Overcoming Adversity Wiley Roots Brews 100 Unique Beers in A Year

What a ride Wiley Roots founders Kyle and Miranda Carbaugh have had…

In 2013 Wiley Roots Brewing, a small craft brewery with a unique focus on mixed-culture, barrel aged, and spontaneous beers, opened its doors in downtown Greeley, Colorado and quickly took off.

But even being a five time Great American Beer Festival winner couldn’t save them from a near business catastrophe.

In 2018 Wiley Roots was faced with a near complete turnover of their front of house and production staff, leaving a skeleton crew of fewer than five employees, including Kyle and Miranda to keep up with everything…Adding to the difficulties Wiley Roots was in the process of expanding their brewhouse so the timing couldn’t have been  worse.

It was a perfect storm of circumstances that would have put an end to many businesses…but not this brewery.

To prevent impending disaster, Kyle Carbaugh took over all production tasks as Head Brewer and the only member of their 15BBL production team. And Miranda Carbaugh took over all sales and operational tasks, including taproom responsibilities.

For over six months, the couple spent 12-18 hours per day at the brewery. As if that wasn’t enough, Kyle and Miranda would also help bartend during weekends. And Kyle’s parents also volunteered their time to help.

But all that work wasn’t in vain, sales continued to grow and Wiley Roots was slowly able to rebuild and is now operating with a staff of ten, with three people in production.

Miranda Carbaugh credits the Wiley Roots family for all playing their part in the brewery’s successful turnaround…The  brewery added “Family Owned & Operated” to their labels this summer in recognition of their efforts….

“It was hard, but in order to grow, we knew we had to completely restructure our sales and marketing strategy, which included where we wanted to be with production and front of house. It caused a lot of long days and sleepless nights, but looking back, we are incredibly proud of where we are now and the team that stuck with it and with us through it.”

 “In just over a year, we have doubled sales and drastically increased our marketing footprint. This has allowed us to add limited distribution along the front range, when we have the inventory, and attend beer festivals that we were not able to participate in before. We could not be prouder of our team.”

Yes 2018 was a roller-coaster of events for Wiley Roots. So much so that it was not until this week, that after reviewing year-to-date production numbers Kyle and Miranda realized that the brewery had produced over 100 new beers last week.

“Honestly, we were really surprised that we had produced so many beers this year, considering the number of recent changes to our brewhouse personnel and with the challenges of expanding the brewery,” Kyle Carbaugh said.

“It’s crazy that this is where we are. I am so proud that we didn’t change who we are either. We stuck to what we wanted to brew and had fun along the way, with the beer styles, names, and labels, which is why we believe people have fallen in love with Wiley Roots.”