Entrepreneur – Bell Tower Brewing Co.

Ryan Tipton

Posted on April 8, 2021 by Ryan Tipton

Entrepreneurship has deep roots in my family’s past and in my personal life. I have many aunts, uncles, cousins, and my immediate family who all have tried, and successfully, pursued entrepreneurship.

I have several inspiring examples in my family that led me to start Bell Tower Brewing Company. When my mother’s father came home from WWII, he married my grandmother, started a family, and cultivated an apple farm in Geneva, Ohio for 18 years. Sadly though, when Interstate 90 was built in the 1960s the state used eminent domain and located the highway through the middle of my grandparents’ farm. This crippled his production levels and he was forced to get creative for the second time in his life. As a self-taught general contractor, he started replacing the apple trees that remained orchard land with houses that he built and sold to area residents.

Early in my parents’ careers, and while they were starting their family, my dad decided to start a feed & tack store in Streetsboro where he had several successful years in retail. My parents later pursued the rental business with much success.

My entrepreneurial life started when I was in elementary school. By happenstance, I ended up selling a single stick of gum to a friend on my bus for ¢5 (that’s $0.05). I learned on my long bus rides home that my fellow schoolmates loved gum but their parents didn’t allow them to have their own, so they were willing to buy it from me for a small price. Learning this, I went to the grocery store the next day and bought big packs of gum for cheap. Now knowing how much I could sell a stick of gum for I made sure I would retain a profit after the sale based on the price I paid upfront for a large pack. The profit was used to buy more gum to sell and occasionally helped buy extra candy for me. I started selling hundreds of sticks of gum over the next several weeks to everyone I could on the bus ride home.This was my first lesson in sales and economics.

And then the principal found out… I still have a distinct memory of being called down to the principal’s office where I had to explain to him what I was doing on the bus each day. I pulled out my large ziplock bag of quarters, nickels and dimes, and my other ziplock full of sticks of gum. He confiscated it all and called my parents. I’m sure my parents used this experience as a teachable moment when I got home, them being teachers and all, but all I could remember is that people were happy when I supplied them with something they wanted and I loved selling them something they wanted.

Clayton Watson and I Juggling at Beckwith Orchards in Kent, OH

Several years later, after joining my Middle School’s juggling club, my good friend Clayton Watson and I had an idea! Why don’t we start our own entertainment company where we would perform for local events, birthday parties, festivals, etc.? So we did just that. We created a name, a logo, fliers, a set list based on our skills and a price that was reasonable for any interested party. With my dad’s help, who was always encouraging us to be creative and think differently, we created t-shirts with our logo on them. We were the Catchum Jugglers! We had a ton of fun practicing for these gigs and performing at them. We performed for younger kids’ birthday parties and even did a show at Beckwith Orchards on one of their popular summer Saturdays. Looking back it was a great thing for young teens to focus on and it kept us out of trouble.

Skipping ahead to … My career… into the growing field of User Experience Design. UX, as it is often referred to, is about crafting digital experiences that are in tune with what people need and want when using technology. I’ve spent a significant amount of time understanding the needs of both customers and employees. I use that information to design elegant web experiences via websites, web applications, and social media to meet those uncovered needs. I’ve learned from these experiences that I enjoy those efforts as I often replace frustrating experiences with ones that meet people’s needs and even add delight to their daily life. It’s this type of work, crafting enjoyable and sometimes even meaningful experiences for people, that has played into my interest in opening a small neighborhood brewery.

As a side benefit of my work I have spent a lot of time learning about manufacturing processes in my company’s many paint manufacturing plants world-wide. Always having a passion for craft beer and large shiny stainless steel tanks I felt at home in these manufacturing facilities. Making paint, in a lot of ways is similar to making beer. You start with quality raw ingredients, mix and perform special processes to them and ultimately transform them into a high quality end product that is packaged and customers get to purchase and consume them. I helped design the systems that help make these plants operate smoothly which integrate the manufacturing process and the underlying economics from finance to sales to customer service. All of these experiences helped me understand basic manufacturing processes from the perspective of the people performing those functions. I did not go into paint manufacturing knowing how these experiences would later serve me in entrepreneurship, but in retrospect, I can appreciate my meandering path to beer.

