Prior to falling in love with beer, Julien fell in love with a woman, Erica, whom he eventually married. The two were exchange students when they met in high school, and at age 18, Julien decided to leave France to be with her. He soon found employment with Markstein Beverage Co., a distributor for breweries such as Sierra Nevada and Kona Brewing. “When I moved here, I didn’t know anything about beer, to be honest with you.” In the region of France Julien is from, cider and champagne are the drinks of choice, not beer, so his exposure was limited. About 7 years ago, Markstein took their employees to Sierra Nevada Brewing Company for a tour. This seems to be what changed his course. He recalls rubbing the hops around his fingers and putting the rubbed hop-bits up to his nose. It was craft. It was artisanal. It was with the same spirit his grandfather worked. Julien remembers thinking, “Everyone at Sierra Nevada cared so much about the product. My grandpa was a small artisan making artisanal ciders. Now people here are getting into artisanal beers.”

“It was the most terrible beer ever."

Julien and his buddy left the brewery determined to try to make beer. So they did – 7 years ago. They started in Julien’s kitchen, which of course led to brewing sessions in the garage. I asked about their first beer. It was a holiday beer, an English Strong Ale with cardamom, orange peel, cinnamon sticks, and the rest of the spice drawer. “It was the most terrible beer ever. But we had fun doing it!” He still has bottles in his fridge. “Maybe I’ll crack open a bottle on New Glory’s 1st Anniversary.” That’s where it all started. They brewed every weekend, trying to tweak their recipes. They’d taste their beer, make notes on it, plan some revisions, and then try it again.

Julien’s wife looked at him one day and suggested that the garage was constructed for the purpose of parking cars rather than storing brewing equipment. That’s the day he realized he needed more space. His father-in-law owned a warehouse close to Power Inn Road, and Julien asked if he could keep his equipment there. What started in the kitchen before occupying the confines of the garage now became a warehouse-homebrew-haven.

New Glory’s Story

When Julien started homebrewing 7 years ago, he never thought he’d make a career out of it. He didn’t get into it for that. He simply loved ingredients, cooking, and enjoying the culture of craft-beer enthusiasts. So why not just keep homebrewing at his father-in-law’s warehouse? Why take the risk of quitting a stable, well-paying job to take on the demands of an upstart brewery in Sacramento? In 2011, Julien realized that he had coincidentally developed two skills – marketing and selling craft beers, and also brewing beers. Why not combine the two? There also happened to be a market for craft beer in Sacramento. He felt that a few breweries had really begun to tell a great story in Sacramento – Rubicon and Hoppy Brewing Company have represented our city well. But he also felt like we could keep getting better. “Sacramento deserves to be on the map. We should have a Russian River, or a Stone, or a Firestone in Sacramento.” He quit his job and founded New Glory.

“Sacramento deserves to be on the map. We should have a Russian River, or a Stone, or a Firestone in Sacramento.”

They needed a brew-house and they needed beers. The brew-house was easy. His father-in-law’s warehouse he’d used to store his equipment and homebrew? That’s where the brewery is. During the interview, Julien looked out at the warehouse and said that he used to homebrew here. Then he said, “Actually, I still homebrew here. I still consider myself homebrewing, just on a bigger scale.”