The 2016 Small Business of the Year: Logboat Brewing Co.
Logboat Brewing Co. is named the Columbia Chamber of Commerce’s 2016 Small Business of the Year, edging out four other finalists.
Tyson Hunt and Andrew Sharp had visions of starting a band, not a brewery.
What kind of music did they play? “Bad music,” admits Hunt. “Really bad music.”
It’s 11:30 on a warm April morning, and the two co-founders have ceased business operations long enough to reminisce about the years leading up to the launch of Logboat Brewing Co.
The pair grew up together in Moberly and are even rumored to be related. A few years back, Sharp says he asked Hunt to give him bass guitar lessons, and the two started hanging out, drinking beer and making music.
he duo eventually needed a drummer, so they added another childhood friend, Judson Ball, to the mix.
The trio would gather at Hunt’s house to practice and relieve the stress of the work week. “Andrew had been a chef in Kansas City,” Hunt says, scratching his beard and sporting a wide grin. “He knew a few things about recipes, so we started to brew in my kitchen.”
Hunt says the group was initially much more interested in the tunes. “We wanted to start a band,” he says, “until the brew became much better than the music.”
Bitter Roots
The catalytic event that turned their hobby into a viable business option was a trip to Bitter Root Brewery, in Hamilton, Montana. “Bitter Root is a brew pub, but they also distribute outside their own venue,” says Hunt. “Their brewery, in a town of less than 1,000, is producing beer for the whole state.”
The team says it was mind-blowing to the people in Hamilton that a town the size of Columbia could have two brew pubs but no one offering distribution. “On that trip, they convinced us that Columbia needed someone to distribute to the rest of the restaurants in town,” Hunt says.
Realizing that it made sense for all three of them to eventually quit their jobs and open a brewery, they spent the trip home writing a business plan. Their strategy would take more than four years to implement.
“For starters,” Hunt says with a smile, “to open a brewery, you have to have a head brewer. We didn’t have one.” Along came Josh Rein, who took the leap of faith to join the team before they had any money. “We still can’t believe he actually did that,” Hunt says.
The next phase involved purchasing a pilot system and moving into Hunt’s garage. The team honed in on the recipes, brewed 15 gallons at a time, and visited restaurants and parties to hand out samples and get feedback.
With a head brewer and a product, it became easier to raise money and look for a location.
Meat Packing Plants
“We almost went south,” Sharp explains, shaking his head. “We looked at one place four times before Mark Timberlake, our engineer on the project, found this place.”
Their current location, on Fay Street, sat vacant for 18 years before being brought back to life by the Logboat team. “It was an old meat packing plant,” Sharp says. “We walked in and said, ‘Yes!’ It was perfect.”
Thankfully, when the crew walked Todd Hoien, from Hawthorn Bank, through the facility, he caught the vision, and the dream was soon underway. With the partnership of the bank and an additional investor, the team was able to purchase equipment from MCF Craft Brewing Systems in Portland and start demolition in 2013.
“Our equipment arrived in December of 2013,” Sharp adds. “That was the best Christmas gift ever.” The crew brewed their first batch of beer in March of 2014 and celebrated their grand opening two months later.
The brewery features materials from Elmwood Reclaimed Timber, out of Kansas City, including a bar top and table tops made from old, storied Missouri Heart Pine, as well as rescued beams from Horace Mann School, an abandoned schoolhouse in Kansas City, and reclaimed barn wood siding.
The site also houses the Boatyard, a large fenced playground area, designed for friends and families to celebrate life and enjoy simple times together.
With their in-town facilities and distribution running smoothly, Logboat has now moved on to distributing their product outside of town.
Cans, Bottles, and More
Hunt, the ship’s captain, hung up his guitar to oversee the brewery’s timelines, compliance, legal, and financial matters. He says the crew bought a canning line with their first equipment purchase, but didn’t use it for a year. Their first priority was to supply local bars and restaurants, and draft sales were going well enough to keep them plenty busy.
“Growth has been difficult,” Hunt says. “We’re usually real methodical, but we’ve ended up in a situation with people being really thirsty for our beer.”
The company ended up buying two new fermenters, in order to supply cans, and has now doubled the size of their brewing capacity.
At the end of 2015, Logboat purchased a small machine specifically to bottle Alien Gold, a Belgian golden ale that had been produced as an experiment and was occupying needed storage space in their barrels. They sold their first bottle in January 2016 and now have the option to bottle other seasonal beers. Hunt says their goal is to bottle one brand each month during 2016.
Hunt is excited about another experiment. “We recently opened sales in St. Louis, one of the biggest beer markets in the country,” he says. “I may be the first redhead to go gray before this is all over.”
Ball, who put down his drum sticks to lead the team’s marketing strategy, is spending most of his time in St. Louis to ensure a successful launch.
Music Memories
Sharp, who now oversees events, is thrilled to have traded his full-time job as a financial counselor for the chance to work with his best friends.
“My favorite time of the year is winter,” Sharp says. “It’s calm and there’s time to breathe. Some nights there are only 25 people in the Taproom, and we’ll start up a fire, put on some good music, sit at the bar together, and have a drink.”
Hunt likens the brewing business to his former songwriting days.
“I love creating something that’s never existed before,” Hunt says. “It’s our artistic expression.” “I’m working harder than I’ve ever worked before,” Hunt says, “but I love it. This is my town and I want to get involved and give back.
Celebrate the other four SBOTY finalists: