The Santa Maria Brewery is a collective, much as the Knights Templar which came before. A Celtic legend, this order of Knights is lead by two men, Dan Hilker and Gary Ford. At the Brewery, the Knights are known to convene on any given Wednesday – Sunday, and during the games of the Monday Night Football, they too will gather on Monday. On Tuesday, the Knights rest and often one can see the lights at the brewery in the wee hours as the art of brewing is practiced in secret ceremony.
Dan Hilker and Gary Ford are both local boys from the Central Coast of California. Dan comes from a law enforcement background. His father was a famous local CHP officer; Dan chose to be an El Dorado County Sheriff (Round’em up boys…). After hauling in the same drunks every Saturday night in Guadalupe for a number of years, Dan left the force to follow his dreams. Ford (Gary) it seems has a more sinister background. Or at least it is a mystery to all of us. He has always appeared to be retired, but rumors have circulated in times past that he may have worked undercover for the CIA. In any case, Dan and Gary have a long time friendship which committed them to a shared quest. That quest was a total commitment and life long dream to find the Holy Grail. However, being both men were in Santa Maria and neither had much money to chase around Europe and the Middle East retracing in the steps of the Knights Templar, they gave that idea up. Besides, Indiana Jones and Monty Python had already both done the Grail thing.
One day the boys were standing on a street corner just across the Santa Maria River Bridge. This street was as close to Santa Maria as humanly possible, baring making them stand on a barge in the Santa Maria River. Also, it was out of the evil claws of, "The band of three from the Peoples Republic of Santa Barbara County" as it was officially in San Luis Obispo County. They were looking upon a lot that they had been eyeing. They planned to make into a world class theme park. Once again, the lack of funds and the size of the lot dashed their dreams. Dan was recounting for Gary the time he was captured in South America by the Sandinista loyalists. He told of how they had nothing to eat for days and that the only thing they were given was Coors Light Beer. “What unbelievable torture!” Dan said. Gary agreed and at that moment, they looked at each other and said in unison “BEER that’s it!” Dan said, “Hey, you like good beer, I like good beer, I bet we could start a brewery and actually make money at it.”
“You know, I think you are on to something,” said Ford. So the boys purchased the little plot of land on the other side of the river. In 1995, they erected a very large stone abbey. OK, a small steel building with a cool front façade anyway. They started operations at the current location and soon they had office hours to share the beer with their friends and family, as they say the rest is history.
So there you have it, a tale of the ages that pits man against man and brings them into the order of the Knights of the Santa Maria Brewery, an old Celtic order of Beer Drinking Knights. Oh and as for the Grail? It makes a fine beer mug.