Benjamin Weiss Resigns from The Bruery

(Placentia,CA) – We have just gotten word via Facebook, that Director of Brand Marketing at The Bruery, and long time friend Benjamin Weiss has resigned from his post at The Bruery.  Ben has been one of the the cornerstones of what made The Bruery so special in their infancy. This isn’t a eulogy, he is very much alive!  Make sure to come down and raise a toast to Ben at The Full Pint & Bruery Night at Naja’s Place Friday June 24th for LA Beer Week.  Below are Ben’s note to all his friends and colleagues in the business.

What a bittersweet day for me. Today is my 8 year anniversary at The Bruery and it breaks my heart to say that June 30th will be my last day with The Bruery.

8 years ago today, I drove 40 miles down to a brand new brewery in Placentia, CA that practically nobody had ever heard about before. I had discovered it via Patrick Rue’s blog as I sat around researching what it would take to start a brewery of my own. All I had wanted at the time was a bit of experience on the professional level. Patrick was kind enough to let me volunteer for a couple of weeks, mostly just bottling beer, before hiring me on as his second employee.
This was never supposed to be my life.

When I first came to The Bruery I figured it would be a month or two of learning and that would be that. Sow my wild oats, get back to the music biz or go to grad school or who knows… but this…this wasn’t the plan.
After about 6-8 months on the brewhouse floor, I asked Patrick if I could move onto the business side and help with marketing and PR, after all, I had majored in Business & Entrepreneurship at USC (with a minor in beer drinking). I still remember making calls to the top food writers of the time, having to spend hours explaining the process of craft beer and convincing them that it was a worthy trend to talk about.

The rest of the story is well known by all of you. The Bruery has grown and grown and grown. My job has changed each day, proving more challenging and more exciting by the minute. We have probably released something like 400 different beers since 2008 and today we run two separate brands, each distributed in 29 states and several countries. The three of us from my first days are now something like 90 of us as we just hired another great group of people to work our soon to launch Bruery Terreux Tasting Room in Anaheim (shameless plug!).

My time at The Bruery has taught me so much. I grew up here. The Bruery is a part of me. Anybody who I’ve met in nearly a decade only knows me as the marketing guy from The Bruery. Literally half of my wardrobe showcases The Bruery logo. People store me in their phones as Bruery Ben. It’s who I am. It will always be a part of who I am.
I have had the opportunity to build brands, brew beers, travel the country and even the world because of The Bruery. But most importantly, I have made hundreds of friends. Not just the amazing folks who I work with day to day, but all of the great people in the craft beer industry. Thank you, Patrick, for giving me this opportunity. As you said it yourself, after I leave, we’ll probably only end up hanging out more often and drinking more beers together – i’m holding you to that.
This was not supposed to be my life. But I couldn’t be happier that it became my life.

However, after 8 incredible years of fun and after so much growth for The Bruery, the industry, and personally, I’ve decided that it’s time to pack my bags and set out on my next adventure.
Much love, cheers, & L’chaim!

For those who are surely wondering… I’ll be taking a bit of a sabbatical for the next few months – traveling, working on a few creative projects, and since I can never really let go, doing a bit of consulting for a startup brewery or two.