blog.deanandadie.netA Brundage Web-log | Things Adrienne & Dean Do, Think and Write

A Brundage Web-log | Things AdrienneDean Do, Think and Write A Brundage Web-log Search Primary Menu Adrienne Brundage Dean Brundage Search for: Muse Vessel Something to celebrate in august 2021/08/11 Dean 1 Comment It’s been one hundred and forty-eight months since Adrienne had a hysterectomy. The last time I wrote about it was 2013, eight years ago. (Blogs were pretty much pass é back then.) In 2009, the month after her operation, Adie wrote this: There is no I-had-my-uterus-and-overies-taken-at-32-so-I-will-never-have-children-of-my-own day. If someone makes one, I hope it’s in August. I don’t have anything else to celebrate in August. Adrienne It’s August 11th again. Adrienne and I don’t exactly celebrate, but we do observe its passing. Today is a little melancholy for me. However, I am uplifted by all the people that send us little messages throughout the day. I’m grateful for each of you who, without prompting, send me a little Happy Brundage Day” note. One friend just sends a single-word text on this day Hi”. It helps me get by. Thank you. There is cause for celebration, of course. We are both fully vaccinated against COVID-19. (But the pandemic is on it’s fourth wave as the vaccine-hesitant heedlessly spread the disease.) Adrienne is up for promotion soon. She runs one successful study abroad (pre-panda) and had a second lined up before the world got upended. We’re developing an educational video game together. I failed at two businesses, and am trying again a third time. Learned a lot about running both, picked up some new friends along the way. I have a great business partner now. So, yeah. We’re probably pretty good. Who writes blogs these days? Thanks for reading. infertility Like a Ninja in a Skirt The Brundages and New Republic Brewing: A Saga in Many Parts 2018/04/29 Adrienne 13 Comments This year marked the 7th anniversary of New Republic Brewing—the company that had been percolating (brewing? Would that be a better term for this particular business?) in the back of Dean’s mind for a very, very long time. Over the past few months Dean and I have been asked over and over again what is going on with NRB, and what is going on with us. I’ve been giving the politic answer most of the time—we still have good friends at the brewery, and I didn’t want to jeopardize them or anything Dean might be doing next; there are times I don’t censor myself when I really should (I don’t know exactly *when* those times are, but it usually involves someone crying at the end, so you know). Anyhow, I figured it was time to tell our side of the story, because I’m becoming less and less careful with my words. Might as well spell check along the way, I say! So, for those of you who have been asking, here’s the story of how we started and then left New Republic Brewing Co. You’ve Been Warned! Mandatory disclaimer: I’m going to be writing the version of events from my perspective (a super-informed perspective, containing only the correct facts and opinions based on reality, of course. I do observe and report facts for a living, after all). You can ask Dean about his. You can also ask anyone else involved in the brewery…that should be fun for them. Anyway, here we go Setting the scene: There’s a special type of anger that comes with watching your favorite person on earth cry—especially when those tears are caused by someone being a right asshole. And ESPECIALLY when the person experiencing the pain is Dean; even tempered, fantastically wonderful, perfectly loving to all, Dean. I’ve never been great at hiding my anger (some people say that comes with being a red head, I say that comes from dealing with stupid people). This is one of the reasons I find Dean so amazing—he has near alien (at least to me) ability to control his emotions, and has on many occasions kept me out of prison by preventing certain murder. So when this man is overcome with sadness at the loss of a business, one he built from the ground up, one we sacrificed everything for, I get angry. I mean, just look at that face! Who could hurt that face?!? The phrase it’s not personal, it’s just business” is one I have never agreed with.I have found those who use that phrase are invariably attempting to screw someone over, and are trying to distance themselves from their actions. I have learned to take this as a warning about their character in general—how can you think a business someone built isn’t personal? You can’t get more personal than that. Look at him! Nary a gray hair in sight, and the biggest smile in the world. That is someone who takes his business personally. Over a year ago Dean left New Republic Brewing, the brewery he and I started back in 2010 (although we tend to count from 2011 when we were all official and made our first sale). We’ve been asked many times what happened, and Dean, in his calm and collected way simply says I moved on.” I’m not so gracious…see that paragraph about my angry side. It’s taken me awhile to think about what to say about this chapter of our lives coming to a close, and this is it. The Beginning Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? Way back in 2000 I was a master’s student at San Jose State, Dean and I were newly married, and a professor of microbiology was giving a talk on home brewing for the weekly seminar. Dean came with me to that talk and sat entranced. He had just started exploring the world of beer, having spent most of his life not drinking alcohol at all (for those of you that know Dean now…crazy, right?!? But he didn’t even drink on his 21st birthday, so there’s that). Anyhow, between the lecture on beer making and mentioning this possible new hobby to our families, Dean acquired a nice set of home brewing equipment and a passion for the craft. We were lucky enough to live in an area where home brewing was especially common and almost immediately found a group of like-minded individuals who shared the hobby. Ask us sometime about beer camping and how we came up with Coco Puff Porter—that beer club was the best. Dean was a beer judge for Sam Adam’s annual competition. I was the head steward at that same competition. This meant I made sure it was a blind tasting for everyone, tallied the scores at the end, and made sure the beers were properly served. I also didn’t have to taste the gross stuff Fast forward to 2008. I had graduated and accepted a position at TAMU. Dean packed up his brewing equipment (along with the rest of the house) and we moved to Texas. This same year Dean purchased his first real brewing sculpture—a monstrosity of chrome and fire that launched him from making mediocre home brew to brewing consistently good beer. He also built a fermentation chamber that took up most of our living room for a bit…have I mentioned my endless patience yet? It should be obvious. Ah, the thing that started it all, and what Dean needed to make his home brew great. Hurricane season gave Dean some time to brew while we were stuck at home experiencing our first real Texas storm.Thus Rye of the Hurricane was born, and you could practically see the idea of an actual brewery grow in Dean’s head. Over the next year or so, Dean did a lot of fun beer-related things: he started the home brew club (Texas Aggieland Brew Club, or TABC) so we could have brew-ins with other beer lovers; he gave talks on brewing; he was interviewed by the local news on home brewing as a money saving measure (it was a recession, after all); and he was asked by restaurants to do special beer-food pairings. Just look at that crew! The club is still going strong That voice in his head got louder, and his recipes got better. There came a point where we had a so, do you want to start a brewery or what?” talk. With that out in the universe, Dean began making beer and taking it to local businesses,asking if they would sell it. The wonderful staff at Village Cafe was the first support this crazy-ass dream, going so far as to sign an agreement stating they...