Island
Brewing Company Celebrates 15th Anniversary
Island Brewing Company will celebrate its 15th Anniversary
with a weekend of scheduled frivolity and a new Anniversary Beer release
starting Friday, July 8 and running through the weekend to Sunday, July 10.
Owner and founder Paul Wright started as a
homebrewer in 1991 after his wife Cheryl gave him a homebrew kit for Christmas
in Novato, CA. He joined the local brew club and started winning awards. Soon
he found himself president, heading up the Marin County Fair competitions,
eventually winning runner up homebrewer of California. After burning up all the
burners on the stove, was banished to brewing outdoors. He decided to take it a
step further and took a job at Marin Brewing Company to learn the ins and outs
of professional brewing.
The Wrights were familiar with Carpinteria—their
three daughters went to UCSB, so the dream to open a brewery in an idyllic spot
went into motion. After years of planning and dreaming, the brewery began in
2001 in the commercial buildings on the west end of Carpinteria Avenue, first
as a production brewery that only serviced wholesale accounts. Island Brewing
Company began bottling in 2003. In 2005,
a space in the former citrus packing warehouses opened and the brewery moved to
its current ocean-view location on the tracks and opened its retail tasting
room. “It takes a village to raise a brewery,” said Paul Wright of the journey.
“We love being part of this community and brewing beer for this community.”
The plan to expand the brewery was initiated in
2013. Beset by hurdles of many kinds, the expanded tasting room and patio
finally opened up in 2015, just in time for Avocado Festival, and work is
underway to finish the additional restrooms. “It’s been a long haul, but the
future is looking good,” says Wright. “It’s been great to be able to work with
my daughter, Laurie Matthews and her husband Mark on a daily basis. Ryan Morrill is heading up our brewing team
with some great beers, we’ve got a solid sales and delivery team, and the
beertenders in the tasting room are doing a top notch job.”
The fun starts Friday with a special beer release to
commemorate the milestone, the 15th Anniversary Ale, a Strong Scotch
Ale, with a limited release of a Bourbon Barrel-aged version. A Ribbon Cutting Ceremony by the Chamber of
Commerce will follow next, celebrating what is by all respects a new chapter in
the Island Brewing Company history. Japanese
Taiko Drummers will bring heart pounding rhythms, from 6:00-7:30 pm. Friday
will also see a 10% discount on all purchases redeemable for those wearing
vintage Island Brewing Company merchandise. There will also be an Oldest IBC
T-shirt contest with prizes for our long time supporters.
Saturday, July 9 festivities begin with the bagpipe
and drum corps at 12:00. A VIP Beer
Tasting runs all day, $20 for a souvenir goblet and five samples of our most
special beers. Saturday, Tina’s Ports of
Paradise Polynesian dancers perform, we’ll hold our 15th Anniversary
Ceremony, the Nesta Steel Drum Band brings island vibes, and SolTree brings the
grooves.
Sunday, July 10th features a second round of VIP
Beer Tastings. We will have a Conch shell blowing contest and live music from
South on Linden to round out the weekend.
See you then if not sooner!
