6 minute read
Koi Pond Brewing Company
Eric Ghiloni will never forget the rst time someone told him his beer was the best they ever had.
It’s a memory that sticks out because of the unique way it made him feel, a warmth that served as motivation to continue on his path to becoming a full-time brewer. “If somebody compliments my beer, I freeze,” Ghiloni said. “I just look at them and smile. There is nothing better than somebody drinking a beer of yours and saying I love this. I really hope to never get over the amount of joy that brings me.”
He’s probably been frozen at the bar too many times to count since Koi Pond Brewing Co. opened in January to rave reviews. The success most likely stems from Ghiloni’s simple philosophy to brewing beer – make sure people can drink it.
“I always wanted all of my batches to be drinkable,” Ghiloni said. “In fact, I wanted all of them to be good, and I was really close to all of my batches being good.”
A few pesky cranberries aside, all of Ghiloni’s ideas have come to fruition in cold, frothy form after a little bit of tweaking. After friends continued to rave about his beer, Ghiloni began considering upgrading the hobby to his new career.
As Matthew Sperati explained it, what sets Ghiloni apart is his ability to turn an ordinary recipe into an extraordinary one.
“Every time we tasted Eric’s beer, we believed it was exceptional,” Sperati said. “Eric, in my opinion, just has that magic touch, and he makes the beer taste better than any other brewers can do.”
When Ghiloni finally decided to switch careers and become a fulltime brewer, he and his wife, Mary,
teamed up with Sperati and his wife, Deborah, to begin the process of starting a brewery. As luck would have it, the website for the Rocky Mount Mills project had just gone live and was soliciting businesses for the area.
One phone call later, the road to the creation of Koi Pond Brewing Co. was paved.
“I’m pretty sure I picked up the phone and called (Sperati) and said ‘Hey Matt, did you see this,’” Ghiloni said. “When the Brewmill made their intent known to the public, we were probably one of the first to reach out to them and say this is something we want to talk about.”
The culture of craft brewing made Ghiloni’s transition from hobby to business much easier.
In the 18 months or so between the phone call and when the doors opened, the two couples traveled North Carolina to various breweries for research. They would take notes on what they liked about certain places, what they didn’t enjoy and which elements would transfer well to their business. They would be able to talk to the owners about patterns they’ve seen and mistakes that they made when they were first starting.
But perhaps more surprisingly is how open and honest the brewers were in teaching Ghiloni and his staff some of their techniques. Ghiloni said he has dozens of people he can call for brewing advice that would be more than willing to help him out, a unique aspect of his latest occupation.
“Because of the industry and how it is structured and how each brewery is pretty much an open door to other
breweries, translating hobby into business, that aspect of it is not anything I’ve seen in any other industry or any other hobby,” Ghiloni said. “But everybody has their trade secrets. I have things I do that no one outside this brewery is ever going to know ... but there’s a certain willingness and eagerness to help your fellow brewer in this industry.”
Koi Pond is located in an old mill house, a unique feature for an industry built almost exclusively in renovated warehouses. e interior decoration is exactly what one would expect from a brewery named after a type of fish, but that makes it no less inviting to consumers. e taproom is packed with tables, chairs and barstools, all handcrafted by local artisans. If the indoors is too stuffy, there are several picnic tables on a patch of grass in a makeshift outdoor area overlooking the construction ongoing across the entire Brewmill. at construction is symbolic of what Ghiloni and Sperati are hopeful will be a bright future. e N.C. Craft Brewers Guild coined the term “co-opetition” to symbolize the cooperative competition that arose in North Carolina, which is exactly what the pair are anticipating will occur around them in the future.
“It was exciting being the first, to be the first in something is always a great thing,” Sperati said. “( e other breweries) to a certain degree will be competition, but really what they will do is foster synergy where they will draw more people in and create a bigger pie that we can all share in.” e taproom itself is open only four days a week at the moment, partially due to the fact the brewery’s success
has meant it is close to maxing out the production on its current equipment. Both Ghiloni and Sperati laughed at this being one of the major issues they have faced four months into the opening, joking that it is a great problem to have.
Admittedly, they didn’t know what to expect when they opened their doors on Jan. 3, but said in hindsight it would have been better to buy bigger and ramp up production to match the success.
“You can’t just imagine how successful you can be,” Sperati said. “If you have good beer and a good place to hang out, people will support you.”
As much as the warmth of a compliment continues to serve as motivation, Ghiloni said he simply loves to create beer. at passion is one of the major reasons Koi Pond’s original plan of focusing on five flagship beers to launch the brewery flew out the window before it even opened.
Ghiloni’s busy mind concocted several more recipes while in the process of fine-tuning and perfecting the flagship five, leading to 15 different beers being listed on the company’s website. But that is also the mark of a true artisan, someone obsessed so much with their craft that they can’t turn off their brain if they smell or taste certain ingredients.
It is a gift that he loves giving to the world to let them enjoy. His happiness stems from the process and watching someone enjoy the end result.
“I love to brew,” he said, “but even more than that, I love to share my beer with people.”
