Three years ago, Bruisin’ Ales opened with no fanfare, no ribbon cuttings, no spectacular kick-offs, no big announcements, no press releases… we just opened the door.

We had realistically planned to open after the holidays, but we were ready. After months of renovating what was once a pottery studio, the painting was done, product was in place (that’s me, buried in beer above), permits were in hand, and we were getting anxious. (Possibly bored.) So, Jason & I just said one night, “Let’s open tomorrow. Let’s see what happens.” You see, there were so many awesome rumors as to what we were going to be. We did not have our outside signage yet, so we thought it would be fun to see how people would react. On the very long list of “what was going in the space at 66 Broadway” was: 1) a chocolate shop, 2) a homebrew store, 3) a jeweler, 4) a boxing training center (my personal favorite because someone apparently had seen our logo).

I remember before we took the paper off the windows for all to see, that I grabbed Jason and had one brief moment where I wanted to cry like a 4-year-old girl (literally), change my mind, and turn around. Now that we celebrate three years today, I love looking back. This was never a career move. It certainly wasn’t for the money—Dear Everyone-Who-Starts-the-”Beer-Store-Ideas” Threads on BeerAdvocate: Corporate jobs are much, much easier, pay more and provide little things like healthcare and vacation time. We just wanted better beer, more beer, rare beer—so we opened a store where we would want to shop. We really wanted to be a small-town boutique store, but as we grew, and people started driving—often far—just to shop here, the small beer store life became a bigger duty to craft beer and the people who love it. We now host some of the beer world’s major players in our small city for events. We have met some awesome people in the industry (such as Jay Brooks, and yes, that is fresh Pliny the Elder, six days off the bottling line). We ship nationwide (where we can) and have customers across the United States and Canada. In the first quarter of 2010, we’ll launch our full e-comm/shopping cart site. (Bear with us. We’re still just two people trying to make this little dream of ours work for everyone.) And we have to give a shout to our local kick-ass breweries and our employees past and present: Chris, The Brewsician; Philip, the Performer; and Mike, the Biking Beer Nerd. Without these fellas, we would have (well, I would have) lost our sanity a long, long time ago.

It’s not been perfect (like here, when our coolers were drop-shipped outside by common carrier onto the sidewalk on wooden palettes when we ordered full-service install). It’s not all been smooth. It’s definitely not easy. But it has been fun. Loads and loads and loads of fun. And that’s what matters.

So, cheers to YOU, all our beer loving friends and supporters who have brought us this far. We raise our glass to great beer and say thanks! Prost!

PS: I’ve just spent 25 minutes searching for a picture of Jason & I toasting beer glasses. He hates pictures, so I can’t find one. He’ll only pose with “important” people.