Pateros Creek Brewing Company keeps craft beers cool with Google Apps

Editor's note: Colorado has enticed all sorts of pioneers since its Wild West beginnings. We’re excited to highlight a handful of these trailblazers - the intrepid entrepreneurs, aspiring micro-brewers and ambitious thought leaders - who have helped create the adventurous and innovative culture the Centennial State is known for. Today, we hear from Steve Jones, co-founder of Fort Collins-based Pateros Creek Brewing Company.  Can you tell us about Pateros Creek Brewing Company? My dad and I spent years making, tasting, talking about, and investing in craft beers before taking the plunge and starting Pateros Brewing Company in 2011. The evolution from casual enthusiasts to full-time brewers happened slowly: I started producing my own small batches at home in 2004, asked my dad to join me to start a family brewery in 2008, wrote up a business plan and started making larger batches from a shared space at Grimm Brother’s Brewhouse in 2010, then finally opened the doors to Pateros Creek in June 2011. We’re now a team of 12, and my dad and I are loving every minute of it. Why did you decide to use Google Apps for your business?  We went straight to Google Apps as soon as we decided to make Pateros Creek Brewery a reality. We needed email that showed we were a real business — that we really did, after years of talking about starting the company, mean business. We considered alternatives, but Google was so simple and easy to use that it made perfect sense for us. What’s your favorite thing about being on Google Apps? I don’t have any downtime. You hear people complaining about email issues or IT problems and we don’t have any of that. Everything just works seamlessly, which is extremely important because we’re a small business and don’t have an IT department. I’m the co-founder and president, but on any given day I may also be the head brewer, operations manager and janitor. Thanks to Google Apps, I don’t have to deal with IT issues; instead, I get to focus on crafting tasty brews and making our customers happy. What’s one unique way you’re using Google Apps? Our brewing tanks have their own Google calendars. So do our fermenters, our brew house, our tap room and our Outpost Room where we showcase live music and events. Shared Google calendars keep us organized and help us stay on track when it comes to planning events, getting new blends ready for market and knowing who and what equipment is available at any given time. Sure, calendars are traditionally meant for personal scheduling, but we get so much value from using them for our internal operations and event planning. How does Google Apps help the company stay mobile? Google Drive is a lifesaver for a team like us that’s always on the go. Whether it’s checking the fermenter tanks, serving our customers in the tap room or traveling to new cities to grow our distribution footprint, we’re on our feet all the time. We know we can always access important documents from our phones, tablets or laptops without sitting down to a desk. Our employees can pull up one-sheeters about beer profiles in front of a customer if they’re curious about what goes into a certain blend, its ABV value or how hoppy it is — no laminated (and quickly outdated) documents necessary.