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...but we learned a lot...

from that, and other early failures. We all learned a ton about making beer and eventually we got pretty good at it. Our little brewing system changed locations several times over the next few years, it went from Scott's to Paul's, back to Scott's, then to Rich's before settling in Rich and Andy's shop in Petaluma. We built out a pretty sweet little brewing operation there, complete with a walk-in fridge and climate controlled (barely) room for fermenting. We bought equipment when we could afford it and continued to experiment with different styles.

Since we all had pretty demanding jobs...

and family lives (the jobs are demanding, not the families) we tried to brew on Friday nights whenever we could, which wasn't often, but often enough to keep us in personal supply. But what we really wanted to do was share our creations with other people. We threw a couple of "Oktoberfests" for friends and family that were a ton of fun (Rich's party throwing skills are truly next level). The beer was well received and we were getting more consistent results so we figured it was time to see what the general public might think.

In 2015...

we entered the Santa Rosa Battle of the Brews with no idea what to expect. It went really well. We ran out of beer and ended up winning the PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD, which was an awesome surprise. Later that year we attended the California Beer Festival where our winning streak came to a quick end. I think some little outfit called Stone Brewing won best beer. Anyway, these events were great for a little exposure, and we got lots of positive feedback. We also got invited to pour at The Santa Rosa Wednesday Night Market where we met a lot of awesome people and had a great time for a couple of weeks. More importantly, we learned that we had gotten ridiculously good at one thing... giving away free beer.

As fun as giving away beer can be...

it's a mildly flawed business model. So, while we were making and giving away free beer, we were also slowly working on all the legal stuff that allows you to sell it. Once we got legal we all chipped in and bought a 10 barrel system and all the other stuff you need to brew and since it wouldn't fit in anyone's garage or shop we built out a pretty cool space at The Barlow to hold it.

We've been on Morris Street...

since 2016 and considering the biblical events of the last few years (flooding, wildfires and a freakin' pandemic, jeez) we think we're doing pretty darn good. We owe our success to not only everyone who has supported us over the years but also to the tireless effort of our awesome staff. Sebastopol has been truly awesome.

But we've expanded about as far as we can. We were really little to start, so it's not like we're Budweiser or anything but we literally took up all the space on our little block and we still need more refrigeration space.

So we did what any logical people would do...

we built a big fridge 20 miles away in Petaluma... and surrounded it with a pretty cool taproom in a really cool old building. We're looking forward to seeing y'all there.

Thanks for all the support
-CGB
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