Grapevine resident entrepreneur Gary Humble is the heart and soul behind upstart Grapevine Craft Brewery.
By Linden Wilson
About a year and a half ago, entrepreneur Gary Humble stoodbrin the garage of his Grapevine home on a Saturday morning brewing brown alebrlike he had done for nearly two years. He'd long been searching for the perfectbrbusiness opportunity — even considering a cupcake shop — when suddenly thebrthought struck him: Why not open a brewery in the heart of historic Grapevine? Itbrmight have seemed like a stretch back then. But now, Humble's Grapevine CraftbrBrewery is launching with some of the tastiest Texas suds north of Shiner, and hebrcouldn’t have done it without the support of the Grapevine community.
Humble beginnings
A native Louisianan and self-professed Cajun boy, GarybrHumble and his wife, Andrea, lived in eight states during their first 10 yearsbrof marriage before settling in Grapevine. After trying for eight years to havebrchildren, they finally welcomed both of their little boys at Baylor RegionalbrMedical Center at Grapevine — Grant in October 2011 and Evan in March of thisbryear.
“We had ourbrkids here, then bought a house here, so Grapevine just became home,” Humblebrsays of the charming North Texas suburb he's lived in for the past five years,brduring which he spent time serving as a pastor at Southlake's Gateway Church. Yetbronce he decided to turn his passion into a business, Humble realized his role inbrthe community was about to change drastically — and that more and more peoplebrwould soon know his name.
The craft beer movement has beenbrgoing strong for several years, with Americans opting to drink uniquely flavorfulbrlocal brews rather than big brands like Coors and Budweiser. In late 2011,brNorth Texas had only three microbreweries: the McKinney-based Franconia, FortbrWorth's Rahr & Sons and Deep Ellum, located near downtown Dallas. The nextbryear, Revolver Brewing opened in Granbury, and Lakewood Brewing popped up inbrGarland, but there was still nothing in the Mid-Cities. Humble knew hisbrexperience as a home brewer combined with his passion as an entrepreneur — andbrthe fact that no brewery yet existed between Dallas and Fort Worth — made for thebrperfect recipe for a successful microbrewery business.
Generating buzz
In January of this year, the Grapevine Craft Brewery proposalbrwas unanimously approved by the town's city council, and word quickly spreadbrthat Grapevine would soon be home to something other than wineries.
“I went inbrto that meeting ready to answer difficult questions, like why I would want abrbrewery in a town that's all about wine,” Humble says. “I kind of expected somebrpush-back, but there was none. They absolutely loved the idea, loved our brandbrand thought we really nailed the feel and the culture of Grapevine.”
GCB'sbrbranding stretches across its website, which Humble created using prior webbrdevelopment experience, as well as its logo design — T-shirts, beer glasses andbrmore were developed by Grapevine designers, Buzzbomb Creative. The two-manbroperation with experience in PR business development and graphic design helpedbrelevate the brewery's brand to what it currently is — a rustic yet clean lookbrthat immediately evokes the thought of sipping a cold one on the porch during abrsweltering summer's day.
After thatbrtriumphant January meeting, it was full steam ahead for Humble, who admits hebrwas shocked by the community's overwhelmingly positive response.
“The doorsbrweren't just opening — they were being blown wide open,” he says. “I felt likebrthe idea was now pulling me along. I was having to keep up with the momentumbrthat the community was generating about the brewery.”
Committed to community
From the beginning, Humble knew Grapevine Craft Brewery had tobrbe a community business. While raising capital for the start-up, he markedbr$50,000 to be funded from the Grapevine community and surrounding areas via thebrcrowdfunding website, Fundable. He began the online campaign this past May, andbrby the mid-July deadline, Humble blew past his goal, raising nearly $62,000 andbrreceiving the title of one of the most successful microbrewery start-ups inbrhistory (only one other U.S. brewery has topped $60,000).
“We spent a significant amount ofbrtime gaining traction on social media,” he says, of the reason the brewery hadbrso much success raising capital online. “I've seen a lot of people launchbrkick-starters, and they've got like 75 likes on Facebook — you can’t gobranywhere with that. We had about 2,000 likes before we even ventured out intobrthe campaign, and now we’re over 5,200. We were sure to build the socialbrcommunity — making sure people were aware and were talking about us — first.”
