Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Zirpolo.
Matthew, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
We all grew up on San Diego and became friends in High School at La Costa Canyon. After college Anthony started brewing at Stone, Derek ran operations and construction while I spent five years going door to door selling copiers. I had Anthony’s delicious beer and approached him with the dream of starting a brewery. Anthony and Derek had been home brewing for over a decade so it was obvious that Derek was the last piece of the puzzle. We spent 3 years working multiple times a week on the brewery and finally after years of hard work opened Burgeon Beer Co. The name Burgeon means to grow, we chose that name because we all grew up here and want to consistently brew new beers while growing our craft. We also decided to have a growing theme in the tasting room with a huge tree, live wall and lots of natural wood elements. We are now one year in and have been incredibly happy with how fast our dream has grown.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Starting any Business isn’t easy. We faced many struggles, but the biggest hurdle was finding a property. It took us a year and a half to find a location. Finding a space with the appropriate power, water, gas, ceiling height and foundation was like finding a needle in a hay stack. We also wanted to find a space that we could grow into. Although it took us a long time we learned that everything happens for a reason and couldn’t be happier with our current location. Overcoming all these struggles really taught us how to work hard and persevere through challenges.
Please tell us about Burgeon Beer Co.
I wouldn’t say we specialize in anything in particular, but more so that we like to push the boundaries and consistently brew new exciting beer. For example we were the first brewery in SD to brew a zero IBU beer. We were also one of the first to start making New England IPA’s.
As a brewery we believe that brewing new beers all the time allows us to grow, improve and learn more about beer than we ever could if we just brewed the same beers over and over again. We strive to brew great representations of every style because we truly believe there is a beer for everyone.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I can’t say that we would change a thing. Through all the struggles we learned how to work together and achieve our goals. It was stressful, but I would do it all over again.
Contact Info:
- Address: 6350 Yarrow Drive, Suite C
Carlsbad CA 92078 - Website: www.burgeonbeer.com
- Phone: (760) 814-2548
- Instagram: @burgeonbeer
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/burgeonbeer/
- Twitter: @burgeonbeer
Image Credit:
Jimmy Gekas and Steve from Beerfriends_
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