We were lucky to catch up with Amy Rubin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Amy, thanks for joining us today. Do you manage your own social media?

One of our employees and my husband manage the majority of our social media. For my own personal mental health and wellness, I choose to refrain from social media. I no longer use my own personal social mediums. I only manage our business platforms when I have to. It’s a personal preference:)

Amy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a native of Western NC. I was born in Hendersonville. My father, who was Jewish and was from Miami Beach, was a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. He spent his childhood summers in Hendersonville, at his parents’ resort. When he graduated from culinary school, he bought an existing family -owned bakery, which was located on Main Street in Hendersonville. That was my family’s business for 22 years. The bakery was an integral part of my life. Growing up, I spent a great deal of time at the bakery. As a child, I played there and as I grew older, I was an employee. It was a wonderful experience and I learned a great deal from it. One of the most important things I learned from my father is that you can work hard and also simultaneously have fun. Before and after college, I had a lot of different jobs. I was a server at restaurants and bars, I worked as an orthodontist assistant, I was a conference producer, and even a pharmaceutical rep for a few years. Those are just a few of the jobs I’ve had. About 15 years ago, I started to fall in love with craft beer. When I met Chris, who’s now my husband, we learned that we both had the love of good beer in common. We both met and lived in Asheville, NC, which is well known for being a craft beer destination city. In 2012, my passion for craft beer led me to a job opportunity as a sales rep with Oskar Blues Brewery in NC. I loved that job and I was very successful in that role. After all, I got to sell a product that I personally loved. It was a great experience and it was a lot of fun. Chris and I also spent a great deal of time in a small neighboring town, Hot Springs, NC, about 45 minutes northwest of Asheville. Hot Springs is well known for being the only mineral hot springs in the state of NC. Additionally, the Appalachian Trail literally comes directly down the main street of the town and the French Broad River flows through Hot Springs. It’s a magical place. Chris, a longtime whitewater boater, has had connections with Hot Springs since the mid 90s when he was a whitewater guide for a local outfitter. In 1997, he co-founded the French Broad River Festival, an annual music festival and charity event in Hot Springs. Over the course of the years that we spent in Hot Springs, we would daydream about someone opening a brewery in the tiny town. Originally, we just selfishly wished there was a brewery in Hot Springs, so that we could go there. An opportunity came along one day when a business man in Hot Springs told my husband that he was interested in selling his commercial property in town. Chris told me that he felt like we should consider buying the property and opening a brewery ourselves. At first, I felt overwhelmed just thinking about his idea. I mean, we love good craft beer, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready for the commitment of starting a brewery. Once we looked at the property, we saw the vast potential there. The location was absolutely perfect. Although, at the time, the property was not very attractive, we could see its potential and we had a vision. Additionally, in my time at Oskar Blues, which had recently ended, I had learned so many things and I had made some great connections. I knew we could start our own brewery, and that we could hire a great brewer to make the beer that we would be proud of. We reached out to Carl Herman, who had at one time, been my coworker at Oskar Blues, where he was a brewer. We told him of our plans and we asked him to join us. Thankfully he accepted the offer! So, we proceeded with our plan to purchase the property. The owner of the property was amazing. He owner financed it, because we couldn’t have gotten a loan at the time. Once we had the property, we began the very lengthy process of applying for a small business loan. To say it was a lengthy process is actually a pretty major understatement. But ultimately, we prevailed and we were granted the loan. Within a matter of weeks of being approved for the loan, the world shut down due to COVID-19. At first, we were concerned, but we soon realized that it was somewhat of a blessing, in a strange way. After all, nobody had anything else to do but work on the brewery. So, in December of 2020, we began construction on our brewery and we opened a year later, on Christmas Day, 2021. We are now the proud owners of Big Pillow Brewing. We chose the name because Big Pillow is of one of the whitewater rapids on Section 9, a part of the French Broad River that flows through Hot Springs. Also located onsite is the Grey Eagle Taqueria, serving delicious Latin fare. When we were planning our brewery, we knew it was important to offer really good food. But we personally wanted our focus to be on the beer. So we built a commercial kitchen space, and the taqueria leases that from us and they handle all of the food. We are extremely proud of the business we have created. We feel that we filled a void that was here. Big Pillow is far more than a brewery. It is a place for people to gather with families, friends, their dogs and enjoy delicious beer, food, live music, games, art and so much more. I am especially honored that so many of the locals have embraced us, and they are our regular customers. I think I am most proud of our employees. We are so blessed to have such killer humans working with us. When we made the decision to open a brewery, I reflected on my childhood. I recall how much fun my dad had with his employees while everyone was hard at work. I wanted to create a workplace like that. I feel like we have done just that. My father died prematurely of a heart attack quite a few years ago. If he were here, I know that he would be very proud.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Before I landed my sales rep job at Oskar Blues, I was a pharmaceutical rep. As a pharma rep, I learned that corporate America was not really my cup of tea. I wanted to do something that I was passionate about. I was deeply passionate about my job at Oskar Blues. When I went to work for them, it was 2012, and the company was still owned by the founder. Initially, I was given a ton of creative freedom in my role there and I flourished. A few years into my job at Oskar Blues, I noticed some pretty big changes within the company. The changes, for me, were disappointing. It was slowly starting to feel more corporate.

A lot of that is very understandable, as it sometimes goes that way when a company experiences tremendous growth, which was definitely happening. Controlling interest was sold to a capital investment firm, more and more employees were hired, and my role as a beer sales rep started to feel a lot like my role as a pharma rep all over again. That experience was heartbreaking and it sucked the passion right out of me. Once that was gone, I knew I was done. So, eventually, I resigned. But I will always be thankful for that job and I very much believe it was an integral stepping stone to where I am now.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

My husband and I purchased the property, where our business it now. So we own that ourselves and we have it set up so that the brewery leases the space. We applied for and received a SBA loan. Additionally, we brought on investors that represent a total of 30% of our business. So, my husband and I still own the majority.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bigpillowbrewing.com/
• Instagram: @bigpillowbrewing
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/bigpillowbrewing/

Image Credits
Photos by Amy Rubin