The Burning Brothers, Dane and Thom, met in their late teens, and proceeded to do typical young guy activities. Realizing that fire tricks from a lighter weren’t so awe inspiring, they decided to run away and join the circus, where they could learn to eat fire for real. Circuses being in short supply in rural Minnesota, they joined up with the Renaissance Festival instead, where they learned from a professional. Travelling the circuit, sticking flaming torches in each other’s mouths, and sharing a tent trailer cemented their friendship.
Fast forward through marriages, wives and children, to the point where they realized they didn’t hang out anymore, and needed to fix that. Finding that they both home brewed, they decided that would be a cool thing to do together. After a year of hanging and home-brewing, they decided they enjoyed it enough that they wanted to open their own microbrewery. They came up with a business plan and then Dane was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. That diagnosis meant no gluten, and even worse, no beer.
The plans for the brewery were shelved for a period of diet adjustment and mourning. Dane tried multiple gluten-free beers that were on the market, and realized that this group of people were being deprived of beer, that tasted like beer. With new-found determination, the two of them set out to brew something that they would like to drink together. After three years of recipe development, they realized they had something really good on their hands. They pulled their old brewery plans from the shelf, dusted them off, and revamped them for a gluten-free brewery with a name that hearkens back to their optimistic youth, willingness to take risks, and years of fun and friendship.