Meet Misty Eytcheson of ExBEERiment Brewing

Today we’d like to introduce you to Misty Eytcheson.

Hi Misty, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My husband and I are all about experiences. We love to travel, explore and try new things. We’ve always enjoyed checking out the local breweries. So, we’d done A LOT of research, unbeknownst to us at the time, before opening our own brewery.

Our road to opening a brewery was not as long as you would expect. It wasn’t a lifelong dream for either of us to own a brewery. Both my husband and I had held administration jobs at a college (both), city (Greg), and school district (Misty) for many years. During the pandemic, there was a shift in…so many things, but my job (Misty’s) began to take a toll on my mental and physical health. Greg was retiring from his job and the stars aligned for us to take this new journey together.

The idea started as just a conversation about how our town needs a brewery. It grew into where would be a good location for one? What would be a good name? What kind of theme would be fun? Soon it became we could do this. My husband had been a homebrewer for many years. He had the knowledge and experience to make the brewing and technology side of the business work. I’ve been in communications/marketing for many years and could make the promotion and business side work. Before we knew it, we were looking at properties and writing a business plan. We went from a bright idea to a reality in 8-9 months.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There were a few small challenges along the way.

The first obstacle was the food sales requirement Johnson County had in place before November 3, 2020. We knew that we couldn’t brew good beer and run a restaurant. We wanted to stick with what we knew and could manage timewise and financially.

The next challenge was finding a property to rent or buy. Firstly, there weren’t a lot of options. And then the ones that were available weren’t affordable for us either due to rent/asking price or the number of renovations necessary to make a space to brew. Luckily, we found a space that was previously a restaurant, which made the renovations minimal.

Another challenge was opening during a pandemic. As many people have experienced, many of our shipments were delayed. Luckily or not…, we had a delay with our renovation due to winter weather so there was more than one factor in our later than planned opening (only two weeks behind our anticipated opening).

Speaking of a pandemic. We opened about the time that the pandemic was slowing down in our area, however, that didn’t mean that everyone felt comfortable getting out to eat and drink in public. We offer to go cans, but it is still very nerve-racking trying to establish a new business at this time. We’ve added an order from your table option and growlers since opening to provide more options for contactless or minimal contact service. Will things go back to the way they were before the pandemic? Will people still enjoy and feel comfortable in the brewery atmosphere? We are hoping for a “yes” to both of these questions. It’s important to us that our patrons feel safe and we will continue to follow recommendations from health officials.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We opened our doors to our community on April 10, 2021, with a grand opening on May 1. Currently, we are the only craft brewery in our town, which makes us the newest and oldest brewery in Gardner.

We are establishing our brand as a “funny science lab.” The great thing about breweries is their unique, fun approach to flavor, beer names, and can designs. We’ve incorporated this into our merchandise, social media, and décor as well. We want people to come in to have fun and laugh with friends and with us. We’ve embraced the science theme with beakers for our flights, Lab Notes on our wall, science-related beer names, and a BEERiodic table of drinks for our menu. Our Lab Notes are funny sayings and life lessons.

We enjoy talking with our patrons about our shared love of beer, breweries, and life adventures!

One thing that sets us apart from the other amazing breweries in our area is that we offer room rental and team-building opportunities during the hours we are closed to the public. An organization can come in to participate in “The Somewhat Amazing Race,” “The Great Gardner Scavenger Hunt,” “Game of Phones,” or other activities tailored to fit their team-building goals. Or they can rent the room and have personalized bar service.

Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Misty: My favorite childhood memories are of the adventures in my backyard. We lived on seven acres outside of a small town in Southeast Kansas. There were bike trails made by cutting paths with the mower; there was a three-story treehouse; a vegetable garden for “snacks;” grapevines to see who could eat the tiny sour grapes; hedgerows to provide cover during water balloon fights; olive trees that made great “homes;” there were grasshoppers and frogs to catch, and so much more! My love for adventure started in my backyard.

Pricing:

• Flight – $10
• Full pour – $6
• Cans – $7
• Shirts – $20
• Glasses – $8

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.exbeerimentbrewing.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exbeeriment_brewing/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ExBEERimentBrewing
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ExBEERiment2021