The accidental brewer

As a 20-year veteran of the semiconductor industry, Cheri Bolt couldn’t help thinking there was more to life. Last year, when the pink slips started flying, the Bay Area native gave up her job managing a wafer fabrication lab in Roseville for one of the world’s largest electronics companies. Now she owns Hogshead Brewing at 114 J St. in Old Sacramento. She runs the place with brewer Ric Hern, her friend and former co-worker, plus a few family members who help out on the weekends. She’s not looking back.

How did you become a brewery owner?

I was tired of working for Corporate America and I wanted to be my own boss. I was offered early retirement and it was a nice sum of money so I took the company up on that when I saw this place was for sale. I was searching the Internet and I saw something for a historic brewery in Old Sacramento. I instantly knew it was Hogshead. It was destiny. I closed escrow November 16. I’d been in the semiconductor industry and never owned a restaurant or my own business, so I learned everything the hard way.

What was the most difficult lesson to learn?

All the forms you have to fill out, the workman’s comp, the insurance—and the taxes. Being a brewer you pay like three different taxes for brewing your own beer. Also, when I came in I got caught up in trying to be a restaurant, and that’s where I made my mistake. There are so many awesome restaurants down here, so how can you compete with that? That’s why I started selling sausages. None of the other guys sell wieners. I tell everybody I want to be the wiener queen of Old Sac.

Did you know anything about beer or brewing when you took over?

No. Never even drank beer before I bought this place. But now I do.

Who makes the beer?

Ric Hern. He was a line maintenance supervisor [at my old job]. We worked together for about six years. He was a home brewer, so I called him up and asked, “You want to brew 150 gallons at a time instead of five gallons?” He’s been in brewer heaven ever since.

Did you learn how to brew?

Yeah, Ric’s taught me a lot. I’ve learned about hopping, about malts, about what makes a lager, or a porter. The yeast was the hardest lesson, trying to find the right yeast strain.

What kind of folks do you meet down here?

We had two young men from the Heineken factory in Amsterdam. They were here for a brewing seminar. They stopped in, played some darts and loved our vanilla pale ale. They said if I go to Amsterdam I can go tour the Heineken factory with them. We get a lot of German tourists that come in for the beer. Most of the Europeans that come in really like our beers. We also get Dutch, British, people from all over the world. We had a brewer from Germany and his wife. We have national beer judges that hang out here. The brewers from other breweries come down.

How do you like being a brewer?

This industry is so different than any other. It’s like a family. Other brewers and other people in the industry are willing to help you out with your recipe. We want to see each other succeed. That was the biggest surprise that I got, how the other breweries treated me.

How’s business?

Business has been slow, slower than I expected. We get mostly tourists, and tourism has been down.

Where can you get this beer?

Just here right now. Our major goal is to bottle and keg it for outside sales.

What’s the hardest part of running your own brewery?

I don’t have enough time to do everything. I don’t date, I don’t go out. Everything revolves around the business. All I do is the brewery. It’s a big commitment, but it’s a labor of love. I love what I’m doing even though I don’t make half the money I made in the semiconductor industry. But I enjoy myself more. I’m way happier and not as stressed.

How many breweries are owned by women?

None that I know of.