Nevada Brew Works
Jason and Lauren Taylor are slated to open Nevada Brew Works, this year in Las Vegas, Nevada. This microbrewery is all about family. Jason and Lauren met at Purdue University, Indiana. Their love of beer transcended the typical college jaunts.
Nevada Brew Works Logo
The Dream
It has always been Jason’s dream to open up a brewery especially with his skillset as an electrical engineer. Lauren worked at a brewery to learn the business. Her dad, Ken Hallyburton experimented with his own batches of home brew. Ken went on to earn a brewer’s degree at Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago and he will be the brewmaster at Nevada Brew Works.
The Birth of Ariana Rye
Their daughter Ariana Rye was born on January 30, 2017 at 26 weeks. Ariana's diagnosis of cerebral palsy and neurological deafness led to a detour, with the couple managing their home, careers and Ariana's complex medical, therapy and daily needs. Fast forward to present day, these guys have put everything on the line to open up Nevada Brew Works as chronicled in The Las Vegas Review Journal (link).
“This baby was a catalyst. That brewery is no longer just their dream, now it’s the family’s legacy, something they can give to this child,” she said. “One day, they can tell Arianna that ‘We did this for you,’ to show her that anything is possible. Ariana will be a part of it all.”
Lauren Taylor (The Las Vegas Review Journal)
Ariana Rye
Ariana Rye
Ariana Rye
Ariana Rye
The Vision
Jason and Lauren seek to look beyond their circle as evidenced by their vision. They will honor a different child with a namesake beer each month to raise awareness of their condition and donate the proceeds towards the child’s medical needs.
Call to Action
Link to their kickstarter campaign.
Listen to Laurens Taylor chat about their venture on the Raising Kellan Podcast.
You can keep up with these guys on instagram or facebook at Nevada Brew Works
Transcript
Marsh Naidoo (00:07):
Welcome to this episode of Raising Kellan Podcast. I'm your host, Marsh Naidoo. Today's episode has it all guys. Love Birth of a Baby and Entrepreneurship. Today I'm speaking with Lauren Taylor. Lauren and her husband Jason are college sweethearts. They met at Purdue University and now live in Las Vegas. Their three-year-old daughter Ariana came early and is diagnosed with cerebral palsy and urological deafness. This husband and wife team have combined the love of beer and family to kickstart Nevada Brew Works. This is slated to open in May, 2020. The micro-brewery is in the Arts District between the Strip and downtown Las Vegas. Their vision is to create a kid. Yes, you heard, right? A kid-friendly community space where you can enjoy handcrafted drinks as well as food. This is a good concept, but stay tuned to why I think it's brilliant!
Lauren Taylor (01:34):
Thank
Marsh Naidoo (01:34):
You for sharing your story with us.
Lauren Taylor (01:36):
Of course. All right. Yeah, we're excited to do it, for sure.
Marsh Naidoo (01:40):
Tell us about Nevada Brew Works and what you've guys got going on.
Lauren Taylor (01:46):
Nevada Brew Works is a brewery coming to Las Vegas, May of 2020. We are gonna have our daughter, Ariana Rye was born too early at 26 plus zero, and now has quadriplegic, R Palsy. We're gonna have a beer named after Ariana name, the Ariana Rye PA. We will donate a portion of proceeds back to local NICU charities, Little Miss Hannah Foundation, Opportunity Village, et cetera, et cetera. And we're gonna start the Ariana Rye Foundation as well, so we can give money back to the in town. We're also gonna have different beers on tap every month named after our different special needs child to raise awareness about that child's condition, medical complexity, or disability. And then also we'll raise money to get that child a piece of equipment, medical equipment or give back to a charity of their choice.
Marsh Naidoo (02:34):
Now how did you guys actually get into the whole brewery business?
Lauren Taylor (02:38):
Yeah, we always wanted to start a brewery. We didn't know when the right time was. Of course, my Ariana came too early, kind of put things on hold but really it was more my husband who wants to do the brewery, who wanted to brew the beer. My dad is the brewmaster. He, he's always loved beer as well. So we were just excited to own a business and show our passion for love of beer and really, really, the beer is my husband's side, but I'm just in charge of the marketing and the special needs part of it. I was excited to be able to give back to kids like Ariana. That's what I wanted.
Marsh Naidoo (03:09):
How old is Ariana now?
Lauren Taylor (03:11):
Ariana just turned three. She was born January 31, 2017. She was due in May.
Marsh Naidoo (03:17):
Your opening the brewery in April. Does that have a significance as to the date it's opening?
Lauren Taylor (03:25):
No, actually, we actually have to open in May now because of the current conditions of society and the pandemic going on. No significance. We're just trying to get open pretty much as soon as possible and start serving beer as soon as we can.
Marsh Naidoo (03:38):
So our listeners. Where can you'll be found at?
