Keep Going, It’s Worth It

Immersed in beer culture, I had learned that in countries like Ireland and Germany, there had once been a brewery for every town or village, and I thought, why can’t New England be like that? The first day that I opened my brewery, I felt like I was doing my part to make that dream a reality—but hold on, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s rewind…

Once upon a time, I was living and going to school at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I. Naturally, I was working as a chef to learn the restaurant industry, but with a culinary arts school in the city, kitchen jobs were hard to come by. Even though I was still drinking your typical macro-produced beer at that point, I was becoming more and more interested in “good” beer as well as the brewing process. That curiosity and my lack of employment (read: need for beer money) led me to a small BOP (brew on premise) called Brewers’ Heaven, located just outside the city. I walked in for the first time, spoke with the owner and walked out with a job.

I started out scrubbing buckets, and washing kegs and bottles—basically whatever the brewers didn’t want to do, I did. I was happy to have a job, but I had no real idea what I was doing all this work for until my second week, when one of the brewers snuck me a small taster of his Cooper Ale (being of a certain age, I wasn’t able to sample any of their beers). Just those few moments from the beginning to the end of the glass was all it took. I didn’t care how much work needed to be done; if this was the end result of that work, I was in.

Just a few months later, I was promoted and began my training as a brewer. After another few years of brewing in Providence and in Bar Harbor, Maine, at Maine Coast Brewing Company, I returned home to Massachusetts with the full intent of setting up my own brewery. It took me some time and a lot of work, but I got there, beginning with my own small BOP. If I had only known what was going to happen later…

Over the next five years, I experienced an identity crisis as a company owner and as a brewer. Setting up my own BOP and a homebrew shop was indeed a great way to get started. Cody Brewing Company was added to the business with three traditional-style beers, and soon after, we closed our BOP/homebrew shop and put a tavern in its place. We were officially a brewpub. Adding a taproom let us expand our offerings. After a year and a half in business and with a devoted local following, it was time for us to move on to a town that was ready for the kind of brewery we wanted to be: Amesbury, Mass. It’s a small, beautiful town on the Merrimack and Powow rivers, filled with friendly and down-to-earth people. Needless to say, the brewery has been welcomed with open arms by the local government, businesses and residents. Establishing ourselves in a new town inspired a new outlook on my identity as a brewer and where I wanted the brewery to go. Simply being a craft brewery with endless options of styles and flavors has been refreshing, and finally gives me the freedom to concentrate on doing what I do best. I was lost, but now am found.

Starting with the fundamentals and guidelines of the traditional styles, but adding our own influence, has definitely proven to create some interesting beers. The possibilities are endless for us; we have a great lineup of beers, some traditional, some not. While I love brewing up some of our single batches, like Wasabi Lemongrass Lager, Fruit Cake Strong Ale or our Gee Man’s Hypnotic Tonic created by my part-time brewer Chris “Gee Man” Gendron. No matter what I brew, the point is that I get to do what I love. One of the best parts of being a brewer is watching and listening to the reactions of the people in our community who enjoy my beer.

I could have written about a number of topics, from growing hops to brewing Sour Ales, to our local beer market or even the new nanobrewing craze. The reason I decided to tell you this story instead is to send a message to all of those who have that dream of brewing or owning a brewery some day. The market is out there—people are being exposed to good beer for the first time every day. I celebrate all those breweries who take the leap and shoot for that dream, as well as those guys who are just getting things going, like Nowhere Brewing Company in Salem, Mass., and my soon-to-be new neighbor, Riverwalk Brewing. It might take some time to get there, and when you do, there might be a million problems and obstacles, or you might find yourself going in a different direction than you originally thought, but I will leave you with this: No matter what knocks you down, keep going—it’s worth it. ■