It’s all about Creative Beers and having Fun
by John Allaire
Delaware has followed suit with the rest of North America in that craft breweries and distilleries are opening at an alarming rate. “There are maybe 19 or 20 breweries in Delaware now,” Bigelow points out. “And Delaware is a small state. Specifically, down in the beach area, you have a bunch of them within a two-minute drive of each other.” The term “competition” tends to take on a friendlier cooperative vibe between craft brewers than it does in other, more traditionally combative industries. Bigelow explains, “There is definitely more competition here now. And it does keep getting more competitive, because there is a limited amount of shelf space and a limited amount of draft lines.”
E ric Williams woke up on his 40th birthday and decided he’d had enough. Managing a paint sales store was no longer cutting it for him. He wanted change. Big change. He wanted to operate a business that brought smiles to the faces of employees and customers alike. Eric walked into the kitchen, sat down, and exclaimed to his wife, “Megan, we are going to open a craft brewery in Milford, Delaware!” Williams was an avid home brewer at the time. But favorable reviews from his friends and family weren’t enough to give him the confidence to take an immediate leap into an unfamiliar industry. So, he wisely spent two years practicing his recipes, business planning, traveling the country seeking out best practices, and assembling a team of partners. One of these partners was the company’s now Chief Operating Officer, Ryan Maloney. The two would meet in the evenings, after their jobs were done for the day, and renovate the space they were soon to call their brewery. On November 15, 2013, Mispillion River Brewing opened its doors to the people of Milford. Spotlight on Business Magazine spoke with co-owner, Lauren Bigelow about Mispillion River’s passion for brewing, their community, and the craft brewery scene in their home state.
She goes on to describe the tight-knit brewing community as being more like family than cut- throat competitors. “When something doesn’t work well for us in any area of our production, Dogfish Head (another brewery in the area) is just a call away. They’re always willing to help us, because they went through what we’re going through, maybe 20 years ago.” Mispillion River offers many varieties, styles and flavors of beer, and thus find it necessary to source their ingredients from the best suppliers all around the world. “The thing about hops is, if you put them in a different area to grow them, they’ll change based on that soil. So, we source from the traditional places where the various hops come from, to maintain that authentic quality. With the grain, we’re a little more lenient with the location. We do have a maltster located in Delaware. They just opened and we’ve used their malt for some of our beers.”
63
62
NOVEMBER 2019 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER 2019
Made with FlippingBook Online document