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Our Story How a couple of average guys who had never worked in a restaurant, never brewed beer, and never owned a business started a brewpub.
 It was in the fall of 1993 when, during a visit to Baltimore, my brothers Paul, John and I wandered into our first brewpub, Bill Oliver's Wharf Rat. The ales were terrific and much-appreciated by the ever-increasing evening crowd. We had never heard of brewpubs, and talked about how a brewpub was a great idea for a business. With every pint we drank we convinced ourselves more and more that we should start our own. After returning home to Glens Falls, John and I (recalling how convinced those ales made us) began to look into brewpubs, the microbrewing revolution, and our market. Our business plan research had begun. In the two years between our visit to the Wharf Rat and the fall of 1995, we visited many brewpubs and microbreweries asking countless questions and taking hastily scribbled notes. We researched our markets in Saratoga Springs and Glens Falls. We actually put in an offer to buy the Saratoga Springs building that subsequently became home to that city's first brewpub, but lost the bid. In hindsight, what was a disappointing event ended up being the best thing that could have happened. It gave us a lot more time to fine-tune our plan. Also during this time, an excellent real estate opportunity became available as we envisioned an upswing in the economy of downtown Glens Falls. In February of 1996, John and I, with the moral support of a dozen close friends, took the chance of a lifetime and bid on the building at 184 Glen Street in Glens Falls. We won the bid and were in the brewpub business. John and I, along with our brother Paul and other family and friends, removed all the trash, junk, wiring, pipes and over 700 cubic yards of interior building materials from the 130-year-old building. We designed the interior space and managed construction. Carpenters, plumbers, electricians, refrigeration specialists and more worked constantly from June of 1996 until we opened in October of 1996. We accomplished a lot through good planning and a lot more through dumb luck. The members of our opening team worked with us and the trades to build the restaurant they would manage. They accepted the challenge! We came to rely on them to manage their areas with minimum oversight. The best conscious decision we made (after evaluating many alternatives) was to use the Peter Austin System for brewing. This traditional English brewing system, combined with the training and support of Alan Pugsley and his team, allows us to brew world class ales, 217 gallons at a time. On October 14, 1996, Davidson Brothers Restaurant & Brewery opened to the public. I had always thought that after everything it took to get the thing off the ground, I'd be overcome with emotion when that first dollar crossed the bar. But I was too busy. We used that first dollar to buy more barley. I've been busy ever since.
Rick Davidson
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