Parenting

Meet Mompreneur Kristin Boswell of Wayward Owl Brewing Company

Kristin Boswell has spent the past decade falling in love with craft beer. She and her husband, Justin, dove head first into the craft brewery scene in 2006 while living in Seattle, attending countless beer festivals and fashioning their own brewery crawls around town.

Following the birth of their son, the couple decided to move to back to Louisiana – Justin is from Lafayette – and take a crack at opening their own microbrewery. Wayward Owl opened in November 2016 in the former GEM Theater in Central City.

 

What inspired you to launch your own business, and why did you pick the GEM Theater?
My husband and I have entrepreneurial spirit and always wanted to work for ourselves. We just needed to find the right outlet. We found that in beer! One of the big factors in finding the right location for a brewery is ceiling height. Walking into the GEM, we knew we would have no problem standing up 14-foot tanks, and we were sold.
 
What’s been the most rewarding part about growing your business?
It’s very rewarding to help our local economy and be a part of growing the craft beer industry in Louisiana. It’s amazing that we can provide full-time jobs to four people and aid in bringing business back to our stretch of Broad Street. The community has opened its arms to us, and that has been very gratifying.
 
Do you find owning your own business gives you more flexibility to do things with your son?
As with anything, you have to find a balance. Being your own boss has its unique challenges. You constantly have to choose to put the phone down or not check that email. And when your business partner is your husband, it’s all too easy to slip into work talk. We are lucky for the family arrangement we have, and Jude, now 3, is lucky that he gets to spend quality time with both of his parents.
 
What is your craziest beer name and how did you choose it?
The employees have a secret menu. They like to take our beers and blend them together to make their own concoctions. They are brewers, so the names can be a bit crude. We call them the Dirty Bird Blends.

 

Wayward Owl Brewing Co., 3940 Thalia St., New Orleans. 504.827.1646. waywardowlbrewing.com.

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