Beer In Wine Country: Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co
There is a saying in the wine biz that it takes a lot of beer to make great wine. So, it seems only natural that a brewery would set up shop in Santa Barbara wine country.
Jaime Dietenhofer grew up in Los Olivos and wanted to start a brewery when he was in high school. Perhaps it was in his blood, as he is of German heritage. But, his dad Jim laughed and told him to go to college. He went to Whitman in Walla Walla, Washington and researched beer while he was there. It was the mid-90s and breweries were growing in the Northwest. Jamie also studied abroad in Vienna, Austria for a year with his now wife Meighan. Between Austria and Germany, they visited a lot of biergartens. Jaime then attended graduate school at UCSB for economics and green development but his dream to own a brewery didn't die. Regardless, his father told him to get a job.
25 June, 2015