It was one of those weeks where I was on hold with the IRS for multiple hours, working through various permit and license applications, and spending a lot of time talking to our lenders (who are wonderful, but let’s be honest, not where I turn when I need inspiration). My conversation with Brian and Alissa of Green City Works was a much-needed reminder to keep our eyes ahead, because at the other side of all this is the opportunity to make a beautiful product and also make a difference in people’s lives—just like Green City Works does.

That’s right. 14,000 beer people. In one place.

Two years ago, the Craft Brewers Conference was an incredibly daunting event, despite it being on our home turf in Philadelphia. At CBC Philly, Billy and I were new to this commitment that we were going to build Triple Bottom. We felt like we had everything to learn, and nothing to offer. We looked around us at teams coming into town from some of our favorite breweries, and felt a serious case of imposter syndrome.

Returning to CBC two years later, we realized how much has changed.

It feels so great to have an address, to be able to point to a place on a map and say that we're building something exciting right here.

After nearly two years of searching, I admit that my greatest emotion since signing our lease has been relief — punctuated by tremendous moments of excitement. It’s like a big exhale. It makes all of our ideas and plans and partnerships much more concrete. They have weight. They have a future. They have a home. And, while much uncertainty still lies ahead, it’s so much easier to face uncertainty when you have a secure place to call home.

In honor of Earth Day coming up, we want to celebrate one of the most important things the earth gives to all of us, and to the beer we brew: water.

Breweries use a lot of water. Bigger breweries (not craft) use an average of just over four barrels of water for every barrel of beer produced, and craft breweries — which don’t have the efficiencies of scale that the big guys do — on average use even more. While beer is 95% water (source: Brewers Association), most of the water used in the brewing process is actually used for cleaning and packaging, and ends up going down the drain.

For us, the topic of our team — how we treat each other, the professional development opportunities we offer, and the challenges we have to prepare for — is especially important because of our mission to create jobs for people who have traditionally been excluded from the mainstream workforce. This mission is core to who we are, but we are not bringing it to life on our own. We are working with a cadre of advisors, collaborators, and big thinkers to develop the skills, resources and empathy we need to best support our team. This city is filled with people who are devoting their minds and their time to making life better and fairer for everyone. We’ve been lucky to get to know so many of these good people, and are excited to lift up some of their work here. 

As most great relationships seem to do these days, our relationship with Kyle got its start on the internet.

Bill's and my homebrewing was decent, but was never going to be the foundation of a brewery. On our most adventurous days, we brewed with a hybrid of malt and extract, but we had neither the equipment nor the expertise to begin developing creative, replicable recipes. It was abundantly clear that we needed a partner.

Triple Bottom was born from a “wouldn’t it be amazing if…” kind of conversation over a steak dinner in South America. As all great ideas do, right?

Bill and I had just left Washington, DC, where we had been working in community and economic development for several years, and were very fortunate to be able to take a trip before beginning graduate school. (It may be worth noting here that Bill and I are married, so we hang out a lot.)

(Please pretend you are reading this on March 6, 2018, which is when it was actually written. Turns out that building a website to host a blog takes more time than writing one.)

I’m sitting at my window, waiting for this next Nor’Easter to hit, feeling all sorts of confused because last week it was 70 degrees and then this weekend we got pummeled with snow, our tree fell across the street and broke all our neighbor’s windows, and my family went three days without power.

And you know? That’s kind of what it’s like to start a business.