Barbara Groom is unconventional, to say the least. She grew up wanting to be a skier, even though she lived on a farm in Stockton, California – a place where the climate ranges from hot to…well…really hot. She sold makeup as an Avon representative, having never worn the stuff herself. She became a pharmacist in a time when that occupation was almost entirely male-dominated.
It turns out that sliding down the side of a mountain on two planks didn’t really work out. Nor did makeup sales. And while pharmaceuticals worked out for a while (20-something years, to be approximate), she found the work to be excruciatingly boring and stiflingly uncreative.
Some people might turn to drinking beer when they’re that bored. Barbara? She decided to make it.
And it turns out that she really, really liked doing it. More importantly, she was pretty damn good at it. And after years of searching, she had finally found that elusive intersection where passion and talent met.
And there she was, yet again, being unconventional in a dreadfully conventional world. Square peg, round hole…beat of a different drum…etc., etc.
When Barbara started Lost Coast, microbreweries weren’t what you would call a “thing.” The little guy simply couldn’t compete with the big boys. But Barbara was determined to turn her passion for brewing beer into a sustainable – and profitable – business.
After six years of hard work, Lost Coast was officially launched. And it all started with a restaurant in downtown Eureka, Great White wheat beer, and a helluva lot of elbow grease.
