While slogging away for another brewing company based out of Atlanta, Georgia, I had a lightbulb moment, “Why the heck am I slinging someone else’s product?!”

Once I overcame my initial fear and self doubting thoughts about starting something from scratch, I set to work trying to find my flavor. My niche. “What do I like to drink ?” And more importantly, since the answer was ‘everything’, “What do I like to see on a menu/chalkboard/tv screen/shelves, when I walk into a bar or grocery store?” The answer was very clear to me… Anything out of the norm. Rather than coming out of the gate with a lineup of beers including a light offering, say a lager, a mid offering, say an IPA, and a then a heavier offering, say a Hazy IPA. I instead decided to make my flagship beer, a 6.1% (very intentional ABV, btw) heavily fruited Grapefruit/Passion Fruit IPA. My thought process being, “how is another run-of-the-mill IPA going to turn any heads? I want to order the fruited IPA with..passionfruit?”

While this out of the ordinary flagship beer flavor profile began to take shape, I simultaneously found my unofficial mascot in the form of a jellyfish (a very talented friend of mines painting caught my eye) and then the very simple yet highly catchy phrase “Trop Hop” caught my attention while sitting on an airplane writing down name after name.

While there have been many ups and downs within the highly humbling beer industry, it still gives me the greatest pleasure to see, or hear, the reaction of someone who has tasted a Trop Hop for the first time. With so much more on the horizon, with flavors, and new states coming on board, I can’t wait to see what the future holds, and thank each and every one of you for being a part of my journey!

Much love,
Austen