George Thornton had many fantastic milestones in his career in beer. From humble beginnings slinging beer kits to home brewers at a San Diego homebrew store to building a thriving, symbiotic brewery/homebrew hybrid. He won AHA Homebrew Shop of the Year in 2018 for fuck’s sake. 

George will explain how he sees rampant commercialism and growth for growth’s sake as a primary reason for the eventual demise of Home Brewing Company. See, he opened the homebrew shop in 2012, expanded to a brewery a few years later and closed them both in 2022. 

He’ll share his nightmare landlord stories, his endless pivots and their endless capital requirements. But, I think, most of all he’ll share a pointed insight into what an over-crowded market can do to the small guy. He’s got opinions and insights from the West coast that are relevant to the beer industry as far away as West Virginia. 

I was the most struck by George’s attention to detail and almost overwhelming ability slash compulsion to pick apart the status quo, think around the problem and improve incrementally where he could. This in an invaluable piece of the entrepreneur pie. But like we continue to hear, it wasn’t enough to keep George and Home Brewing Company in business. 

This is the story of George’s dream and how the first phase of it ended on May 22, 2022. And we’re lucky enough that he shared it with us. 

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