Optimism Brewing x Molly Moon's

In March our delicious malty, fudgy Optimism Fudge Porter flavor came out in all shops! It's made with Shift, a porter with strong vanilla and cocoa notes. We cook it down to a sweet syrup, infuse it into our ice cream and then swirl it with tons of our homemade hot fudge! Read on to learn about wife and husband duo Gay and Troy, Optimism's founders, and what makes them and their local brewery so special!

What made you want to start a brewery? 

Troy and I met while working in software in the ‘90s and founded a tech company together before Optimism.  We wanted our next business to be in the real world, rather than digital: where we made something physical and actually met our customers face-to-face.  It was always a lifelong dream for him to have his own brewery, as a home brewer for more than 25 years.  Of course we share a passion for beer and we wanted to share the world’s most diverse beverage with the world, so we make every kind of beer and present it in a way that isn’t intimidating or snobby.  We fear that craft beer can be headed the way of wine, where it can be super expensive and people feel intimidated trying to order it.  We thought we could really offer something different to the craft beer world with Optimism. 

How did you come up with the name Optimism? 

Because we founded another business together before our brewery, we know that the name of your business is something that you hear day in and day out.  Now that we have three children, we knew it would be important to name our brewery something that we could be proud of and inspire them, because it would be something they would grow up with.  So, we decided to name it one of our core family values: Optimism.  To us, optimism is not just rose-colored-glasses-half-full-ness.  Optimists share a vision of a better world and work hard to realize it.  They get up every day, failure after failure and still try to change things for the better.  We want our kids to share in our Optimism

What are some ways you give back to your employees and the community? 

Before Prohibition, breweries were located right in the middle of cities and truly were the original community meeting space.  Today’s craft breweries are reestablishing that tradition.  In particular, we celebrate our local nonprofits and donate our space frequently to groups of every kind because they are the true optimists.  We donate a ton of product as well. 

Optimism tries to be a leader in our business practice as well.  We are tip-free and pay a living wage to all of our staff with fully paid health care and vision benefits, flex time, and paid family leave.  We practice open book management and a no hierarchy environment.  Plus, free beer is pretty fun too!

What's your favorite ice cream flavor? 

Gah, so hard!  Molly Moon’s salted caramel was my gateway flavor, and remains my favorite.  It was the one that opened my mind to the gourmet possibilities beyond chocolate and vanilla. 

What are your plans for the future of Optimism? 

Everyday is a new beer and new people to share it with.  But specifically, we have just opened our Mezzanine space to private events, so I’m super excited 

How long of have your been in the beer/brewing industry? 

Gay probably already answered this better. I have been home brewing for 25 years — geez, am I that old?  Some of the recipes we have on tap are beers I have made more than 50 times to get the recipe exactly where I wanted it.  

What is your favorite part of your job? 

I love making beer, but I don’t do as much of that any more.  What really gets me excited now is working on the software I have built to run the brewery.  

What is your favorite beer so far? 

My favorite beer is our a London standard ale that we call “One”.  I like to say if I could only drink one beer for the rest of my life this would be the beer.  It was the first beer I made and I love the double ententre of “Optimism One."

What is one ingredient, process or partner that makes Optimism unique? 

Our lab.  We come from tech, and are both big nerds, so we wanted to have a lab where we could test and track our beers for quality and consistency.  It is something that only much larger breweries have, but we know everything about our beer as a result.  We know that we can consistency reproduce it, and that it does not have flaws, off-flavors or other problems, because we have tested it so thoroughly.

What is your favorite ice cream? 

Of course I love seeing Optimism’s beer in ice cream form and our whole team loves it!  But if I had to pick a favorite besides that one...I’m going to sound like a copy cat, but I like salted caramel too.  Just proves my wife has great taste.