When we last checked in with High and Dry Brewing over the summer, the new leadership team was just taking the reins and starting to figure out just about everything.

Well, six months later, we trekked back over to meet with general manager Kyle Gaston and head brewer Cami O’Brien to see how everything has progressed for our latest Look Back/Look Ahead Series. There has been considerable progress, particularly on the brewing side, and now they are both looking to push things forward in 2026.

As with our past articles in this series this time around, we have asked three main questions — what was the biggest challenge, what was the biggest accomplishment, and what is the goal for 2026 — and once again, the answer to the first inquiry was pretty much the same as the second.

Gaston said the obvious answer to the first question was on the brewing side.

“It was definitely an equipment thing, but it’s probably something Cami can delve into (more) with a certain level of expertise,” he said.

“So we had a kettle that was not only too small for our production tanks, but also didn’t function very well,” she said. “So it was very inconsistent with the product, and I had to do kind of some tricks to get our tanks filled (while) still having, you know, it be a quality product. And towards the end, when we got rid of it, the last couple brews were pretty inconsistent.”

O’Brien said the kettle was not really designed to have a direct fire underneath, and that was charring the malt to a degree that it was basically ruining the beer.

“It didn’t have the protection underneath it, and so that was the biggest issue with the kettle,” she said. “Luckily, we found a kettle that is now large enough to fill the tanks that we have. It has the safety features of a heat shield and also where the burner is and how the kettle is made is meant for an open flame underneath, so that’s great.”

“It’s like maybe the same height, if not a little bit shorter, just a lot wider,” Gaston added. “So there’s a lot more surface area for flame to hit and it’s way more consistent.”

This actually tied back into our Look Back/Look Ahead Series entry on Boxing Bear, where co-owner Kevin Davis talked about lending O’Brien their forklift. She used to work for Davis, and he said that he trusted her the most of his entire staff when it came to operating the forklift.

“So thankfully, they let me borrow their forklift, because there’s no way we’re getting that thing in the building,” she said. “We towed it over here, and then it worked out perfectly. The the box fit almost exactly in through our dock door so it was fun.”

O’Brien said that everyone at Boxing Bear has been willing to help High and Dry whenever they need something, from borrowing a large piece of equipment to something smaller like getting some hops or yeast.

“They’re so awesome at Boxing Bear, they’ve been supportive through this whole transition, so it’s been great thing to have,” she said.

In a way, getting the kettle replaced was also the biggest accomplishment of the year for High and Dry.

“Finding a 5-barrel kettle was, I didn’t know how hard that was going to be, but literally from the time where we (said) need a new kettle to when we got it, I want to say at least like four months went by or something like that,” Gaston said.

O’Brien added that they were not being picky, but luckily the first one that they found that fit their size specifications ended up being the one that they purchased. Now things are going smoothly.

“And then also being able to just recently consistently produce enough beers,” she said. “We’re almost to the point where it’ll only be our beers on tap, and that’s kind of the goal.”

High and Dry is up to eight of their own beers on tap, with six expected to be semi-permanent — Special Shapes IPA, Ghost of a Moon Pale Ale, Rye Orbison Amber Ale, Ace of Haze IPA, Jiminy Crispness Kolsch (which will be back soon), and a tap that will rotate quarterly with a fruited tart. O’Brien also said she hopes to keep a rotating series of stouts on tap, with a Mexican Hot Chocolate Stout first among those (and it’s good).

Other seasonals on deck include a red IPA and an orange wheat beer.

“But yeah, just getting to the point where I’m able to stay on top of brewing, mainly our house beers … and then just throwing in some seasonals as well,” O’Brien said. “So that’s been awesome this year. And, just having that kettle has been huge.”

Looking ahead to 2026, which is creeping closer by the day, Gaston said it is all a matter of balancing what they want to do with what they can afford to do.

“So finances are always a problem for anybody, especially like something this small,” he said. “So we’ve been actually up 20 percent in sales from the past couple years. So we’re in a better place than we’ve been in a while, and I think as we’ve kind of been shaking things down a little further, we’ve got some plans to kind of expand our marketing, be a little more focused there and get more people through the door.”

Gaston said he feels like they have their Nob Hill neighborhood locked down, but he wants to attract more beer lovers from around the metro area.

“I feel like we’re missing a lot from just not having the online presence that we need,” he said. “So there’s a lot of stuff going into that right now.”

Getting up to 10 taps of High and Dry beers with no guest taps of beer is another objective, though O’Brien did note that things like cider and kombucha would continue to be guest taps.

“Oh, yeah, we hardly have enough tanks for beer much less cider,” she said, while also adding another goal on the beer side will be to get all the house beers back to being gluten reduced.

High and Dry will expand their craft cocktail options and continue to play around with those. Gaston said he will also be working on their non-alcoholic options, including adding some different styles of hop water along with the in-house sodas that they already make.

Beyond that, getting events planned out is a goal for 2026. Things like Sunday open mic, Friday karaoke, Wednesday trivia, and Tuesday music bingo will continue. The big goal is to ramp back up with live music on Saturdays. One good example of that coming up is the return of Punk Rock Matinee on January 10, featuring The Talking Hours and Fit to Burn.

“Saturdays, we’ve done music in the past, and it’s kind of been here and there, you know,” Gaston said. “But yeah, I really would like to get this to be a venue that’s well-known for always having a show Saturdays. So that’s something that we’re working on right now.

“But yeah, basically, I guess to bring that down to (a more concise answer) is we just want to get High and Dry back to being house taps only, (with) more cocktail and NA options, and get our live music program back up and running again.”

That all sounds good to us, and yeah, we tried all the beers that have been brewed since the kettle was upgraded and came away impressed. If you have not sampled their beers in a while, get on over to High and Dry soon to enjoy some classic brews and some new offerings.

Oh, and keep an eye out for more on the anniversary party that will be back in force this February.

A big thanks to Kyle and Cami for meeting up before the holiday madness consumes us all.

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister