, we read a lot. We try to keep up with market and

19:20

industry trends. And we've also read a lot of like real estate reports, right?

19:25

Like what do those um demographic reports say about the area? And that's

19:31

an 80page demographics report that we pulled in our due diligence of just like

19:36

a two mile area. Yeah. So, you know, the more you read,

19:41

the more people talk and and of course, right, you you gotta you got to sort through the BS and you got to grab out

19:47

the good stuff, but everything pointed to it. It can't just be one thing anymore. Um, that story that gets built

19:55

about craft beer, that one thing very much stays. And we kind of talked about that, too. So, it matters what kind of

20:01

coffee we're bringing in. And of course, we're very much focusing on local ingredients and supporting the community

20:08

around us, right? Because it's full of small business and these small businesses want to stay open. So, it's

20:13

this big collaborative effort of getting them into more buildings such as

20:19

ourselves and getting that product out there. Um, but I think

20:24

on on all of that, you know, the people have spoken that they they they want more than just one offering. Now, I

20:32

understand like I'm kind of pigeonholing beer and I don't I don't mean it that way, right? Because it's very complex

20:38

and there's so much to it and so many different styles, but you can you can do

20:43

that with the other products as well. So, rather than being like people are out with a group of buddies and they're

20:49

like, "Hey, we want to go here." and they're like, "Yeah, but I don't like beer." Like, that's not a problem anymore, right? Because you can get a

20:55

cocktail, you can get a wine, you can get us there, you can not drink at all, and that's awesome and we support that.

21:00

But just having the doors open and the place to go do that, it's it's really just like you're

21:06

going to be out and about anyway. Here's a spot where you can literally do you and you're not limited by those

21:13

options. But also importantly, we hope you're not overwhelmed by them either. I'm not talking like there's going to be

21:19

a full bar behind us. We're talking one or two options per category and that seems to make the most sense is it's

21:27

wider and maybe not as deep but the selection is apparent. Yeah.

21:32

Yeah. I think the we from knowing more and more about the space and the

21:38

diversity that's happening and people wanting variety is I think craft beard did this amazing job at educating people

21:45

that the the quality matters, the product matters, the story behind it, the people brewing it, but now they're

21:50

now they're growing into other sectors and want that same type of feeling across things like coffee and wine and

21:58

cocktails. And so we're we're trying to in gluten-free and NA options. So we're trying to make sure we can hit on all

22:05

those different aspects. How does the the staffing work as you as

22:11

you know with the phone needs to be answered, you know, things like that? Like when it came to, okay, we're the

22:16

owners, we also need to brew, we need to do this, like how have you guys fit into your roles and you know, what kind of

22:23

staff are you working with right now as you guys get going? Yeah. Um, so there was a staff on when

22:28

they came in. We were very happy to have everyone that was here. Uh, there are quite a few people that were on their

22:34

way out as is. Uh, like one of the girls just actually flew out to date for like

22:40

four months in Europe. So like we knew she was going out. We knew the other brewer wasn't going to be staying. He was on

22:46

the on the brink of moving. So, uh, but we have staffing. We also knew that Liz and I wanted to be here. We want to be

22:52

the face of the place. We want to be putting in hours. Uh, we want to be brewing. Liz took over back of the house

22:58

and the brewing. She's got the pallet. If you've ever watched her show, it's definitely not me. Um, and I took over

23:05

the front of house stuff and focused on events and, you know, uh, getting this

23:10

all up and organized. Uh, we just brought in one of our favorite, uh, past

23:15

co-workers and a good friend, protege, uh, and she spent 12 years, uh, managing

23:22

Starbucks. And so she's got the she's setting up our coffee program for us. But now that she's been in the craft

23:27

beer space, how do we how do we give coffee that cool beer vibe to it, right?

23:32

Like it always kind of felt that coffee was a little bit more wine. Like a little bit like just really classy and

23:39

like upscale, little hoidy toy. And we're like, I'm gonna make it cool. Like let's make coffee cool. Like we're in a

23:45

brewery. Let's have some fun with it that just coffee shops don't get to do because it's not necessarily the vibe.

23:50

Uh so we are very excited to have her. And then uh there was another ups and downers. Yeah.

