By Scott Sullivan
Editor
It was 20 years ago this June when Barry and Kathy Johnson opened Saugatuck Brewing Co. in its current home at 2948 Blue Star Hwy., Douglas.
“We’ve been married for 46 years,” said Barry last week as I joined him and Kathy for a celebratory beverage — a Singapore IPA from a barrel they had brewed up specially.
“We’ve done lots of things; moved to Saugatuck in 1980, raised a family …,” he went on. “Kathy taught business at West Ottawa High School while I traveled as vice president of international sales for Castex, which did carpet steam extraction.
“I visited every continent except Australia, sampling local beers everywhere I went.
“I became interested in and started studying craft brewing,” he went on. “I took classes in Munich and Chicago, talked with owners of Grand Rapids Brewing Co.
“It was time we started a new trade,” he went on.
They started in a 4,000-square-foot building on Enterprise Drive in Douglas, then moved across Blue Star Highway into the 25,000-square-foot former Hanson Precision Machine shop.
“It took a year to complete the $1-million buildout,” Barry Johnson went on. “There were maybe 60 breweries in Michigan back then; at one point a few years ago there were more than 500. Business boomed.
“It grew to a point where we had to find new shareholders. Kathy and I retired in 2011, but we still are shareholders. Old brewers never retire, we become consultants. Which I now am.”
SBC now distributes its brands throughout 19 states and four foreign countries. “Our goal,” Barry Johnson said, “was to make good beer, employ local people, pay well and someday have enough money to pay them benefits.”
Among servers last week was Ashley Vanegas, who has been and SBC manager since 2008. “I wouldn’t have stayed around so long if I didn’t love it,” she said.
“Business changes. People’s taste change,” Barry Johnson went on. “There are always more things to learn.
“What hasn’t changed is we’re happy to still be here. Cheers!” he said.
Great run for the community. Best wishes!