Caitlin Able

Total Run Time: 6:31

Audio Transcript:

Becky: I started brewing in college. The physics department that I was a part of was really small, and one of the guys in the department brewed and he would invite us to come help out. And it was really fun to do, y'know, we'd just hang out.

Becky: So I learned it there, and then when my husband and I were dating, he became interested in craft beer and I got him his first homebrew kit our first Christmas together. And it's kinda just come from there. It really was his dream - to start the brewery, and I just said,"If we're gonna do it, let's do it. And I'll do what I can to help," y'know? So, it's definitely -- it definitely started as his dream and quickly kind of became the family thing.

Becky: We technically are on Main Street, even though we are outside of the historic district. That's kind of been a double-sided thing from that, like we're not eligible for any of the grants and stuff that are offered to businesses within the historic district, but it also means that our rules are a little relaxed compared to them, so that's kinda nice.

Becky: It's been fantastic to work with the city, with Main Street McMinnville, with the Tourism Board because they're very supportive of anything we can do to bring business downtown. And we want to help with that. We try to partner with some of the other businesses down here, like a lot of the artwork and stuff on the walls, I went downtown here and bought to support the other businesses.

Becky: Shop Small Saturday was our opening day last year, and we offered discounts for people that brought in a receipt showing that they had shopped locally. We do a lot with Smooth Rapids, right around the corner. They have been really big supporters of us, and we try to really support them as well.

Becky: I really like that we're kinda getting to that point where a lot of us downtown businesses really try to support one another, 'cause it's all about trying to get people down here.

Becky: Growing up here, seeing what downtown has become now is such a cool thing to see, because it was not that way when I was a teenager. It's been really fun when we have people come visit from out of town: they'll come visit family where they grew up here. They come in and they're like,"I can't believe we have a brewery! I can't believe that we have these cool restaurants downtown and these boutiques and everything!" So it's neat to see them come in and be excited about the changes that are happening in their hometown.

Becky: We are actually getting ready to start a couple of guest taps, but up 'til now, everything that we sell has been ours. And our guest taps will also be small craft breweries. I think our first two are going to be Calfkiller, out of Sparta, and VonSeitz Theoreticales, which is out of Smithville. We're really big on staying away from big beer because of the way that the market is. Craft beer makes up like, a percent of beer sales.

Becky: The community within craft beer is so cool because it's not competitive. Everyone is very much like,"You like craft beer? I like craft beer! I make craft beer; you should come try it. Oh, and that person likes my craft beer, so maybe they'll like yours so I'm gonna send them your way to try yours." It's really cool how big of a community it is. Specifically with like, Calfkiller brothers, as we got going we could call in and say, "Hey, we're having this issue where it seems like our beer isn't fermenting out like it should in the amount of time, do you have any suggestions?" or "We've tried this recipe and it's not quite doing what we think, do you have any suggestions for what we can do there?" And then we've had up-and-coming brewers call us too to say,"Oh, I did this paperwork, what's my next step?" So it's its own community, which is really cool.

Becky: But, yeah, so far everything that we've done we brew in-house in the back. Most of it is my husband's different recipes, and I'll have a few here and there as the inspiration strikes me.

Becky: We kinda sell it as an experience. So, my favorite class that we did, we actually had a group of 8 come in, and they each had different styles that they were brewing. And we teach them how to brew a gallon at a time, and there's kinda a kit and a process. And so, they all did different kinds, and while they were brewing, they would wander around and look at each other's. And then once everything has undergone fermentation, we bottle it - and we invite people to come back and bottle if they want to, or we can just do it for them - and then a month later, they come back and they pick up their beer, right? So with this group of 8, they actually got together and had a tasting party when they picked everything up and tried each other's stuff. And it's just really neat to see people embrace the process and get excited about kind of the craft behind it, and it's just really fun to share our passion for brewing with people.

Becky: It's really neat to have people come in that-- we've had several come to homebrew classes that, all that they drink is big beer, like Budlight or Miller Lite, and then they come in and brew something with us. And, to see them get excited about that process and to kinda help educate to an extent on the difference between craft beer and big beer and why it's important to support craft breweries: it's really fun to do, and it's really-- it speaks to me as a teacher too, to get to talk about it.

Becky: We really like, from the beginning that there's this community aspect to the brewery. We do still end up with people who will kinda be on their cellphone the whole time, but it's spurred a lot of really interesting conversations between people that you wouldn't necessarily expect to see conversing, like we have this couple that live in like, a tiny house, and they're really chill and very hipster, I guess, if I had to categorize them. And you'll see them sitting next to this like, buttoned-up banker, and they're just sharing a pint and talking about anything and everything. And that's-- it's really cool to see, especially with our community-style tables, y'know, you end up sharing a table just because there's no more space, and that does, that causes a lot of conversation about McMinnville, about general things in life. I don't know; it's kinda neat to see that.