23:56

Yeah. A lead a lead bartender that was here and she's staying and we are so excited that she's

24:01

staying on board. And talk about people that the regulars in this whole strip know and love and absolutely adore her

24:08

the whole street. So we are very excited to be keeping her. So and then we'll figure it out. We're

24:13

gonna need some more part-time people. But we're right now we're figuring out where all the hours fit and make sense and where we can do things and where

24:21

it's time to let some things go so we can get back and really hop in on the podcast a little bit because it's definitely been on the back burner more

24:28

than we thought it would be. Chelsea has some editing to do. I am very backlogged at editing. I also

24:33

had a child end of May too. So I have a three-month-old so that didn't help. I

24:38

get home and instead where I would be like I can work after 9. like I shower and I told Liz I was like looking up a

24:45

question the other night and was halfway through reading the question and I dropped my phone on my face and I was

24:51

like I guess I'm not going to get very far in research today like just we're getting there. We're working through it

24:57

and we still like each other at the end of it. So there you go. Yeah, we're doing something right.

25:02

Yeah. Yeah. how you know and uh I think you guys have mentioned it or you know you guys have been friends for a while

25:08

and I I think I've read about it like you know I have friends that are you know yeah they like some of the stuff I

25:15

like I mean how much is it now working daytoday you know you guys were a

25:20

podcast is like you get together every once in a while how much now are you guys working together and you know how

25:25

have things been doing it as these as as an owner this brewer mag podcast is sponsored by

25:31

keg logistics now is the Perfect time to review your keg management strategy. Whether you're seeking a truly flexible

25:37

keg rental program or intrigued by the seamless distribution freedom of paper fill, Keg Logistics is ready to craft a

25:44

personalized solution for you, ensuring you receive the kegs you need precisely when you need them. For details, visit

25:50

keglogistics.com/bwermag. Keg logistics, modern solutions for keg

25:56

efficiency. I mean, this is not our first business venture even before the podcast. Liz and

26:01

I have been working like every day together for about better part of a decade. Yeah. Better part of a decade. We're

26:06

pretty used to each other at this point. I mean, fistic to cuffs were thrown in the beginning. Yeah. Um but now it's

26:12

more like glances and we're like, oh, you need space. Let me

26:17

realize that and back off. Now is not the time to talk about this.

26:23

All right. Cool. Yeah. Do you see that as an advantage? friends

26:29

is absolutely it's an advantage. Um I mean oh my god to to to know somebody like that on a

26:37

level I'm not married or anything but Chelsea's got that part figured out too. So talk about golden circle bread winner

26:44

over here. Uh anyway uh it's a total advantage to be able to unequivocally

26:51

trust somebody like that. Um, I I do not even bat an eye at anything

26:57

that decisions. It's just like I I 100% know,

27:03

believe, trust, and honor that whatever she's responsible for or whatever you're

27:08

doing, like it's done. It's good. I totally agree with it. To me, that's that's an intense advant advantage and

27:16

um strategy and anticipation uh and just um where we're going to move the

27:22

business. I mean, two heads are better than one, right? And when you confuse those into one, it's just like one great

27:28

big moving train. So, that's that's pretty cool. And it being small and agile really allows us to

27:35

play and play very quickly, right? We can I we can come up with some sort of

27:40

marketing idea that would be fun for a specific event and we can go plan that event and Liz goes and creates the

27:46

recipe, starts brewing it up like and we can have a custom beer for an event that

27:52

is very tailored for that event that you just can't do on the bigger scales, right? When we can rock out you a two

27:57

barrel batch on something just because it doesn't need to be big. We don't need it to be a full batch. Like we get to be

28:03

really agile and have a lot of fun. How how is it that getting into the community? You guys already have some

28:09

background in that. And like you said, talking about that, how do you find your pieces to, you know, whether it's a

28:15

marketing piece to be able to move you guys forward or community piece to bring new people people in? What have been

28:21

some of the things that you guys are already kind of spitballing and and planning for, you know, in through the

28:26

rest of this year at least? Yeah. Um we we've got some some pretty good events uh that we've got planned or

28:34

in the planning uh we're big into collabor collaboration, right? I mean that's that's the piece we've always

28:40

said we've loved about this space so much. Uh is the community and the collaboration and being able to play

28:46

into that even more has been a ton of fun. Uh, we get to do some pretty big

28:51

events for breast cancer awareness that we can kind of get away with some silly things that to be honest like a male

28:57

brewery probably wouldn't be able to get away with without getting we can't give away too much on that but

29:03

it's not quite released to the public yet. Um, and you know bringing in we're

29:09

working on an event like a senior dog adoption event like that's going to be really cool. Uh, nobody focuses on the

29:14

old senior dogs but we can focus on them. Uh, trivia's been big. Uh, actually the guy that did a lot of our

29:20

editing for the podcast, he has his own trivia company. Yeah. But because we all know each other and we jive really well on ideas, we get to

