Most businesses don’t break because the product is bad.
They break because ownership decisions collide with people, partners, and pressure.

In this episode of Builders, Makers, Doers, Andy and Elliot sit down on site with Zach Triemert, founder of Brickway Brewery and Distillery, for a raw conversation about what happens when everything you build gets taken away — and you decide to build again anyway.

This is not a craft beer episode.
It’s a resilience episode.

Zach shares the full story of growing Nebraska’s largest brewery, giving away equity too early, and being escorted out of his own company — overnight. What followed wasn’t a comeback tour. It was a hard reset.

Cash flow pressure.
Starting over from scratch.
Making decisions differently the second time.

This conversation explores what ownership really demands when the market shifts, competition explodes, and the rules change mid-game.

You’ll hear how Zach:

• Lost control of the business he founded
• Rebuilt with tighter ownership and clearer guardrails
• Navigated an industry that went from 800 to 10,000 competitors
• Adapted as customers started drinking less, not more
• Managed years of cash tied up in inventory he couldn’t sell yet
• Shifted focus to survive saturation and market contraction
• Built a team that stayed through uncertainty and pressure

This episode is about patience, discipline, and long-term thinking.

Because resilience isn’t grit.
It’s structure.
And it’s built before things fall apart.

If you own — or plan to own — a trades, manufacturing, or operations-driven business, this conversation will hit close to home.

🎧 Watch the full episode and subscribe to Builders, Makers, Doers.

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Connect with the Hosts

Andy Bassett, CEO, Ellerbrock-Norris
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-bassett-cpcu-cic-7711853/

Elliot Bassett, President and Partner, Ellerbrock-Norris
https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliot-bassett-aip-cpcu-84499515/

🌐 https://www.ellerbrock-norris.com/