About Us

You could say that we got started back in 1993. It’s when co-founder Brian Roth started homebrewing. Since then, it has been quite the winding road. Officially, the idea for SBC started with a conversation in 2007. Co-Founder Rick Goddard presented the idea to Brian at a craft brewers reception in Washington, DC. Brian and Rick were both in the beer industry and had met during Brian’s annual trip to DC to lobby for the distribution side of the industry. At the time Rick was the lobbyist for the Beer Institute where he worked directly with craft brewers. It was a natural progression for both men to discuss what they would do if they started a brewery. Before long they sketched out their initial thoughts and began to plan more seriously. “Gratis Brewing” was established as an educational vehicle and to test recipes and develop early marketing ideas. It also started a whirlwind tour of North American and European breweries where Brian and Rick asked notebooks full of questions.

In 2009 we finished the initial groundwork and our plans were firmed up. It wasn’t until 2011 that timelines were established and SBC took over publicly from Gratis. The two year interval gave us time to register domains and apply for trademarks; we were gettin’ official! We also began scouting locations and created a formal business plan. 2014 brings a lot of excitement for SBC. It will be our first official year in the market. We couldn’t have gotten this far without the help of all of our friends and family. We can’t wait to get the doors open so everyone can enjoy the “brew” of all our labor. Cheers!