29:27

play more. We get to kind of be the hosting spot for new ideas, um, new games. And we we kept it

29:35

rotating and he was willing to put that extra effort in for us. Instead of just doing general trivia every Thursday, we

29:41

we have a theme trivia every month and we do music bingo and then we do regular trivia and then we've got a rotating

29:47

game and on months where we get an extra Thursday, we're doing spelling bees, right? Like we just get to play around a

29:54

lot and personalize things because of people that we know and they they're willing to kind of dabble and play in

30:00

that game and we're we're very happy being in the experimental place of like let's see if it works. We we like doing

30:05

that stuff. That stuff's fun. Nice. Well, you know, let's uh kind of talk philosophy of ownership. I mean,

30:13

what are your core values? What are your what guides your decision- making? And, you know, how are you going to make sure

30:18

that that shows up in your beer and in your business practices? I mean, how are you guys setting that forward?

30:26

Yeah. I mean, that's going to be really focused around don't forget to take your medication

30:32

before work. I was like, I'll see if I can do this. Whoops. Not having support drinking on

30:37

the job. Yeah. Uh ask. No. Uh it's it's gonna be the story, right? Like really anything we do is

30:44

gonna have a good story behind it. It's gonna have a purpose. It's and we're going to tell that purpose behind it.

30:49

We're we're not trying to do just a bunch of random just here there. It's different things. It's it's things that

30:54

are going to have value long run. um and being very community focused and

31:00

driven and trying to get as many people's voices heard and be kind of a stomping ground for inspiration and

31:06

experimentation and good stuff to come out of here. Like I've always said, I love the breweries and little pubs that

31:13

you walk into and you just feel the love. You know, those places have like people have been married and their first

31:18

kids have gone through there and like you just know the love and first dates and that that's what we want to We want

31:24

people to walk in and just feel the love. And it already had it. And now it's just like getting getting our love

31:29

in on it. Just like getting our beers on the menu. Yeah. Um and and I know she kind of said it and and actually it had me over here

31:36

thinking. I was like, I guess we could write those core values down, tighten them up a little bit, but uh it kind of

31:42

gives it like a a bit of a Midwest vibe as well. you know, uh we're both from

31:48

originally from South Dakota, but um what I really love about when I go and

31:53

visit my family is that at no bat of an eye does anyone hesitate to come and

31:58

help. And I think that's what falls along with that collaboration e effort

32:03

is no matter what like I if whoever is here in with us either

32:10

like working the gig or like just coming in to chill and relax like whether you call that help or just like just like a

32:19

safe place to go. I don't know like if that makes the amount of people that come in and

32:24

help on the remodel. Yeah. Yeah. just like it's just very community driven, I guess.

32:32

Awesome. Yeah. Well, of the and you guys, you know, I sent you some questions ahead of time, so this is the the last one before we

32:38

get to the fun stuff. On a personal level, what's been the biggest joy of stepping into an ownership role? And

32:44

what have been those reality checks that you guys have seen since you started this journey?

32:50

Yeah, I I guess I'll go first. Um the biggest joy is the immense amount of

32:55

pride uh that comes along literally from everything you know from the the dirt or

33:02

lack thereof on the floor you know to to the to the brews to the beers going out

33:07

the door and the smiles on people's faces just uh this huge huge sense of

33:13

pride and fulfillment like it fills a big bucket right and then you know on

33:18

the the the reverse of That is that immense amount of responsibility, right?

33:25

With great power comes great responsibility. And thank you, Spider-Man. And um

33:33

uh that is a little bit nauseating at times. Uh but again, if it wasn't hard,

33:40

it it wouldn't be worth it and everybody would do it. So there's that. Yeah. Uh pride's definitely a big part

33:46

of it. I Well, it's it's having that place. People come in and they love to

33:51

come in. They love seeing the smiles. They love seeing the stuff we've been doing. Uh, and getting to interact with

33:58

the community on just a whole different level, right? Like we've been in breweries, but I get it. They weren't

34:04

ours where there's limitations on what we could do uh and could accomplish. And then the podcast was this whole other

34:10

way of connecting and engaging, but at the end of the day, we still only do so much. And now it's like, wow, we can

34:16

really bring some really awesome events and ideas and inspirations to life because we have that brick and mortar

34:23

that is is just different than being, you know, behind a screen. And that's been really really incredible.

34:30

And the eye opening I would say I don't like I don't know how anyone

34:36

does this on their own. I understand why things get dropped and Denver taxes are crazy.

