Like most collegiate hobbies and past times, it started innocently enough. Seven year ago, then college sophomore and burgeoning beer aficionado Jim Diley received a very thoughtful gift from his girlfriend: a Mr. Beer home brewing kit. With the help of co-founder Ryan Petz, Brian Hoffman, and Peter Grande, this little kit would eventually outgrow a basement and two different garages to become Fulton Beer, the present-day darling of the Twin Cities' microbrew scene. Just introduced last October, the brewery's IPA called Sweet Child of Vine is now flying out of the taps at some 25 bars and restaurants--including the Edina Grill--across the metro area.
Beginning Brewing
Fulton's beginnings were surely humble, and its current headquarters aren't far from where they started--literally and figuratively. Both Diley and Grande--now brothers-in-law--are proud Edina High School grads (in 2001 and 1996 respectively); Diley went on to meet Petz and present Edina resident Hoffman as undergrads at St. John's University. Post-college, the trio decided to take up residence together in the Fulton neighborhood, just a hop skip and jump over the border from Edina into south Minneapolis.
In 2007, the founders' passion started flowing, as did the beer, and the soon labeled their trial and error brews after their beloved neighborhood. "Home brewing is a big fad," Diley says, "When people brew for the first time, they're often surprised that they can make something that actually tastes good. Not amazing, mind you, but good and drinkable. That's when they get the idea, 'This would be awesome if we could really do this.'"
What makes the Fulton founders different than these average-joe brewers, though, is that they figured out a way to turn their dream into reality. As the friends began to put more energy into their hobby, their operation soon moved from the trios basement into their one-stall garage and eventually, with the building of a 10-gallon brewery, relocated to Grade's nearby two-car garage. "Like all great upstart businesses, we doubled 100 percent in size right away," he says with a smile.
Not only had Fulton crafted delicious brewing recipes for success, they also happened to have the right mix of people and know-how behind their hops and barley--Hoffman is a biologist by day, Grande is a carpenter, Diley is an attorney, and Petz is a grad student at teh University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. "it's like we're the Village People," Petz said with more than a hint of sarcasm. "We should consider donning those costumes at tastings."
A Clamoring Public
Brewing five or 10 gallons at a time, the Fulton founders soon encountered a strange phenomenon: Their beer was disappearing as fast as they could make it. They'd serve their beer at parties, and soon began providing for weddings and bachelor parties, always hoping to be left with some for themselves to imbibe, but only finding empty glasses when all was said and done.
"If we started brewing 1,3000 gallons, maybe we might finally get some," Grande says.
Last spring, Petz was met with the challenge of finding a summer internship and due to the job market, couldn't find anything that appealed to his entrepreneurial senses, so he decided to make the Fulton business venture his focus. With that, the friends got serious about the business side, formulating a plan, wrangling up the funds and eventually incorporating the business in June.
"We did a lot of fact finding and internet research, we talked to a lot of people," recalls Petz. "the more we looked around, the more we needed to know."
The Fulton crew soon began taking samples to bars and drumming up business, and eventually signed on with local distributor Hohenstein. In September, they attended their first big client-centered party, a boat event to mingle with the proprietors and managers of 100 bars and liquor stores. As they saw countless well0branded companies show up, the group realized they were in a league of their own.
"We didn't have graphics, and we sure didn't have PT Cruisers with our names painted across the side," remembered Grande. "all we had were two t-shirts and a bunch of hand-bottled label-less beers that we had brewed the night before. We were definitely the most green." Fortunately, the product spoke for itself and the group sold through 10 kegs that night, the largest premier a Hohenstein-backed company had ever had.
The need for quantity was greater than their little garage operation could produce, so the crew now makes the five-hour trek to Black River Falls, Wis., twice a month to use the brewing facilities of Sam Creek Brewery. There they can brew massive batches, yet in the very hands-on way that they're accustomed to. But, they still return to their Fulton garage to test and create recipes with their own homemade equipment, all of which rests on a brewing stand fashioned from a welded bedstand.
While they presently brew five beers, only one has been released to the public. Their very drinkable (read: not as bitter, dark or hop-forward as traditional IPAs) Sweet Child of Vine was the chosen pioneer, and it's since become popular among a heavily micro-brew-populated Twin Cities scene.
What's On Tap
Already receiving heaps of local attention and acclaim, Fulton is well on its way to becoming a household name. As the spring and summer unfold, they plan to increase production, brew more often and produce some of the four other beers from their recipe book (Worthy Atmosphere, an Imperial Stout, should be out soon). They also hope to bottle soon (think fall 2010), so that customers can bring the hoppy, malty goodness into their own homes. Someday, the Fulton crew hopes to fulfill that ultimate hoop dream: building their own brewery.
Once the Fulton folks start to turn a profit, they have big plans for giving back to their community with their Ful10 program. They plan to donate 10 percent of their profits to a micro-loan program, so that future entrepreneurs and upstart businesses can get their ideas off the ground.
"We all know that someone who has a great idea and needs one little hand up," Diley says. "If we do that enough in our community, we all really profit."
"It's part of being responsible citizens," Petz adds.
It might take some time before these four ordinary guys could quit their day jobs, but the group seems quite content with Fulton's journey. As Diley puts it, "If you like what you do, it's like you never work a day in your life."
