Westbrook Brewing

When Edward Westbrook was in college, his girlfriend Morgan—now his wife and business partner—taunted him about his cocktail-drinking. "I challenged him to brew beer instead, and that's when homebrewing became our 'thing,'" Morgan says. "It was pretty amazing that you could brew a keg of beer (141 pints) for about $20. If you held a keg beer festival and charged $5 a cup, you could pay the tuition. ...I held a lot of festivals."

After college, Morgan decided she could pay not only her tuition but also her bills with beer. "And I refused to date a lawyer," she jokes. "That was another option for Edward, but it's a completely different kind of work environment. So we ended up at the brewery. It felt like home."

The brewing couple opened Westbrook Brewing on December 20, 2010, in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, to be near their families—not to mention that there were only a handful of breweries in the area at the time. Five months later, they married, and Edward brewed Mexican Cake for the wedding reception. The beer was a 10% ABV Imperial Stout to which habaneros, cinnamon, vanilla, and cacao nibs were added during maturation. "I tried to make the flavors distinct but not overpowering," Edward says.

"I remember when he described Mexican Cake - I thought he was a little crazy," Morgan recalls. "But he has a knack for mixing and combining flavors, and so I was excited by the idea."