Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Huff.
Ryan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
What built Huff Brewing Co. was the energy of my mom, Susan, the work ethic of my dad, Ricky, and the determination of my wife, Christine.
I started out as a homebrewer in high school. There’s not much to say about my motivation. I wanted to make my own booze and I thought the idea of drinking European pub beers would make me different. I think most small-town kids are preoccupied with these things, though how we go about it is unique. At the time, homebrewing was growing more popular but it was still a niche hobby. I appreciate that more today because it left a lot of room to try new things and to mess up. I did a lot of both.
It was in high school, specifically in Art class, when I said out loud that I want to start a brewery. After graduation, I took my homebrew kits with me to university and kept brewing with varying levels of dedication. I did spend a lot of time in bars, though, and this was during the era of earning some kind of award for trying all of the beers offered at one pub. I never did any of that, but it meant that more drinkers were interested in trying more things. This was particularly true of imports, but American craft beer was making a name for itself. I also learned to set aside my preferences during this time. Drinking all of these new flavors was fun, even the bad ones.
I graduated, married, moved back to my hometown of Bellville, got a job baling hay with my dad and my wife, Christine, and had a bigger space to brew again. Coincidentally, Bellville had just gotten its first bar with taps and an openness to serving craft beer. My mom who suggested we get a license and start brewing beer to sell to that bar. That’s what we did. It also gave us a space to talk about it, introduce craft beer to people I’d grown up with, and learn the business of beer.
Things went good enough, but we recognized it’s hard to grow a beer business by making 1 keg a month. We took “the leap” and got a business loan from a local bank to get startup funding. We scoured our area looking for customers and opened up a small taproom in the brewery, which is a barn where my mom made candles and my dad kept tractor parts. It had no air condition, heating, insulation, or much in the way of amenities. It still doesn’t. Somehow, we spent some of my best nights in there serving beer to anyone who would travel that far to visit us. The first year, there were a lot of nights where we wouldn’t serve anyone because no one showed up. But we told anyone who would listen about it, and slowly people started finding the place.
This year, we opened a pub in downtown Bellville. Our regulars still come see us weekly, and we’ve met a lot of new friends as well. We have AC and heat and televisions, and we’re also serving wine besides our own beer. Right outside the front door is the sidewalk where I might have enjoyed some of my homebrew years ago.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No. I imagine most entrepreneurs feel the same. My greatest struggles were that I had no experience, no relevant education, no network, and no cash. We bootstrapped for a long time, and even that just meant we had another expense to deal with as a family. Fortunately, what I lacked in experience I made up for in ignorance. I was completely unaware of how hard it could even be. All of us in the family business dealt with this in our own way, but we had survived increasingly dangerous challenges over a span of time. That experience is what taught us the most.
I’ve recognized that challenges in business are a part of it. I’ve learned to embrace them and I’m fortunate to be hard-wired to get some thrill out of it. Don’t get me wrong, though. I have my breakdowns. They’ve only become less violent and more productive. I found my faith during the ten years of owning this business as well, which is a testimony to where those challenges can take you. I’ve also watched Christine grow into a strong businessperson and colleague, which I think she was all along.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We make and sell beer, but we specialize in and are the most proud of our service. It’s why we focused on starting a pub this year. Bellville is a fantastic community, and while we deliver our beer to some of the best bars in the area we get our energy from serving people. Bars are fantastic places, one of the few remaining buildings where communities are formed and sustained. We’re very proud to serve our community through the pub, and it’s a service we developed over 10 years of pouring beers in a barn out in the country. Even when business was slow, we knew it was important to be consistent. I remember driving to the taproom during Hurricane Harvey, sneaking through closed roads just in case someone needed a beer. Whether they did or not wasn’t important.
Ultimately, this is why we do what we do. We think the beer is really good. We also serve wine that we think is really good. We’ve also a great responsibility to the business to make sure we’re learning our lessons and managing it well.
At the end of the day, though, we’re bartenders who are really proud of every glass we pour and every person we serve.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Growing up, I was all over the place. I was a well-behaved kid who had a wild streak that stayed hidden until I could drive. I was really shy growing up and liked to keep to myself. Homebrewing is a good hobby for that kind of kid, and I learned early on the benefits of labor and patience. I come from a long agrarian line, so brewing is my duty in continuing that.
Sometimes I wonder if brewing was responsible for my sea change during my sophomore year in high school. I stopped worrying about a number of things that still preoccupy a lot of adults I know. Because I started brewing as a kid and not as an engineer like many of my colleagues, I saw fermentation as a miracle. I take a number of ingredients, boil them up, and stash them away. Weeks later, I have beer. I still see it this way, despite the number of batches I’ve made. Every one is a small miracle.
I find beer and brewing are very hopeful ambitions. The list of things that can go wrong with every batch is extensive, but we have met nature halfway and it has always given us something better.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.huffbrewing.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/huffbrewingco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/huffbrewingco/