These experiences have helped me really come to enjoy learning about what people need and want and then meet those desires. The basic concepts can be applied to anything really. From how someone uses an app on their phone to how someone experiences the act of going to a restaurant. The whole point is to empathize with these individuals and respond to their needs and wants in meaningful ways. How does that not scream excellent customer service in any field!

This is where my career and my passion collide. The name of that collision is BEER. My beer journey has run concurrently with my professional career since 2008 when my brother, Seth Tipton, and his roommate invited me over to brew beer in their basement. I was mesmerized by the process, the smells, and the experience. Since tasting the first sip of that beer I was hooked on a brand new hobby, homebrewing! I spent the next 12 years brewing beer and other fermentable goods like cider, wine, and kombucha. I even brewed (with help from many friends and family) five different beers and a red and a white wine for my wedding as a chance to get to share my passion with those closest to me. A few years into the hobby is when I met Jennifer. You can read more about our combined story in our other blog post here; https://belltowerbrewing.com/shared-vision/.

My love for craft beer grew even deeper as I helped start Kent’s first craft beer fest as a Kent Jaycee (Kent Junior Chamber of Commerce) in 2019. The Kent Jaycee’s launched The Kent Craft Beer Fest with two objectives: a fundraiser to support community initiatives and to support the craft beer industry.

We worked with 22 area breweries to make the event happen. It was a great experience to get a taste of the excellent people that work in the Craft Brewing Industry and gave an indication of the strong enthusiasm of the craft beer drinkers out there!

Continuing to add to my brewing knowledge, I’ve also spent about a year as a part-time assistant brewer at Lock 15 Brewery in Akron, OH after the owner/head brewer, Joe Karpinski, offered to give me some real-world experience working in a professional brewery. That opportunity was a game-changer. I was able to take my homebrewing knowledge and understand what it really takes to operate a brewery. This opportunity demonstrates the collaborative spirit of the craft beer industry and is one of the many reasons I am excited to be a part of it.

All of these experiences have led me to today, where I am part of a small team starting this neighborhood brewery together in our hometown of Kent, OH.

Jennifer Hermann

Posted on March 1, 2021 by Jennifer Hermann

“Oh you can go to the East
Go to the West
But someday you’ll come
Weary at heart
Back where you started from
You’ll find your happiness lies
Right under your eyes…”

I am thrilled with the opportunity to share my story about my fondness for beer. I have had some extraordinary experiences while on my journey to Bell Tower Brewing Co. This blog post is where I give you a glimpse into some life-changing moments that inevitably shaped who I am, as a brewer.

My journey started innocently enough when my Dad and I discovered Bavarian Schweizerhof-Bräu at Rudi’s Beer and Steak Garden (1995). It was a refreshing “premium lager beer” and was packaged in ceramic flip-top style bottles that were too cool not to hoard. I hoarded a LOT of them with the very loose plan to brew and bottle my own beer someday.

A crate of Kulmbacher’s Schweizerhof- Bräu

Three years later, I brewed my first batch – a Bass Ale clone found in the recipe archive at Grape and Granary. I don’t remember the beer being great, but the entire process consumed me. That year, I permanently borrowed some brewing equipment from a friend and started homebrewing regularly. My newfound pastime quickly became my “professional hobby.” I loved sharing homebrews and talking about beer! At the time, I could not have guessed that my young fascination for the magic of fermentation would invariably shape my desire and determination to pursue a career as a professional brewer. Time would tell, but until then there was a whole new world of brewing I would come to discover.

I did not become involved with a homebrewing community until life brought me to Cincinnati in 2002 where I joined the Bloatarian Brewing League. Full. Geek. On! It was an eye-opening experience to be surrounded by so many people gushing about beer. The energy at those meetings was intoxicating. Every meeting was a chance to ask more questions, soak up more knowledge and taste more variations of beer. It didn’t take long after that initial meeting that I made the leap from extract to all-grain brewing which, I have to say, was as invigorating as it was daunting. Brewing did not come easily for me, but my charisma made up for what I lacked and I was lucky enough to receive a great deal of encouragement and guidance from some amazing brewers. I also learned about competitive brewing; how competitions are run, how beer is entered, how beer is packaged and how beer is judged. I passed the hardest test I’ve ever taken and became a Certified Beer Judge in 2007. The Beer Judge Certification Program gave me some invaluable tools that I continually try to keep sharp. There is much more to be said about this program’s influence, but I digress…