34:43

freaking bonkers. That's the nauseating part.

34:52

Well, uh, you know, I think it's awesome. I always love, uh, talking to people that are, you know, getting into

34:59

it for the right reasons. Uh, so I applaud you guys for that. U, I look forward to, you know, following your

35:06

journey. I think it's really cool and you you'll get to see the opportunities that you feel like, wow, this is going

35:11

to be a really cool episode to put together. Um, I don't know if you've ever seen Adam Makes Beer, but uh yeah,

35:18

like that kind of stuff that that Adam does is so cool as well. And I bet you guys will get some inspiration just from

35:24

being behind the bar behind in the brew house. It it can help build a whole different avenue of what you guys are

35:31

doing. It's like a brewery reality show for sure. We just don't have a crew, so we

35:36

don't get as much recorded as I wish we did. Yeah, we might have to actually start using the security cameras. Just

35:41

There you go. That would actually kind of be cool just to like cut in some security footage.

35:47

And honestly, it's just me pacing back and forth in the tap room, pinching yourself and cussing and

35:53

tripping over things. Don't tell that. Well, I think it's cool, but I always

36:00

like finishing things up even though we've had some fun. some some just random fun things that I like to ask.

36:06

So, I'll you know, we'll we'll start uh with this one. Which brewery do you wish that you had opened or which beer brand

36:12

do you wish you had created? Oh, man. I mean, I know my answer. No, you go then.

36:18

Oh, man. Avery. Oh, nice. Oh, man. I wish that I had the knowledge

36:24

and the gonads to make the sour that they make. Oh my gosh. Like I love sour

36:32

beers and that's such a they they just they just do everything everything's so

36:37

well there and they've got a great food program and the new location super rad new it's not new anymore but

36:42

new yeah compared to the original one um at least locally that's where I go to I'm sure I could be get all like canon

36:50

because like they're a bajillion years old but like I'm not I'm not cool enough to spit on enough about that.

36:55

So I'm going I'm going Avery because man those are those are my favorite sours. They're so good. My brain keeps wanting to go like big,

37:02

right? Just to experience like I'll just say Kors, right? Like to uh Well, I

37:09

don't want to be named Adolf or anything, but like that scale of production. You're

37:16

welcome. You're welcome. I'm here for comedic effect. Even outside of production to like have gone through prohibition and survived.

37:23

What a wild story. Exactly. Um you're you're worldrenowned. you've

37:28

you've you know you you went through prohibition, you went through a plague like you know wars um and and uh to to

37:38

to have that level of scale and that amount of like I can't even talk about

37:44

taxes. I don't even want to see those books. You know what I mean? And yeah, but that that would be pretty cool. So

37:50

that's that's not like, you know, small or little by any means, but just to like

37:55

see the world from that point of view would be bonkers. That's that's cool.

38:01

Good answer. All right. So I I you know, in my vast amount of research, which means reading

38:07

as many articles as I could that you guys have been doing during your press tour, I would guess would be, you know,

38:13

that that's been going on here the last few weeks for you guys. Uh, I I read that you guys both worked at casinos uh

38:19

in South Dakota. Any fun casino stories that you're allowed to share?

38:26

Uh, let me figure out what level of G we're gonna story tell.

38:33

There's there's quite a few. Um, oh, I'll I'll go I'll go very PG, but it's

38:39

one of my favorite uh we'll just call them people being people moments. and I

38:44

was doing the front desk. Uh, so I I went through it. I did I did front desk, listed front desk, players club, dealing

38:51

cards, pit bossing. I did front desk, VIP rep, and like dealing cards. So this was early on. And I had this this family

39:00

come up. This is going to be two shirts because they're my two favorite people. And they get in and they're all excited.

39:05

And this is in Deadwood, so it's like Gold Rush and there's all that like fun history. And the kids stand there and

39:11

they're digging through this little thing. And the dad's like, "Oh yeah, look at all the little gold flakes." And

39:17

the and I was like, "Oh, uh, that's an ashtray."

