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Around the Horn


((PKG)) BREWING COMPANY
((TRT: 03:13))
((Topic Banner:
Brewing up Business))
((Reporter/Camera:
Michelle Quinn))
((Producer/Editor: Elizabeth Lee))
((Map:
Groveland, California))
((Main character: 1 female))
((NATS))
((Rachel Sabatine
Owner-Founder, Around The Horn Brewing Company))

My name is Rachel Sabatine. I'm the owner and founder and chief operating officer of Around The Horn Brewing Company.
((NATS))
((Rachel Sabatine
Owner-Founder, Around The Horn Brewing Company))

The name, Around The Horn, comes from the [19th century] Gold Rush. If you were a gold seeker trying to get to California from the East Coast, one of the routes you could take was going on a boat down around the tip of South America, Cape Horn, and going back up to San Francisco. So you were going around the Horn. But Horn is also my maiden name.
When we decided really that we were going to pursue this dream, that was in late 2016. I do love beer and that's part of it. But the other part of it is this place, this community. We're located in Groveland, California, which is about 25 miles [40 km] from Yosemite National Park. It's beautiful all the time, you know.
((Rachel Sabatine
Owner-Founder, Around The Horn Brewing Company))

The traffic I have is when the deer are crossing the road.
I just love kind of the small town. The people are amazing.
We looked at probably every property possible in this area. We secured our location and then COVID hit. This was a very, uh, many, many years-long process and by the time the pandemic hit, we were you know, 95 percent of the way there.
((NATS))
((Rachel Sabatine
Owner-Founder, Around The Horn Brewing Company))

There was a day where we asked ourselves if we should stop. We already had one bank loan but we hadn't closed on the second bank loan yet. It was days away and my husband and I were like, “Are we making a mistake?”, you know. “We're already in debt but are we going to put ourselves even more in debt for no reason whatsoever?” But, you know, we went forward with it and I'm really glad we did.
((NATS))
((Rachel Sabatine
Owner-Founder, Around The Horn Brewing Company))

One of the first beers we ever made last year was called, I'm Fine, Everything's Fine, and that was how I felt. You know, it was chaotic.
For us having the beer garden, it's perfect because we have all this nice space where people can spread out and such. So all this has been just constant change and constantly being adaptable and adjusting but I think we're pulling it off.
((NATS))
((Rachel Sabatine
Owner-Founder, Around The Horn Brewing Company))

And I think when we had to have the shutdown, when it was take-out only, that was really hard because we had to have hard conversations with our staff and just figure out, you know, “Do you guys all want to each work one day a week or do you want to all go on unemployment? Like what is going to work best for you and your families?” Because, you know, we've got, we have people with kids and people who are helping take care of their parents and stuff like that. And feeling like, you know, we couldn't help support them to support their loved ones. That was hard.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Rachel Sabatine
Owner-Founder, Around The Horn Brewing Company))

The way our community played a role for us, they just showed up, you know, all the time. It's amazing, like it really makes me happy and super grateful that they want to support us and they make this conscious effort to do so.
((NATS/MUSIC))

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