Clearly the people of Grapevine notbronly wanted a brewery to call their own, but they were also willing to putbrtheir money where their “likes” were. The brewery was created out of and inbrresponse to the community's wishes, and accordingly, it plans on giving back tobrthe people who made its existence possible.
“We are abrcommunity entity, so we thought it was important for the community to have somebrsense of ownership of the brewery,” Humble says. “We are going to continuallybrgive five percent of our profits back every quarter, just like we would anybrother investor. We decided right away that our first partnership would be withbrlocal organization, GRACE, so we gave that five percent away right then.”
The fundraising success didn't stopbrthere: Three local businesses agreed that if Humble reached his $50,000 goal,brthey'd write GRACE a check for an additional $500. In total, GRACE receivedbr$4,600 as a result of Humble's crusade.
From the ground up
Choosing where to set up shop proved to be more difficultbrthan Humble predicted. After nixing the idea of using an existing structure tobrhouse Grapevine Craft Brewery — Grapevine has a very limited industrialbrdistrict, most of which is located on DFW Airport property — he decided tobrbuild on a piece of land off of Main Street. However, construction delaysbrpushed the building's opening date from this month to March 2014. Beer-loversbrneedn't worry, though — Humble and his team are already brewing out of abrtemporary space in Farmers Branch and are scheduled to be on taps the firstbrweek of November.
When the brewery does open, it willbrbe a two-level, 8,100-square-foot barn-like structure complete with an outdoorbrpatio, upper level tasting room and space for a 30-barrel brewhouse — a placebrfor the community to enjoy and gather, soaking up the delicious brews producedbrthere.
“We'rebrgoing to be a block off Main Street, and we want to be a business that thebrcommunity is proud of,” Humble says. “We're in Grapevine, Southlake,brColleyville — that's our neighborhood, so we have to up our game. If we'rebrgoing to build a brewery in this area, we have to put our money where our mouthbris.”
To help him launch the business, Humblebrenlisted the expertise of head brewer Caton Orrell, a 10-year veteran frombrBoulevard Brewing in Kansas City (Boulevard is one of the top 10 largestbrmicrobreweries in the country), and assistant brewer Jon Powell, a longtimebrhome brewer who completed a six-month brewer's training program with thebrAmerican Brewers Guild this past July. Powell is also a certified cicerone,brsomeone who is sensory trained to know how to pair food with beer — there arebrfewer than 30 in the entire state of Texas.
“We willbralso be bringing on someone to lead our distribution because we will bebrself-distributing,” Humble says. “So from grain to glass, no one touches ourbrbeer but Grapevine Craft Brewery. When that beer gets poured into your glass,brit came directly from us.”
Using brewing equipment from Canada,bra mill from Germany and a keg wash from California, GCB is currently producing Lakefirebrrye pale ale, the first of Humble’s four signature brews to be distributed to approximatelybr50 area restaurants, including The Ginger Man in Southlake and Flips PatiobrGrill, Peace Burger, Chill Sports Bar and Tolbert’s in Grapevine. Inspired bybrthe leisurely summer atmosphere surrounding Lake Grapevine, the flagship brew isbrrefreshingly hoppy and spicy with a sweet maltiness. The three other brews —brSir Williams English brown ale, Monarch wheat and Nightwatch stout — willbrfollow Lakefire in the coming months.
Local beer with localbrflair
As the North Texas craft beer scene continues to explode —brCobra Brewing Co. out of Lewisville recently announced plans to open in thebrcity's historic Main Street district — Humble's Grapevine Craft Brewery standsbrout because of what its brand is all about: giving back to the community. With closebrto 200 “community owners” (those who invested in the brewery through Fundable),brthe brewery has many supporters who are both eager to sample Humble'sbrdistinctive brews — high-quality beer made with only the finest ingredients — andbralso eager to see him succeed.
“We love Grapevine, and I've beenbrwanting to start a business for a long time,” Humble says. “Being anbrentrepreneur, at some point you have to take the risk and jump.”