Ritual Brewing Co. in Redlands, California was founded by two guys with a true passion for great beer: Steve Dunkerken and Owen Williams.
A few years ago, Steve had invited Owen over to his place for a homebrewing session. At the time the guys were loosely acquainted with one another and Owen politely declined. Truth was that this industry veteran didn’t see the point in hanging out and homebrewing with a few plastic buckets. A visit from the head brewer of a well-known San Diego County brewery lured Owen over to Steve’s place. Once Owen saw what Steve was up to in his garage he went back for a few more brewing sessions.
At the time, Owen had recently left his long time gig as Director of Brewing Operations for BJ’s Brewhouse and Restaurants and dreamed of his own brewery but he was unsure about going it alone. Steve had been asked many times if he ever thought about opening a brewery. While it’s something that occupies a corner of most homebrewers minds it was something that didn’t seem practical to Steve – at least the part about hanging up a great career and venturing off on his own. Together they had the right mix of brewing and business experience and a common passion for brewing great beer. It didn’t take many brewing sessions in Steve’s garage for these two to start creating Ritual Brewing Co.
