From the Iowa family farm and Critical Juncture Brewing Company to three locations and a distribution company, married couple Lara Zahaba and Brad Benson bet it all on Stoup Brewing. The Italian wine importer and environmental chemist/homebrewer, respectively, shared a passion for craft beer, which grew after Zahaba’s job took them to the Tri-state area in the 1990s and Benson learned to brew professionally at three New Jersey breweries. They left the East Coast for their beloved Seattle with the goal to open a brewery in the burgeoning brewery district of Ballard. And, while betting all their finances, their parents’ finances and the 150-year-old family farm in Iowa, plus all the money saved by their former schoolteacher turned first Washington state’s first female Certified Cicerone co-owner and assistant brewer Robyn Schumacher, on opening a 15-barrel brewhouse in an industry where they were strangers, they succeeded in turning their appropriately named Critical Juncture Brewing idea into one of Seattle’s most popular craft breweries, Stoup Brewing. Tune-in to Grit & Grain Podcast Episode 66 to hear Benson discuss his childhood in the woods, how they built three locations and a successful distribution company, and how they’re celebrating their 10th Anniversary Oct. 18-21.
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