Lee Cleghorn’s “aha moment” was a bit more severe than most. He was on an 8-month overseas deployment with the Special Forces while his wife and 7-month-old daughter were back home enduring the normal firsts (and failures) that all first-time parents experience.
“I was in Afghanistan looking out at the mountains and had this epiphany—what the hell am I doing, still doing this?” says Lee. “I’ve got to get on with my life.” Wife and business partner Emily Cleghorn agrees. “He missed everything. First word, first steps, first birthday. I was raising her alone as a first-time parent and constantly worried about Lee because he was taking some of the riskiest missions out there. So after he came back, the stress of being apart and missing out led us to say, ‘Why wait? If we’re going to do this, let’s do it now.’ ”
Brewing had been a part of their relationship since day one (literally—they first met when a mutual friend invited Emily to accompany him to brew with Lee), and it was Lee’s stress reliever.