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Brouwerij West beer in a warehouse where a complete brewery and a full-scale restaurant will be built inside a World War II-era warehouse at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro.
Brian Mercer, CEO/Brewmaster and David Holop, Director of Finance & Operations, for Brouwerij West; one of the United States most awarded craft beer brewers joins Enterprise Radio. They are currently building a 26,000 square foot craft beer brewery in Los Angeles which will make it the largest in that metropolitan area.
Listen to interview with host Eric Dye & guests Brian Mercer &Â David Holop discuss the following:
- How did Brouwerij West come about?
- What were the challenges of creating a craft beer brewery?
- What have the rewards been so far?
- Would you recommend getting into brewing beer as an entrepreneur?
- How did your families feel about brewing beer as a job or career?
- If you had one answer to help someone else, either who is starting a brewery or another business, what would your advice be?
Duration: 13:46
Born, raised in Palos Verdes, California and currently, living in the Los Angeles community of Pacific Palisades, the native born Californian, Brian Mercer was a professional photographer with a strong passion for the culinary arts and for home brewing. On an uneventful day while traveling with his family, Mercer decided to purchase a home brewing kit to complement his devotion to the epicurean world. His impulse buy lead to a newfound hobby and a passion for the age old art of craft of beer-making.
After a trip to Belgium, his hobby became his full-time vocation. Upon discovering that Belgian brewers used dark candied syrups that weren’t available in the U.S., Mercer started a company that imported and sold the unique ingredient. Soon every major craft brewer in North America, along with all the top home brew shops, were purchasing the syrup. Inspired by the brewers he met through his syrup business, Mercer decided to start his own brewing company.
In 2010, Brouwerij West was born. Mercer didn’t want to produce over-hopped IPAs, or ultra-spiced versions of Belgian ales; he wanted to produce the dry, balanced beers that he fell in love with on his trip to Europe. He took his classic recipes and started producing real, farmhouse-styled ales that would make Belgium proud.
Utilizing any facility that would let him sneak in at night, Mercer began crafting these unique ales using only Belgian malts, Belgian hops and of course, his now legendary Candi Sugar syrups. To this day, Mercer hasn’t wavered from his original philosophy of no IPAs, no spices, and no over- the-top brews.
Creating great Belgian-styled ales was not enough for Mercer and his vision – he also wanted the packaging on Brouwerij West bottles to be beautiful, like the great artisanal Belgian brewers. He commissioned 15 different artists to design bold artwork for the brand, breaking and ignoring marketing traditions that said a beer label had to look like a box of breakfast cereal. Now the California market has taken notice. The LA Times featured an article on Brouwerij West and their avant-garde packaging that heralded the changes in the entire craft brewing industry, with Brouwerij West leading the pack.
Brian, along with his passion for brewing and cooking, still does photography in his spare time. He also skis and surfs and has traveled to 18 countries.
He has three beautiful daughters but only one wife…and one great Dane.
Dave Holop has long enjoyed craft beer and is thrilled to be putting his financial expertise to use in a field he truly loves by overseeing day-to-day business operations for Brouwerij West. He brings a diverse background in business, start-up and legal endeavors to the team, and will handles behind-the-scenes operations, including purchasing, budgeting, financial planning, regulatory reporting requirements and legal issues. He works with President and Brewmaster, Brian Mercer, to create and maintain written operational policies and procedures for the brewery and oversee their implementation on a daily basis. Holop will also participates in the brewing process and beer portfolio development, assists in the tasting room, and attend festivals and promotional events on behalf of Brouwerij West.
Born in south Florida and raised in central New Jersey, Holop received his undergraduate degree from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with concentrations in finance and management. He began his career as an investment banking analyst at Houlihan Lokey in New York, where he worked on a number of mid-market bank, insurer and financial company acquisitions and financing deals.
He moved to Los Angeles in 2007 and, before attending law school, spent a year at a non-profit start-up incubated in Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s office – a workforce development program preparing at-risk high school students for careers in engineering and skilled trades.
As the second employee hired, Holop worked on a wide range of start- up activities, including program and curriculum design, budgeting, marketing, student recruitment, and technology development and implementation; he was also an AmeriCorps member and actively participated in teaching and mentoring students. He then attended UCLA Law School from 2008–2011, where he was a managing editor of the UCLA Law Review and graduated cum laude. Since graduating he has been a practicing litigation attorney for over two years at a boutique firm in Los Angeles. While at law school a friend asked Holop to hold on to his home brew equipment during a semester abroad. He was quickly hooked.
Holop met Brian Mercer at a Brouwerij West tasting event in 2012 and joined the Brouwerij West team. He is looking forward to putting his varied skills to use at Brouwerij West full-time. Holop is looking forward to becoming a first time father.
Website: www.brouwerijwest.com
