And I knew it would be perfect: a short cheap flight away inexpensive nice lodging amazing dry, warm, sunny weather and beautiful beaches killer food scene with fish tacos all day, fresh seafood at night, hamburguesas, hot dogs, and tacos al pastor sliced from a trompo late night Uber and all the modern amenities I needed and most importantly, far enough away from Cabo that there were very few Americans and little to no craft beer. It’s the capital of South Baja, a few hours north of Cabo on the east coast of the peninsula. I decided to take some time off to do a little soul-searching, and ran away to La Paz, Mexico for a month. I was exhausted in so many ways, and knew I didn’t really have it in me to jump right into a new career. I was also tired of the social and political climate in America. I was over working in the service industry and with the general public. To be honest, it wasn’t just craft beer that got to me. My job had become just work and no fun, and that was the reason I left my writing career to open up a beer bar. What was the job pool even like these days for a middle-aged man? Weren’t all the good jobs already taken, and aren’t employers googly-eyed for the youngins? I really had no idea what I would do, but I knew I was done with craft beer. Would I call up my ex job? Would I find a new gig? I had never tried online job-searching before. If we broke up, what would happen to our first location of Imperial? And what would I do? Would I start all over again? At 44 years old, that was a bit scary.
For 10 years, I had built a career and business around craft beer. The passion was gone, and I knew in my heart we had to break up.ĭeep down I was heartbroken and confused. You were like that local band that goes big, and then all your new fans and new songs suck. However, something continued to weigh heavy on my heart…
I was proud of us for surviving through those 5 years, and I could see that closing our second bar was a huge weight off my shoulders and opened up other opportunities for me. I don’t really take failure so well, but after a few months, my therapist convinced me to not take it so personally.Īfter all, two of the biggest contributors to that bar’s closure were completely out of my control: 1) my wife was diagnosed with cancer shortly after we opened, and 2) right after she recovered, the pandemic started. To say the least, that was an emotionally complex experience for me. In 2022, my wife and I closed our second location of Imperial Bottle Shop & Taproom. Confessions of a beer bar/bottleshop owner: How Pacifico Saved My Love for Beer - by Alex Kurnellas
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