Cider, Beer, and getting sick into a sink.

A question I often get asked is how I got into cider. So, I figure a brief history of my alcohol history is in order.
I was born in Oregon, Roseburg to be specific. I am proud to be an Oregonian. In the shop, we have old pictures of logging, an Oregon only wine selection,  books and maps, and the cider we make uses only Oregon fruit. I cherish a picture of me as a small child, with a posed pic of me on my Mom's knee with an Olympia can in my hands. Questionable parenting aside (just kidding) I love that pic. It also explains my obsession with the famous Tumwater river made brew. I count it as my first move into the wonderful world of alcohol.
When I was about 10 or so, we moved to Illinois. My parents still regret the move to this day. My experience with the midwest was, to be kind, dismal at best. I was the only one in my graduating class of 42 to ever have seen the ocean, much less my homeland of Oregon. If you didn't raise hogs or have a few hundred acres of soybeans, you were the outsider. My classmates teased me about my parents weird hippy car ( a perfectly normal 1974 VW Beetle). The town had no traffic lights, alcohol, or restaurants, but did have six churches.
I spent the night at my buddies house when I was 16. it was a birthday party. Someone scored what would become my first beer to get me completely drunk. No one went for quality, because it was impossible to find. Quality beer was, and still is, as rare as a summer without 100% humidity and constant tornado warnings. My first beer I got drunk, sick, and hungover on was Old English 800, the premier drink of choice for us. I quickly moved to Red Wolf, then Hooch. Hooch was an alcoholic lemon aid drink if you don't remember. ......it was all shit. But it got better..sort of. I discovered Hornsby's.
Once I moved out I graduated to Michelob, with my dad dropping off his favorite, Coors for an occasional treat. Michelob was about the best beer you could get in our little town. I drank a ton of it. Until I got hooked on Vodka, then Vodka and Lemonade. I drank a ton of that. It was quick, easy, and in Illinois you can get a six pack of beer, pack of smokes, fifth of Vodka, and a bag of Doritos all in the same place.  This leads to my next big event, the first time getting violently ill in front of a lot of people off of hard alcohol. I got sick in my kitchen sink at a party I had at my house. Not my best moment in my life, but oddly enough, not my worst. Something told me,  at the tender age of 20, I was too old to act like that much longer.
I moved back to Oregon in 2001. I loved drinking Olympia and Rainier. The now California brewed beer brought back a lot of nostalgia and allowed me to ponder on the NW beer legacy. Then at some point I discovered the greatness of micro brews. I absorbed it all, beer tours, books, mix 6-packs, tastings, and obsessively collecting bottles, which I still do. I really wanted to make beer, but never quite had the extra cash or time to do so. A friend and I decided to make cider, it was cheaper and easier at that level. The first batch was simply a plastic bucket, champagne yeast, 5 gallons of Tree Top, and 5 cups of white sugar. It was about 9.5ABV if I remember right. It was awful, but we loved it. I was hooked.
I made it for about 6 months, then stopped for about a year or so. I was in a funk, completely being miserable in a job that drove me near insanity. Things changed and I started making it again. I started making it a lot again, letting more and more people try it. I was honestly shocked how many people seemed to enjoy it, and the unbelievably high ABV.
The hatred of my job, marrying Erin, discretionary income and the eagerness to make the best cider I could all combined in 2009. I got serious, and enrolled in Peter Mitchell's cider class, offered through the extension office at WSU in Mt.Vernon, WA. At that time, I had no real plans for going pro.
Then I took the second class, in December. At that point, with that much time and money invested, it was time to make the decision to start our own place. Plus, I was having constant fantasies of getting rammed by a semi-truck on my way to work so I could get the day off.
Market research was swift. No cider around=More cider needed. The original idea was for the planned, small bottle shop to help pay for the production side until we could release our own cider.  We thought we would have 40 or so ciders, then maybe scale it back when our own stuff came out.
Things now have changed. The bottle shop/bar side has really taken off. As of today we have 90 ciders from all of the world. I am obsessed with not only our own cider, but also having the best selection of cider I can possibly offer.
From drinking Michelob only about 10 years ago to now owning a cidery, and in my off nights doing vertical tastings of Upright's Billy the Mountain, things have changed. I left out a lot, cause it's all kind of boring probably. I can only stress that a love of cider is not the only thing that has put us into this business. A passion for self improvement, an immense hate of my previous job, and the support of a good woman has all been equally needed to get as far as we have. 
I love our business, and feel fortunate to be where we are right now. Sure, 2 more tanks and 6 more taps would be great, but for now we are pretty damn happy.