We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Melanie Miller. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Melanie below.

Alright, Melanie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s something crazy on unexpected that’s happened to you or your business

We signed our building lease in April of 2022, and had a goal to open within 6 months. That is an aggressive timeline for the brewing industry, and we had to push HARD to make all the pieces align. Ordering our brewing equipment was one of the biggest undertakings: in summer 2022, we were purchasing equipment in the midst of a stainless steel shortage AND a nationwide shipping crisis. Seaports were backed up for weeks, courier trucks were in short supply, it was a mess from end to end. We were determined to not let our target opening date be affected, so we worked closely with suppliers during the ordering process to ensure that the items we were ordering were in stock, and already on land in the United States. Once ordered, we were relentless with ensuring that our items were shipped as expected, and worked directly with the courier as they transported them across the country.
My husband, business partner, and head brewer at Sunroom, Matt, was out of town for the first time since the pandemic the week before our equipment was set to arrive. He was on a well-deserved and much-needed weekend trip, with plenty of time to return home before our equipment’s arrival on Monday.
We were also in the midst of a nationwide airline crisis, a season in which something like 70% of flights weren’t departing as scheduled. Despite our best efforts, instead of arriving home Sunday morning as planned, he was caught up in a series of flight cancellations, rebookings, delays, reroutes, and literally traversed the country for 36 hours to get home. His ride from the airport arrived at our brewery JUST as the semi truck carrying our entire brewery worth of equipment pulled up. The timing could not have been any more last-minute, or any more of a relief! Albeit on 0 sleep and without his luggage, we were able to spend the day getting our equipment unloaded, opened, and safely installed in our brewhouse.
I am hopeful that this is forever the craziest story that we experience with this business, and I know how fortunate we are that it worked out in our favor in the end!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Sunroom Brewing is a family-owned, neighborhood brewery in downtown Englewood, Colorado. We opened in fall 2022 with an intention to 1) brew great beer, and 2) be a community gathering space. As we near our 1-year anniversary, I’m proud to say we’ve accomplished both. Englewood is a blossoming community, and we’ve formed great relationships and partnerships in our time here. Our beer program has matured rapidly, and feedback on our diverse menu is fantastic. In a state where breweries are plentiful, we’re proud to set ourselves apart with our quality beer, welcoming and comfortable atmosphere, and true focus on community. Guests in our space experience service that lets them know they’re far more than just another pint poured, and we’re committed to that experience.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

We met online :) Matt was my (Melanie’s) first-ever date via dating app. We dated, married, bought a house, started a family, and then started a business together!

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

Matt home-brewed for several years in young adulthood, and really increased his focus on the hobby during the onset of the pandemic. We had an infant at home at the time, and knew we needed to invest in hobbies that were safe, homebound, creative, and fun. He scaled up his homebrewing equipment into dedicated space in our sunroom (hence the name of our brewery), and it grew from there. As we invested in more equipment at larger scale, he migrated to a utility closet, then the basement, then took over the garage. He had a more-than-full-time day job in software at the time, so his brew days were more like brew nights/weekends. His beer was GOOD; it was fun to share it with friends. Eventually, we got to the point where we knew that staying in a demanding corporate career wasn’t going to pay off more than it would cost in mental and physical health, stress, and time. And, we knew his beer was good. We took the leap into full-time brewery ownership in Fall 2022 and haven’t looked back!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sunroombrewing.com
• Instagram: @sunroombrewing
• Facebook: @sunroombrewingco
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sunroom-brewing-englewood
• Other: https://untappd.com/SunroomBrewing