Photo by Kevin A. Roberts
After unrest in North County in 2014, both regulars and newcomers stepped up to support Ferguson Brewing Company. “We had our loyal customers,” recalls owner Mike Lonero, “and a lot of new people got behind us from other communities.”
Then, in June 2015, an electrical fire dealt the brewery another blow: The blaze gutted the kitchen, and water and smoke further damaged the 100-year-old building. “The insurance company estimated it would be a year before we opened,” Lonero says. “That wasn’t OK—too many people depend on us.”
In the wake of the fire, the St. Louis Brewers Guild raised more than $11,000, and several breweries held fundraisers for employees. Ferguson Brewing Company reopened four months later. “I put my head down and got to work,” Lonero says. “My dad taught me that.”
