Homebrewing has been a topic of discussion many times here on Beer Me, but we haven’t had many opportunities to dive into what it looks like to transition from hobbyist to professional. While it is a path that requires tenacity, there are certainly rewarding moments along the way. 

This week, we welcome to the show Jason Bell, Founder of Living the Dream Brewing in Littleton, Colorado. He takes us through his path in kitchens, restaurants, beverage sales, and finally opening a brewery. 

His brewing path started with homebrew, and he describes how his mindset needed to shift from homebrewer to commercial brewer and what that entailed. He shares the challenges he constantly considers with brewing consistency, distribution, ensuring staff wellbeing, and brewing for the guest. 

The road to opening a brewery is often condensed into a quick blurb on a website, “engineer turned brewer”, but the story is usually more complicated – and more exciting.  

RahrBSG

Congratulations to the team at Living the Dream Brewing as they head into their anniversary weekend! Nine years! 

Sarah Jane Curran
More Posts
Sarah Jane (SJ) Curran kicked off her love of beer while studying at The Culinary Institute of America. She continued her education with a Masters from NYU, where she focused her research on beer history and education. She was the beer director at Eleven Madison Park in NYC and General Manager at Churchkey in DC. She taught beer classes for Cornell University and AGMU systems. Currently, she is the Sr. Beverage Manager for Global, US, and Canada for Marriott International. Beer Me! makes her very happy, almost as happy as she is drinking rauchbier.