USA, TX: 4J Brewing Company launched by four sisters in Houston

Four sisters have opened a brewery after their dad decided to teach them how to brew beer for fun. Jennifer Mathis and her three sisters, from Houston, Texas, used to make the drink at home in their spare time but have since turned professional, and serve their beer to hundreds of thirsty Texans, Metro reported on June 30.

Through years of ‘makin’ some and drinkin’ some for fun, Jennifer, 28 and her dad, Larry, 74, became so good at making beer they have taken their passion for ale to the next level. The father and daughter duo are now the proud owner and founder of the popular 4J Brewing Company – named after Navy veteran Larry’s four daughters, Jennifer, Jessica, 37, Jackie, 35 and Joanna, 33.

Jennifer, who co-owns and runs the business with her mom, Marilyn, 65, said: ‘My granddad and my dad have brewed beer as a hobby for years, and me and my sisters joined in to help out when we were growing up.

‘We loved sharing our home brews and used to take kegs over to parties and threw parties when we had beer to share, so that people could try them out too. We have always known our beers are good and other people always seemed to enjoy it too.

‘When we started to get serious about it we were making about 15 gallons of beer a week. I still brew the beers today and we still sell the same beers that my dad and I crafted at home.

‘The locals have been great to us and we’ve always had a brilliant following. People love having a local brewery and it feels awesome to be where we are now, we are really pleased with what we have built up.’

The Edwards’ family have enjoyed brewing beer for generations, but it was only in 2014 that Jennifer and Larry realized they’d gotten good enough at it to turn professional.

All four of his daughters helped out and brewed their own blends of beer for fun at the family home, and the more beer they brewed the better they became at making pub-quality booze. By 2014, Jennifer and Larry had perfected the art of brewing several types of beer, including a dark and light blend, as well as red, stout amber and pale ales.

Jennifer was made redundant from her banking job the following year, and used her severance package and saving to apply for a brewery license and turn professional. She was able to use several vacant barns on her family’s sprawling ranch, and gradually bought all the equipment needed to set up her brewery.

‘I just love the science of brewing’, said Jennifer, who is married to fellow brewery owner 32-year-old Garrison.

‘I find it fascinating and over the years we have refined our process, made adjustments and have beers that we are proud of.

‘We started brewing beer just to have a good time to be honest, and it just went from there. We had so much fun and because we did it so much, we got better at it.’

Under the day-to-day management of Jennifer and her mom, Marilyn, the first pints of beers flowed out of 4J Brewery in March 2018. They built a pub which can seat up to 75 people at any one time, and with a huge seating area outside that can host an extra 200 people.

The Edwards family run the business entirely on their own, with Jennifer and Larry in charge of brewing, Marilyn and Jennifer in charge of the bar and her sisters, Jackie, Jessica and Joanna, providing regular help during weekends at a peak times. 4J Brewery makes four main beers all year round on tap, an IPA, a blonde, a stout and a red beer, and are known for coming up with quirky and sometimes bizarre limited-edition blends.

Jennifer said: ‘We love to have fun with what we make and uses fruits and spices to mix things up.

‘We have done a honey hibiscus blonde and that has been our best seller of all time. We’ve also done a pineapple and coconut blonde, a Russian imperial stout with coffee and lots of different fruity ones.

‘We have always been small and don’t sell to bars and restaurants, so the only place to get our beer is right here. We have our regulars and it’s been really nice to see people forge friendships in our bar.

‘We are one of the only all-female owner breweries in Texas and we are proud to be quite successful, but we know there’s still so much we can do.’

Like many businesses in the US, 4J Brewery has been rocked by the coronavirus pandemic and country-wide lockdown measures. After re-opening following several weeks of state-enforced closures, all pubs and bars have been forced to call last orders and shutdown once again due to a ‘dangerous turn’ in confirmed coronavirus cases in Texas.

The state has joined several southern and western states to re-enforce lockdown measures following a surge in cases after lockdown restrictions were eased. Texas has logged 159,000 cases and 2,430 deaths since the outbreak began in March, as more than 2.6 million cases and 504,000 deaths have been recorded in the US as a whole.

But despite suffering financial pressures due to the lockdown, Jennifer added 4J Brewing Company is surviving throughout the pandemic and said she is looking forward to welcoming drinkers back to her bar when local restrictions allow.

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