Reflections Magazine Issue #83 - Fall 2015 | Page 19

Feature Article

handled all the paperwork. Brett, who has
a business degree (2006) and a master’s
degree in organizational leadership (2008),
takes care of most of the logistics and marketing side of the business.
“It’s all done on our own, which helps a
lot,” Krista said. “We were able to do it all
on our own without anybody else’s input
because we had the education.”
“I think having master’s degrees kind
of gave us the upper hand, especially when
talking to city council,” Brett said. “I think
they knew we were pretty serious. If we invested this amount of time in our education
to take a business venture on, I think it gave
us a little credibility.”
Currently, the Cottons are on the road
almost every weekend at festivals and fairs
around the region. At the Lenawee County
Fair in July, they staged a special one-day
event featuring their beer, and had an unexpected response.
“The demand was enormous,” Brett said
of the 5,000 or so people who showed up
for the event. “It was a lot more than we
expected. A lot more. We weren’t prepared.”
Brett said they normally go through
10-15 kegs of beer during a normal festival
weekend.
Cotton Brewing is currently located in
a small room of a large factory on the industrial side of the city of Adrian. In fact,
the company logo on the door is the only
evidence of a microbrewery’s existence.
That won’t be for long.
The Cottons are in the process of opening a new location in Adrian that will include a tap room. The room will include an
ornate, hand-crafted, 24-seat bar made out
of hickory. Sixteen taps will flow – all with
different kinds of Cotton-brewed beer.
“I want it to be a fun place for people to
come and hang out and see the actual beermaking process,” said Brett of the 12,000
square foot facility, which is expected to
open by the end of 2015.
The couple said the goal is to operate a
full brewery there that would include a bottling, canning and distributing operation.
That will allow them to leave their part-time
jobs and concentrate on their business fulltime.
“Eventually, we’d like to go state-wide,
but that’s probably 5 to 7 years away,”
Krista said.

Krista, who is considered the “brewer,”
said they have created more than 120 types
of beer. The fan favorite: maple bacon
porter.
“The maple syrup gives you that front
sweetness and the bacon dries it out,” Brett
said of their best-seller. “It turned out to be
a huge hit.”
They said brewing is a very scientific
process. And that process is time-consuming, and the equipment expensive.
“Time is probably our biggest challenge,”
Krista said.
Brett said there are more than 200 microbreweries in Michigan, and despite being
in competition with one another, they collaborate quite a bit.
“We’ve learned that working together,
we can be more successful,” he sai