GoKawiilKey Takeaways The co-founders met through mutual friends and bonded over a shared interest in creating something.
They opened their brewery Memorial Day weekend 2019 and drew a crowd of 300 — running out of beer.
Now, Kingston Standard enjoys steady year-over-year revenue growth as it continues to expand.
This Q&A features Tait Simpson of Kingston, New York, and Matt Owens of Brooklyn, New York, co-founders of Kingston Standard Brewing Co. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Image Credit: Kingston Standard. Tait Simpson, left, and Matt Owens, right.
Finding the inspiration to start a business: Kingston Brewing
When did you start your business, and where did you find the inspiration for it?
Simpson: The first time I ever made beer, I was actually trying to make bread.
About 12 years ago, I was deep into sourdough: cultivating wild yeast, feeding starters, obsessing over fermentation times. One day I thought, If I can make this yeast rise bread, what else can it do? That question led me down a rabbit hole I never climbed out of. I started homebrewing out of sheer curiosity, and something clicked. The fermentation process, the patience it demanded, the way small adjustments produced completely different results felt like the most honest kind of making.
I eventually left my kitchen to apprentice at Arrowood Farm Brewery in Accord, New York, where I learned what it actually meant to brew at scale. But the whole time, I had a different idea in the back of my mind. Building a neighborhood place I could call my own. A classic public house, in the oldest sense of the term. Somewhere people could walk to, chill, not rush and leave feeling energized.
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