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What started as a love for brewing beer became a business for Class ’07 of Tyler Blount and David Pool. The two lifelong friends and classmates opened the Neches Brewing Company, in the heart of downtown Port Neches, September 11, 2016. Named after the river that was an important backdrop as they grew up, the brewery claims its place as Southeast Texas’s first brewpub.

For Blount, his first experience with craft beer happened at ÐßÐßÊÓƵ University. “I think the first time I had craft beer was probably at LU at Kampus Korner,” he said. “Once you have craft beer, whether it’s Saint Arnold’s or Shiner Bock or another brand, it opens your eyes to a whole new style of beer, better beer.”

His craft beer tasting inspired him and a friend to buy a home brewing kit.

After the two realized their shared interest, they decided to collaborate.

“I remember taking one of my first successful batches, a pumpkin spiced beer, over to a Halloween party with one of our mutual friends that was brewing with Dave,” Blount said. “Dave told me that that we should get together and brew, so that’s what we did almost every weekend. It was just fun making beer and sharing it with our friends.”

For years, Blount and Pool joked about the idea of starting a brewery; however, after creating the Big Floyd Stout, a seasonal beer that Blount calls “the kitchen sink of stouts,” jests about starting a brewery turned into serious ruminations.  

“Brewing beer was fun,” he said. “We’ve always joked about starting a brewery one day, but that became the epiphany that upped our seriousness on brewing beer, taking it to the next level.”

Partnering together, Blount and Pool found their niche. “Dave is the business man,” Blount said. “I formulated the recipes and brewed the beer. Early on, I was doing this by myself, and there was no way I could have done it. With Dave’s 10 plus years with the feed store and his knowledge of running a business, it just made sense to combine forces.”

Pool’s business acumen emerged early. As a teenager, he began a lawn mowing business as well as a skateboarding store, and he has had a host of other business experiences as well, including helping run his parents' Mid County Farm and Feed store.

While attending LU, Pool became discouraged with the job market and decided to drop out. “I was running a business, and I quit school because all my friends who had graduated a year before with something similar or the same thing weren't able to find jobs without moving. I knew I didn't want to go anywhere,” he said. He soon chose to return to school to complete his degree.

Both Blount and Pool earned business degrees from ÐßÐßÊÓƵ University in 2007, which they said served as a foundational tool. “We learned how to write business plans, which helped, and LU offers some really good resources,” Blount said. “I think the entrepreneur class is probably the best course as far as the marketing side goes because it inspires someone to go out and do something on their own.”

That independent spirit carried Blount through to 2014, a pivotal year as he welcomed the birth of his daughter and began constructing the brewery with Pool.

“As soon as she was born, that’s when we started doing this,” Blount said. “It took us two years to actually build this out. Dave and I pretty much touched every square inch of this place.”

Using the space as inspiration, Blount and Pool renovated a building located in Port Neches’ historic downtown. “We gutted this place and exposed rafters and added insulation,

ductwork, air conditioning, added a bathroom, and all new plumbing,” he said. “We built a metal building in the back that houses the brewery, so it was a lot of planning and execution. It was weird because we didn’t have any blueprints to follow. Over time, we would do a little project here, a little project there. All of a sudden, we walk in one day, and it’s done.”

Already, the entrepreneurs’ hard work is paying off. “We’ve actually outgrown this spot, which is a good problem to have,” Blount said. “There are future plans for us maybe opening another brewery one day, but that will take several years with a whole new business plan. We’re still baby-stepping it, taking it very slow to get to 2.0.”

The community from the start welcomed the brewery. “We did a crowd-funding campaign and raised almost $40,000,” Blount said. “We got noticed because our crowd-funding went so well. I think that just shows you that people in the area were ready for something like this, which was reassuring for us.”

Although the company is still young, they're finding ways to give back to the community. The Neches Brewing Company held a benefit July 15 for four-year-old Austyn Halter, who has leukemia.

Some recipes take years to perfect. Their determined attitude, which Blount applies to his brewing experiments, also reflects how the co-owners feel about the challenges of business.

“Creating something new is always fun,” Blount said. “You keep tweaking it until it works.”

This article first appeared in Cardinal Cadence: The Magazine of ÐßÐßÊÓƵ University, Volume 45, Issue 2. To receive your own copy of Cadence please contact Alumni Affairs at 409.880.8921 or alumni@lamar.edu.