What do NASA and beer have in common? Ben, Michael, Thomas and David all met while interning at NASA. They’re now the owners and creators of True Anomaly Brewing Company located in Houston’s East End. They’ve been open a few months, but their journey started a long time ago.
“So about 15 years ago or so, we all met interning down at NASA. Most of us straight out of college. This was our first official kind of jobs,” said Michael Duckworth, owner of True Anomaly.
Like a lot of guys their age, they enjoyed beer. So much so, they got a home brewing kit and started making their own batches in their garage. That hobby eventually turned into a passion and they really started crafting their skill set.
Eventually, they started to learn more from a friend of theirs who had just opened the “Buffalo Bayou Brewing Company,” even partnering with him on a few limited releases.
“That was really the jumping off point when we got to do that with them,” Duckworth said.
The next few years were filled with balancing their NASA jobs while coming up with their business plan.
“Our NASA background gave us a lot of procedural mindsets as well. Standard operating procedures, really focusing on quality control, safety assurance and those types of things,” Duckworth said.
Before they knew it, opening day was here.
“We worked really hard to put our best foot in front of us. We really worked diligently on the recipes we initially came forward with. A lot of these we had been test batching for years,” Duckworth said.
While only two of the four guys have left their full-time jobs at NASA, they didn’t leave it totally behind. The brewery is decorated with NASA and space-related memorabilia.
As for hopes for the future, Duckworth says he hopes the general public looks at their brewery as one that helped improve the quality of Houston beer.
