Winking Seal Beer Co.

From Big Hobby to Small Business

Los Angeles

2008

I started making beer in my shoebox of an apartment (200 sq ft). The small space made it laborious, and the temperature fluctuations resulting from no heat or AC made fermentation unpredictable. I loved the hobby and had some good results, but I didn't go all in.

Singapore

2014

After not brewing for my first few years in Singapore, I didn't just get back into the hobby, I went all in: a commited refrigerator for controlled fermentation, IoT devices to monitor specific gravity and temperature in real time, and spreadsheets to track everything. I love spreadsheets.

2015

Fully committed, participating in the local club, and doing my fair share of "flavor research", I decided I was ready to enter a select few beers into competition. Some were traditional, some were experimental, and my hefeweisen won the "Specialty" category.

Saigon

2015

At the recently opened taproom of a new craft brewery, my partner, his colleague and friend, and I were enjoying some drinks when the colleague/friend said "brian, your beer's better than this; you should start a brewery". Many napkin backs later, we'd convinced ourselves this was an amazing idea.

Proper business plan in hand, we courted investors and secured the working capital to launch. Winking Seal Beer Co. was born.

2016

Not six months after the original spark of an idea, I was in Vietnam, a country I'd never lived in with a language I did not speak, building a brewery. I sourced equipment and ingredients, oversaw the fit-out, and began making beer.

2017

Our taproom opened to the public, our beer sold in bars and resturaunts all over the city, and we were a favorite of local beer festivals. The best compliment a brewer can ever recieve is when someone asks for another, especially when they're spoiled for choice. I can humbly say I recieved many such compliments.

Beyond

I returned to the US before COVID, brewery chugging along, and I continued to participate as a member of the board. The pandemic hit everyone hard, and I was and continue to be genuinely impressed at the resiliancy of the team in Vietnam and their ability to keep the business running in spite of such incredible challenges.

Though Winking Seal Beer Co. made it through, the long term impact of the pandemic was too much for the still fledgling business to overcome, and it eventually folded. It was sad to say goodbye, but I grew so much from the experience and it continues to shape my life.

Page updated

Report abuse