PROFILE— 60 cases of a specially brewed gold label black ale was made to honor the occasion.
The bet that father and son owners Jaime and Jim Dietenhofer made when opening Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company a year ago has paid off.
A few months ago they added three 30-barrel stainless-steel tanks, tripling the capacity they opened with less than a year ago. “We’ve just ordered another three 30-barrel tanks,” Jaime said, just keeping up with the phenomenal public appetite for their handcrafted microbrew. He figures they’ll be adding another five of the giant tanks in 2012.
The year-old Buellton brewing company’s beers have won a total of four gold metals, one silver, one bronze, and one-best-of-show, which is an astonishing accomplishment for a fledgling brewing company. The Dietenhofers believe the key to their success has been their motto to keep quality in the forefront.
“To us what’s most important is quality,” says Jaime. “If profit were the goal, we could turn ale in two weeks, rather than six weeks.”
As further evidence of their commitment to quality, Jaime said their company self-distributes their beers.
“By self-distributing we can monitor how our beers are stored and keep control of how the beer’s served through the help of our tech support. ”
“We don’t flash-pasturize our beers,” he said. This is why their beers need to be stored cold at all times. “Pasturizing would kill the flavor our amazing brewmaster manages to come up with. He’s truly an artisian.”
“We need to deliver the beer more frequently than a flash-pasturized beer would be so we keep our distribution area fairly local, from Ventura to San Luis Obispo.”
“This is the most fun business to be in, it has such a community feel to it.”
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