I moved back to Kent in 2010…and this is where I tell you that my dream to open a brewery really started with trying to figure out why Kent didn’t already have a brewery and how I figure out how to get a job in one so that I could learn what it would take to bring Kent some fresh, local beer. The Craft Beer Revolution was in its infancy in Ohio with just a smattering of breweries to be found, which, in retrospect, narrowed down my options for seeking out a brewery to hire me. I was very naïve, but I was utterly determined to persevere. I volunteered on both Hoppin Frog’s and Thirsty Dog’s bottling lines and took a data entry job at LD Carlson (a major wholesale supplier for homebrew stores) just to stay close to beer. I traveled to Akron, but mostly to Cleveland, to judge beer and try to stay involved in the homebrewing community. I passed another beer exam in 2011 to become a Certified Cicerone. The same year, Andy Tveekrem gave me my golden opportunity to learn the commercial side of brewing as his assistant at Market Garden.

The years I spent brewing in Cleveland were very proud years for me. It was a tremendous feeling to be part of the birth of a brewpub while witnessing the re-birth of America’s flavorful brewing tradition. My brewing skills were continuously challenged and sharpened as I became more acclimated with brewing and cellaring equipment, processes and environments. I also had the opportunity to nurture my creative, adventurous brewing side at Nano Brew Cleveland. I embraced it with gusto, even experimenting with kombucha and traditional sours.

My vision for a brewery in Kent was no secret to anyone who knew me. In 2015, I was in the midst of entertaining a serious discussion about my vision when I was approached with an opportunity to help a small brewery transition from a 1.5 bbl to a 15 bbl brewhouse. It was a contractual head brewer position and the opportunity fit perfectly with the timing of the Kent brewery which was looking to be at least a year of planning. I decided to move south and explore the Belgian beers at Rockmill while working out the finer details of the plan in Kent.

So many times we dream of dreams only to realize it was just a dream. I moved back to Kent and watched my first dream fade away…then a second partnership fizzled, then a third…I was forlorn to say the least. 2016 was a slow moving year for me, but I kept the homebrew flowing and tried to keep busy straddling both the homebrewing and professional brewing communities. I was invited to re-ignite a social network for aspiring brewers in planning to meet other brewing professionals. We met monthly to share beers and stories, to give and get advice. I won’t lie here…That group saved my sanity and I took full advantage of being able to keep myself in the game and learning more about opening a brewery. This. I miss. So much. (Thanks, Covid.) And then in the midst of this newfound community, yet another meeting with a young man who shares a vision of a brewery in Kent, so close to my own.

I haven’t brewed in many places like many of my colleagues, mostly because I didn’t seek many places to be outside of Kent. Every path that I have followed throughout my years of brewing has brought me back to this place – Kent, Ohio. This is my hometown. This is where I want to be brewing.

“The birds with feathers of blue are waiting for you back in your own backyard…”
Billie Holiday

New Beginnings

Posted on January 1, 2021 by Ryan Tipton

Welcome to the Bell Tower Brewing Co.’s blog. We started this blog with the goal of giving you all a peek behind the curtain to see firsthand what it takes to start both a small craft brewery and a small business in the great city of Kent, OH. We’ve had many grand ideas of what to write about and some that we will explore but in general, the plan is to write short and frequent weekly updates about our process of starting our brewery, our passion for handcrafted beer and food, and all the wonderfully difficult things we have experienced to get us to where we are today.

Historic photo of the First Congregational Church in Kent, OH, now home to Bell Tower Brewing Co.

Our team decided long ago that Kent is the perfect place to start a neighborhood brewery. We are all residents of Kent and have lived here for many years. We care deeply about our city and are committed to making it a better place for all so naturally starting a business here made complete sense.

After deciding to start our brewery we spent several years pursuing the right location and building for our idea to come alive. The big questions we had to begin to answer through this process were; how big of a space do we really need, do we want to offer food to our guests along with our delicious craft beer, how big of a brewhouse do we want and need to start with, what do we want the interior and guest experience to be like, how are we going to pay for all of this and so on and so forth. Answers to these questions and more will be found in future posts.

Check back weekly to journey with us through this process, see progress photos, hear about exciting updates, and hopefully be entertained along the way. Cheers!