Meet Sean Peters | Owner of Peak View Brewing Company

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sean Peters and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sean, how do you think about risk?
Taking risks has been a concept I have had to familiarize myself with from a young age. At 17, my parents moved to Florida, requiring me to take a risk and live on my own to finish high school as well as work a job to support myself. This specific risk had me living in my Jeep, working as much as possible, and scraping by to be able to survive. However, this experience taught me a lot about self reliance and it gave me skills to be able to problem solve and generally how to be an adult. After high school, I needed some stability as my current situation was not working well, so it led me to take another risk and join the Air Force Reserve. The Air Force taught me attention to detail, a strong work ethic, and the mindset that failure is not an option and if you put your mind to something you are passionate about, it is always possible. The Air Force also got me my start in craft brewing. I was a Security Forces member so a lot of my job was spent working the front gate of the base. During the mornings, it was steady work checking IDs, but as the day progressed on, there was not a lot to do so we spent a lot of our time reading books and watching youtube. Brewing beer had always interested me after taking a tour to New Belgium Brewing Company. I loved the culture they had created, and their passion behind their product really stood out to me. With this interest and working the gate, I read as many books as I could and watched all the videos on youtube regarding brewing beer. I eventually bought a bunch of homebrewing equipment and was instantly hooked and decided to take another risk and focus my time on opening a brewery someday. I knew that while brewing beer was extremely important, it was also a good idea to learn the business side of starting a company so I enrolled in college with a major in Business Management. Throughout my college experience, I was fortunate to get hired on as an intern at United Launch Alliance in their supply chain management. This gave me practical skills necessary to running a business and I was even offered a full time salary job with the company. However, I knew at this point that my passion was in craft beer so I took another risk by rejecting their offer in the pursuit of starting my own company. All these decisions led me to where Peak View Brewing is today. Each risk created new challenges further solidifying my skills and desires to creating and developing the brewery to where it is today. Today my viewpoint on risk is more of a challenge and an opportunity to do even bigger things. Nothing ventured nothing gained!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My career so far has been a series of jobs and challenges that have each played a part in starting the brewery. My service in the Air Force Reserve is what I look back on as the foundation to my career. It taught me professionalism, attention to detail, management skills and even gave me the inspiration to start Peak View. I used all those skills later in my career through college and homebrewing with the single mindset that I would start a brewery one day. The challenges to create the company itself were long and difficult. Finding funding, securing a lease, building out the brewery, finalizing recipes, making the jump to commercial brewing were all serious challenges that took years to complete. With the support of my friends and the mindset of never giving up from the military, I was able to tackle each challenge one day at a time. These challenges taught a bunch of lessons, but the biggest lesson I learned was that life is an adventure of sorts. There are challenges we face all the time, but they are balanced out by all the good things that come with it. With this mindset, Peak View has a slogan saying our beer is “Brewed with the spirit of adventure”. It’s not a known fact that by adventure, we mean that it is brewed in the pursuit of taking on challenges, bettering ourselves and relying on family to achieve your dreams.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The best thing about Colorado is there is so much to see and do. When my friends come from out of town, the first thing I like to take them is up to Steamboat Springs. Strawberry hot springs on a cold night and a new moon is one of the most amazing experiences anyone can enjoy. You can see the beauty of the milkyway galaxy as well as drink some of the best beers in the world. After that, I typically take them to the many amazing breweries we are so fortunate to live close to. To get a full experience of the brewing world, I like to go to some of the south denver breweries which I’ve grown close to over the past few years. Doug from Downhill Brewing in Parker is my first stop. He is such a great dude to be around and his beer is reflective of his personality. The crews at Lone Tree Brewing, Los Dos Brewery, Resolute, and Blue Spruce also give my friends a first hand look into the passion and creativity all breweries put into their craft and that makes for a great time.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The group that is the biggest part of the success of me and Peak View Brewing Company is my staff. A lot of these outstanding people are from my part time job as a lifeguard during college. The brewery was just a concept that I liked to talk about starting some day and they were all behind it from day one. They would come homebrew with me, share it with their friends and family, let me vent about the struggles I was having, and really just be my support system. They were with me every step of the way when it came to finding a location, signing the lease, building the brewery itself to our opening day. At Peak View, we call our staff Family, as it’s really what we are. We’ve built this culture together that we are all family and that it is not just a job. They care so much and the level of passion and hard work they bring to do their jobs every day is aw inspiring. I tell them that I have lost track of how many times I have been proud of them because it is a daily occurrence. Without them, I would still be a kid with a dream. Their love and support made Peak View Brewing a reality.

Website: peakviewbrewing.com

Instagram: @peakviewbrewco

Facebook: @peakviewbrewco