Today we’d like to introduce you to Jon Powell
Jon, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I went to college in 2003 out in Northern California. A town called Arcata in Humboldt County. There was less than 50k people in a 25 mile radius, yet there were 4 breweries. I was shocked at the selection of beers in the stores. College house parties had people bringing over 6 packs of IPAs instead of cases of Natty Light like I was use to in Texas.
I was lucky enough to work for a wine bar in my senior year of high school as a prep cook. I learned a lot about wine and became enthralled with the science, history, and culture of alcohol products. So naturally, as I started to learn about craft beer, I went in head first. When I moved back to Texas in 2008, I realized the state was severely lacking in craft beer and knew it was only a matter of time until that changed.
As a homebrewer, I focused on classic styles and learning the science. My background is Environmental Science, so data driven “experiments” were my preferred method. I eventually applied to American Brewers Guild and was accepted. Not even half way through my program, I learned about a brewery being opened in the town next to where I grew up, Grapevine. I immediately contacted the folks opening the brewery and was homebrewing with the founder. Then he asked if I would take his equipment to my parent’s barn and brew the R&D recipes, since he was not an experienced homebrewer.
Next thing I know, I am helping to open Grapevine Craft Brewery and learning a ton along the way. As a startup, it was a lot of hard work and a lot of hours. I realized that as much as I was proud of what I was doing, I didn’t want to sacrifice all my personal time for a business that I had no stake in other than being an employee. It also became clear to me that I disagreed with the direction of the business.
I went to work for one of the oldest breweries in DFW, Rahr and Sons. There I was able to learn how an established brewery ran and evolved. Once again, I learned a ton. After 3 years there, my now business partner, Brian Burton, and I had an opportunity to open a brewery in location in Denton. We spent almost an entire year drawing up plans and getting ready to start construction when the building became no longer available due to the landlord’s choosing. We tried to pivot to another location and had success, but the landlord became greedy and we could not justify signing the lease agreement as it would have surely bankrupted us within a few years at the most.
So we both went back to brewing for other breweries. That’s when our good friend who owns 3 Nations Brewery told us that we could contract brew at his facility. We were ecstatic and knew we would have to adjust our plans, but we began right away.
Hop and Sting’s first beer, Galactic Haze, was released in Nov of 2017 and we ended up securing our current facility in June of 2018. The facility we are in now is the former Grapevine Craft Brewery facility. Amazing how things come full circle sometimes!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Absolutely not!
Aside from the startup location issues, we had very little start up funding. So when we took over our Grapevine location, we were month to month. It was extremely stressful and I was losing sleep over it. Many times I wondered (and still do occasionally) if we had made a horrible mistake.
We had just gotten through our first 18 months when COVID hit. We really thought we had turned a corner in early 2020 and then COVID wiped out everything. Thankfully, we were able to get government assistance to carry on and put our heads down to get to work. We noticed a gap in draft beer being distributed and focused on that.
There are always issues in every business, but brewing is unique because we are going up against companies with so much competitive advantage over us.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We brew beer for everyone. We have a beer that almost anyone can enjoy, even if they do not consider themselves a “beer drinker”.
We love beer, but we realized that the love of beer really is due to the fact that we are often drinking beer with people we love. Great company makes beer great! So we approach everything we do with that in mind. Our beer and our establishment are meant to be enjoyed with others. Whether they are someone you’ve known all your life or someone you’ve just met, we feel that these interactions are the reason why beer is so popular.
We’re most proud of our Light Lager, Aluminum Cowboy. We wanted to make a good version of a Light Lager. One we could actually enjoy. Aluminum Cowboy is a beer that any light beer drinker will enjoy, but also beer aficionados. We do not use corn or rice like the typical light beers and we actually lager the beer to clarity as opposed to using filtration. It has so much more flavor than a typical light beer and it is are most popular seller.
What matters most to you?
Community. We are well aware of how lucky we are to have so many great people around us and we wouldn’t be who we are without them. As we’ve become business owners, we’ve met so many others that have come before us and we are able to use them as a guiding light in our own business development. There is no doubt that the people who make up our organization and those who support us in many ways are our greatest assets.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hopandsting.com
- Instagram: @hopandsting
- Facebook: @hopandsting
