Meet Robert Gagnon of Flying Basset Brewing in East Valley

Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Gagnon.

Robert, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I met my wife Sara In 2011, where she was an ICU supervisor, and I was an airline pilot. We had a conversation on having our bar someday, then it became “how about our brewery”? We then started home brewing in September 2011, and in April 2012 we won three medals at a local homebrew competition. That same year I attended a commercial brewing course in Wisconsin, from there I landed a commercial brewing with a local brewery. It was a baptism by fire-hose starting with this brewery. I soon got my bearings and was learning the craft on a commercial level while learning from very knowledgeable people. After two years in commercial brewing, I was offered a position in Hawaii to a 737-200 out of Oahu for a cargo company. We had always had an idea to start our operation out of Kauai, HI, since we had both lived there before. In doing all the research and discovery of what we could do, we realized that it was not going to work for us, so we decided to move back to Arizona where we have more support in doing such an undertaking.

We decided on the name after we got a basset hound and we named him Lieutenant Dan. We surveyed our Facebook page and Flying Basset was the winner in our name search. We later got another basset hound and her name is Angela Basset. We often bring the basset in and they are not happy being limited to the patio. When we were building the brewery they had run of the place, even had their swimming pool.

My wife and I are the investors in the business, so we hold everything dear to us. So, therefore, making this a true “mom and pop” operation. We are planning for growth, but at a pace that fits our situation. We have expanded our outside sales portfolio to include top name entertainment venues and night clubs. We currently have 40+ locations we sell to around the Arizona valley.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
We have been learning the restaurant industry as we go along. We had hired people to help us through this learning curve, and have since moved from them, or they have moved on from us. Each event with these past employees has taught us more about the industry, ourselves and the people we are looking for to help us grow.

Please tell us about your business.
We are a brewery with a restaurant attached to it. We have become a neighborhood brewpub, with a lot of regulars who love our beers and our food. We make our core beer to BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) standards per style, which we can hold ourselves to a known standard. Our rotating beers are style guidelines with a more open twist and creative emphasis.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Well, this one is tricky. We would have probably just done beer to start, and then grow into the food industry. The restaurant business is very difficult to grow and manage, along with growing and managing a beer brand.

Contact Info:

• Address: 720 West Ray Rd.
  Gilbert, AZ 85233
• Website: Flyingbassetbrewing.com
• Phone: 4804261373
• Instagram: @Flyingbassetbrewing
• Facebook: @flyingbassetbrewing
• Twitter: @FlyingbassetBru

Image Credit:
Rob and Sara doing a scavenger hunt in Scottsdale
The basset helping with tiling the bathrooms
Sara using the floor grinder to remove 6000 sqft of thinset
The basset hounds Lt Dan and Angela

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