39:23

And his wife looks at she goes, "Really?" I was like, "Well, it's been a rough drive to get here." And then like

39:30

within a week, someone was like I was like, "All right, so you go up the elevator, your room's on the second floor, take a left." You know, the spiel

39:36

you've heard at every hotel. And he's like, "Ah, cool. Are those the same elevators I take to get back down?" And I was like,

39:44

"Yeah, yep. Yep. That's that is how elevators work." Like, and you just get this weird

39:51

array of people in the casinos that I have never seen through all of my customer experience of just people doing

39:58

people people being people. You get a lot of people being people in the casino. Oh gosh. Uh, I have a lot of cool

40:06

stories of giving away a lot of money. Yeah, that's fun, too. That's pretty cool. Uh, I've handed a

40:12

guy a check for $300,000 because he hit the jackpot on the Twilight Zone

40:18

machine. It was like a progressive machine. Um, I've had multiple people

40:23

hit big on like three card poker tables or crafts tables, right? And you just get to push out mass sets of like black

40:30

chips and purple chips, right? At the time, we could only go to it was still a

40:36

$100 max when I left the casinos in 2016, so they weren't even at the thousand limit yet. Um

40:43

um but yeah, people being people. Uh speaking of takeover, I had a guy come up um when I was pit bossing uh up at

40:52

the Monarch and uh I had taken over for another lead supervisor and he first

40:59

thing he says to me, he goes, "I'm going to give you one chance to get this right." And I was like, "This is not going to go well."

41:05

And uh he's like, "You're going to print me out a free buffet for today and

41:11

you're not going to say anything about it." And I was like, "Well, let me see your card." Right? Because you have to get a certain amount of points, right?

41:17

And and basically this this guy did not um he did not play very much and he had

41:23

a thing with another person and I did not uphold that relationship. And uh

41:29

this man would come in about once a month and just stand by my roulette table and just stare at me.

41:37

Wow. And I would have a security escort him away once a month.

41:42

Talk about talk about a job dealing cards that I have never been called so many names and it's just part

41:49

of the job. Yeah. Like people are just harsh and they're just mean and you're like,

41:55

"Okay, well have a good night." Yeah, I didn't realize you sat in the superglue chair and you were stuck here.

42:01

I thought you could get out the you wanted to. Or the fact that they think that it

42:07

casino stands for free money. Come inside. That's a good one. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, yeah,

42:13

we've we've we've we each have like 10 plus years in the casinos. We we've got stories.

42:19

Tough shells. The beer space is much kinder. It's pull a handle if I'm bartending. That's

42:26

pretty easy. I can do that. It sounds like Yeah, you once you see

42:31

that everything's cake, right? Like you know they you can always be like on the taxes.

42:36

Yeah. Unfortunately, I do think that if you want to get rough and tough, do the casinos and most anything after that's

42:44

pretty pretty cushiony. You also might be a little cynical after that.

42:49

Little bit. Yeah, it happens. Well, uh, finally, if you guys weren't in the brewing world and you've had some

42:56

jobs outside of it, and so this might even be an easy answer, what strange career would you want to be in instead?

43:03

A stripper, but you couldn't pick out a brewery.

43:13

She had that one right there. Um, well, goodness, mine's going to be

43:20

lame now. She's like stay-at-home mom. No, the uh Did that was a lot of fun. It

43:27

was very gratifying, but I got a little stir crazy. If it actually goes into the casinos, I would love to go back and

43:33

deal sports betting because like sport betting. Is that the right way to say that?

43:38

I think they just do it. You just sport bet. Are you talking about like analyzing the

43:44

numbers like getting odds like Vegas odds or just like inputting a number? Yeah, I don't know. I think it's like

43:51

keynote. You just say, "What numbers do you want?" So then maybe it wouldn't be that much fun. But to me, or it would be like a

43:58

sports podcaster, like if I can just basically sit and geek out about sports and get paid for it, I'm pretty happy

44:03

with that. That's an okay way to spend my day. So that's I'll leave it. Something where I get to geek out about sports all day.

44:10

That'd be awesome. And that was that was my former career before this was I went from sports to beer. So,

44:17

yeah. So, when you come to Colorado, let's combine those and make something cool

44:22

happen here. Yeah, I'm down for it. Well, awesome. I appreciate you guys taking the time. The

44:29

uh the podcast, I hope it keeps going as well as it does. I hope the the brewery is going to, you know, be taken off for

44:35

you guys and people are going to appreciate it for what you guys are and uh I'm looking forward to seeing how you guys do.

44:41

Thank you, John. Thanks, John. Really appreciate it. This Brewer Meg podcast is sponsored by Keg Logistics.

44:48

Now is the perfect time to review your keg management strategy. Whether you're seeking a truly flexible keg rental

44:53

program or intrigued by the seamless distribution freedom of paper fill, Keg Logistics is ready to craft a

44:59

personalized solution for you, ensuring you receive the kegs you need precisely when you need them. For details, visit

45:06

keglogistics.com/bwermag. Keg logistics, modern solutions for keg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPUrZiTEWOI