Today we’d like to introduce you to Brooke Michie.
Hi Brooke, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Paul and I met at UT in the College of Fine Arts in a class we were both taking our last summer of college many years ago… We bonded over our love of beer and art and have been together ever since. After decades in the service industry (he as a professional and degreed chef, food and beverage director and operations director for a few beloved Austin institutions and I as a hairdresser and studio salon owner), we decided to follow dreams of brewing professionally and opening a brewpub with a seasonal and rotating menu. We wanted to have space to grow our own produce and develop farmhouse and naturally fermented brews so we looked for land outside of Austin about eight years ago and found our dream spot in Round Top, moving here full time over two years ago.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Finances have always been a challenge. We have played the long game, focusing on savings, leveling up from one property to another over many years, selling property to fund new endeavors and reinvesting into other property and businesses. After planning to build a small farmstead brewery on our personal land (we had an old farmhouse moved there to live in after we took a year to renovate it as we could not afford to build), it became apparent it was cost-prohibitive to begin a business that way and have cash flow to operate. We opted to look into leasing a space in the middle of our little town, which became less of a destination brewery situation and more of an anchor tenant with visibility scenario. It has allowed us focus on our equipment and operations rather than buildout/renovation of the awesome space we now call Round Top Brewing. With that benefit, however, we were on another entity’s timeline and then Covid happened, so it’s been a long couple of years and we are thrilled to have finally opened doors this fall.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
As we were waiting for the build out completion of Round Top Brewing, a small historic building that also got moved to the empty block in the middle of a lot in central Round Top became available right next door. We had always thought this little community could use a sweetshop for kids and grown-ups alike. We scrapped together some fixtures, hand-painted everything and opened in the middle of a very large antique show with no power yet run to the block. We rocked that opening, working from a diesel generator. What a fun ride! That was about a year ago and it has been gratifying to see the joy on people’s faces as they walk into this adorable colorful space greeted by heavenly smelling baked goods and walls of chocolate. Lollitop is well-loved for its homemade farm-fresh breakfast items, baked goods, retro and nostalgic candies and world-class selection of chocolates.
Round Top Brewing is following suit with its burgeoning reputation for stellar food made all from scratch using so many local ingredients and artfully selected craft offerings (in its case, beers, wines, ciders, seltzers, etc.) to round out traditional beer styles made with love and precision in house in the 5 barrel brewhouse on site. Both places are housed on a prime block in the middle of Round Top in historic local buildings relocated and restored with reverence and great care.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
If you hear something over and over again, it’s probably true. You must be willing to sacrifice almost everything including your own comfort as that is what is often required to focus on achieving high-level goals. It certainly doesn’t happen overnight and taking care of your mental and physical being certainly helps drive the ship. Also, there are probably far easier ways to earn a living than what your deep desires and interests may lead you to. For us, there is no sense of material wealth in sight- quite the opposite- yet I wouldn’t change it.
Contact Info:
- Website: Lollitopsweetshop.com
- Instagram: @roundtopbrewing
Image Credits:
Meringue topped brownie photo courtesy of Barry Fantich
