Our Family Story
ROOTS
Independence. Creativity. Collaboration.
From a very young age I knew what brought me joy and happiness. Through my life that understanding has been a guiding force in all that I do. The most rewarding experiences for me have always come while participating in a collaborative process where creative innovative people work together to manifest a shared vision. This love for working with people and watching new ideas come into reality led me to San Francisco State University where I majored in Theater Arts with an emphasis in performance and learned to work in a large production environment with many moving parts.
SAYING YES
Trust. Faith.
When a friend asked me to partner with him in purchasing Grass Valley’s long standing home brew shop and fermenting hub I said YES, Let’s do it! Though I had never fermented anything before, my intuition was telling me that this choice would lead me down a valuable new path full of growth, rich in community and personal development. I fearlessly took the plunge and started moving forward.
SUPPORTING COMMUNITY
Friendship. Service.
The first year of running Sierra Moonshine was a full time immersion course in all things fermented and I learned quickly with mentorship from the previous owner MEK (an OG #Brewzard) and my biz partner Justin. With all this energy we decided to start our own Brew Club and began hosting monthly meetings so that local brewers could come together to make friends, knowledge share, taste new flavors and be inspired.
DISCOVERING THE DREAM
Opportunity. Listening. Integrating feedback.
It was so exciting stewarding a local legacy business, developing super rad new skill sets, and serving my community, but we were struggling and knew we needed to do something more to take it to the next level. We decided that in order to grow we had to dream big and make a real impact for home brewers everywhere. Over our favorite coffee one morning we had the eureka moment and knew what to do. We decided to make the first fully deconstructable, highly durable, & completely sanitizable “pro brewers” siphon starter that would alleviate the frustration and disappointment we saw brewers having with disposable plastic auto-siphons and racking canes. Thus The BrewSSSiphon™ was conceived as the first installment in a series of new and improved Brewsensible™ tools that would offer brewers a much needed upgrade while also making a commitment to sustainability.
MAKING IT A REALITY
Perseverance. Determination.
Neither of us had any experience in manufacturing and started where anyone would, by making a quick google search and as luck would have it we found an experienced local engineer who created a beautiful design & connected us with overseas manufacturers. Almost exactly one year from our Eureka moment on May 1st, 2016 we launched our “Pro Brewers Siphon - A Home Brewing Essential Tool” campaign on Kickstarter to a resounding success from home brewers in over 15 countries around the world.
STEPPING UP SOLO
Discipline. Integrity. Follow Through.
Often as the journey unfolds there are unexpected events that arise to challenge our resolve and I have had my share on the road including manufacturing errors, separating from my business partner and subsequently selling Sierra Moonshine. After saying goodbye to the shop I decided to bootstrap the future and set up the Brewsensible™ warehouse and shipping center in my garage at home. It has been very exciting taking sole ownership and responsibility for delivering the product I set out to create . With a commitment to transparency & fueled by an endless stream of positive encouragement and support from the home brew community I have been able to persevere and successfully deliver on my promise!
FINDING DEEPER PURPOSE
Sustainability. Wisdom. Stewardship.
The transition from a crowdfunding project to running an e-commerce business has brought with it a new learning curve & also a clear awareness of the huge amount of unnecessary waste that is created by traditional packaging and shipping materials. This is why we have made a commitment to sustainability by using the most thoughtfully selected, comprehensively researched, and eco friendly materials available to help consumers reuse or recycle their packaging responsibly. We believe that by making this choice not only in our packaging but also in the stainless steel & silicone materials used in our products we can inspire others to make small but meaningful decisions that will better help steward our environment.
THIS IS ALL ABOUT FAMILY
Quality of life. Legacy.
What started as an entrepreneurial venture between two friends is now transforming into a truly family run business. My brother has become my business partner and technical guru, my sister in law consults on creative direction, my mom and dad pack and prep inventory for shipping, and my wife has been a huge help and sounding board at every step. Collaborating with my family has been one of the most rewarding turn of events I could have ever hoped for. My two sons now get to watch their family work together to support each other. This is totally rad and directly in line with what I see as the heart of homebrewing!
Friends and Family Uniting!
WHATS NEXT
MAGIC.
I can't say exactly what lays ahead but, I do know that with a continued commitment to: sharing our process transparently, openly listening to authentic customer feedback, and thoughtfully selecting ecologically friendly materials, we will be able to create more tools that are Essential to your home brewing experience. We hope you will join us on this mission and look forward to including you in the process.