Lauren Taylor (03:42):
So Nevada has a really cool up-and-coming spot called the Arts District. It's super cultural, his, It's historic, It has a cool vibe and people come to Vegas now. We're not telling them to go to the Strip. We're not telling them to go drink on the strip, pay too much, gamble too much. We're tell 'em to hang out with the Arts district. We have a really cool culture going on. There's artists, there's painting. There's a really cool event called First Friday where everybody gets together and serves food and shows off their art skills. It's really awesome. So it's, It's called the Arts District, and that's where we're gonna be.
Marsh Naidoo (04:13):
So a lot of the guys around here might be familiar with the Strip. So where are you in relation to that? Just as a landmark?
Lauren Taylor (04:20):
So we're gonna be between the strip and downtown. We're actually kitty corner from the stratosphere. If people know where the stratosphere is, we're right next to the Stratosphere.
Marsh Naidoo (04:28):
So besides the beer that you guys, the handcrafted beer that you guys have going on, are y'all going to be serving up any food? Yeah,
Lauren Taylor (04:37):
Yeah, we're gonna have food. We're gonna be kid-friendly, so we're gonna have pizzas. We're gonna have little appetizer, salads, cheese sticks and maybe a couple other things. But we have to have food to have kids, and we really wanted kids involved in our brewery. Cause there's not many spots in Las Vegas where there's a brewery and kids are allowed and there's hard liquor where we have everything. We have full bar, we have food, and then we're gonna be able to have kids. And we have a cool outdoor space too. We actually have a 2200 square foot patio that we're, it's gonna be a pretty cool space for everybody to hang out in.
Marsh Naidoo (05:08):
So now are you a Chicago girl? Is that what I understand?
Lauren Taylor (05:12):
Yeah, I'm from Chicago.
Marsh Naidoo (05:14):
And your husband's from Indiana? Correct. Now how did you guys meet? How did that happen?
Lauren Taylor (05:20):
So we actually met at Purdue University. So he was at Purdue. I graduated in 2008. We met around 2008, and then we just moved out to the west together after I graduated.
Marsh Naidoo (05:33):
As I said, just amazing story. I wanna take it back now to the Nevada Brewing Company and your guys logo. I thought that was just neat. The way BREW stands out in green representing cerebral palsy, which is very significant for the month of March. So
Lauren Taylor (05:52):
<affirmative> March is Cerebral Palsy Awareness month. So the brew in our logo is green, which stands for cerebral palsy. We're really excited about that. We hope to change the color and change the lights around the brewery with every medical complexity we choose to sponsor that month. So if we're doing down syndrome, I believe their colors are yellow and blue. If we're doing autism, we wanna change the colors to the puzzle piece. Colors. If we're supporting muscular dystrophy there, Duchennes Muscular Dystrophy, the color is lime green. So we wanna be able to change the color of the, OR stickers and t-shirts and the lights around the brewery to whatever complexity we're supporting that month. So the color is really significant to us.
Marsh Naidoo (06:31):
Well, I tell you what, Lauren, if I'm heading down to Las Vegas, you guys are gonna be our first stop because I love what you are doing. I love the culture. You are starting at the brewery, the fact that it is kid-friendly, but it's eating for a cause. So I definitely would like to acknowledge what you guys are doing. Listeners, Lauren has also started a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds and awareness. Now is this for the brewery itself, Lauren?
Lauren Taylor (07:02):
For the brewery, yes. We're trying to be able to get the furniture we need and get everything we need to get open. So we started a small Kickstarter to help us get those funds.
Marsh Naidoo (07:11):
So I'm gonna go ahead and touch that link as well to the blog, which I'm gonna do for you guys as well as the podcast. So that's gonna be out next Friday. Thank you so much for talking with us, Lauren. As I said, I love what you guys are doing. Listen, you are forging ahead with your dream. I love hearing Ariana's story as well, and thank you so much for being on our show tonight. Thank
Lauren Taylor (07:37):
You. Yeah, we wanna share Arianna's story, but we wanna share stories of other kids too. We wanna spread the awareness because people don't know about these medically complex children. So we really wanna share their story and really represent them in the correct way and just spread awareness. And just know that when you're at Nevada Brewer Works having a beer, you're drinking for a cause too.
Marsh Naidoo (07:55):
Is there a specific date that you're going to launch?
Lauren Taylor (07:58):
Nope, just sometime in May right now. It's too hard to say with the pandemic so soon, but not there yet. Yeah, just that they can follow us on Instagram too. We have Nevada Brew Works on Instagram.
Marsh Naidoo (08:10):
Any other social handles or just that? For right now we
Lauren Taylor (08:14):
Have Facebook page and then the Instagram page. And at the Instagram page you can see our progress and what's going on. So you kind of can keep an eye on, I talk about Ariana, you kind of can see more of her story and her background and her progress.
Marsh Naidoo (08:26):
All right guys, you'll take care then. I'll say goodnight now.
Lauren Taylor (08:29):
Thank you so much.
Marsh Naidoo (08:31):
No, thank you. Bye now, Lauren. Bye bye. So guys, remember, until we see you all again, always get to the top of your mountain. This is Marsh Naidoo signing off.