We recently connected with J. Michael Niotta and have shared our conversation below.
Hi J. Michael, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic. So we’d love it if you could open up about where you got yours from?
I come from a family of entrepreneurs. My great grandfather Big George Niotta seemed to have his hands in everything, from rental properties to racehorses, backing startups to starting his own sports betting club; he even owned a brewery and supplied bootleggers with sugar and yeast during Prohibition. My life hasn’t been anywhere as exciting, but I suppose some of that moxie stayed in the blood.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I write books and lecture, appear in the occasional TV spot and do a little art when the mood strikes. I’m also a father and a husband and have been an enlisted member in the reserves here in San Diego for nearly 22-years.
History has always thrilled me. I love talking to older relatives and their friends about the past. As an author and historian, I’ve heard some pretty crazy stories. That’s how I learned my family owned a brewery. And it actually inspired me to start a club!
In the last year of Prohibition, when the legal alcohol limit jumped to 3.2%, it revived a lot of defunct breweries. Up in San Francisco, the Eagle Brewing Company reopened as El Rey (The King). They used the slogan “King of Beer” before Budweiser! My great grandfather, who couldn’t read or write anything other than his own name, became a SoCal distributor. And when he heard they were having some money problems, he headed up north with a wad of cash and bought the business. That was in October of 1933. He even sponsored a semi-pro baseball team called the El Reys.
I covered the history of the brewery in my first book, The Los Angeles Sugar Ring (2017), and to honor the family tradition, I founded the El Rey Beer Club a year or so later with my VP Chris Calton. I guess I was after a little adult time with family and friends. Thanks to COVID and a couple of active duty deployments overseas, the club really didn’t get rolling until 2021. That’s when we began our brewing journey with Judd McGhee over at Citizen Brewers. Now, we brew, bottle, and can at the facility three times a year.
I’ve acquired a fair amount of breweriana over the years; beer collectables. This came in handy once we got to Citizen. Our “web guru” Alex Policastro is a genius. He’s revamped a handful of the original El Rey labels from the 1930s. It’s been a lot of fun slapping them onto our interpretations of nostalgic favorites like steam beer (California Common). That was the staple El Rey was known for. They even outsold their Bay Area competitor Anchor Steam. The club brews an imperial version, which only seems fitting seeing as El Rey is “the king.” Our batches are right around 7%.
The club’s growing! And we’ve already started forming our own rituals and traditions. Late last year we inducted a few new members at our end of year social. And earlier this year we held our first recruit brewing session. We have more than a half dozen prospects at the moment. I recently put together an alumni brewing event for the veteran members of my reserve military unit. And the club went legit this year too! El Rey Beer Club incorporated as a nonprofit social club in May. I can’t wait for what’s to come.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1) Something for nothing means nothing to someone (TM). Essentially, if you want to build something worth keeping, you gotta put in the work. When you do, you’ll appreciate it. Trust me.
2) There is no try, only do. Oh wait, I’m Niotta (“Knee-Yoda”) not Yoda. How about, admire the accomplishments of others but understand you’re just as capable. I write books, so for me every big project is kind of like quilt-work. Like Johnny Cash said, “I got it one piece at a time!” That’s how I earned my doctorate. And that’s how I put together the club. Decide what you want, make a plan, then make it happen.
3) Don’t lose track of why you’re doing something or why it’s important. If the mundane movements or red tape give you a real case of the Monday’s, revisit the reason why you started the journey in the first place. El Rey Beer Club has always been about having fun with old friends and making new ones. That being said, the steps to legitimize (incorporate) weren’t exactly laid out or enjoyable. The process was tedious and time consuming, and sometimes I had my doubts. Brewing, bottling, and canning with family and friends recentered and revitalized me. It’s pure fun. So, to quote Happy Gilmore—“find your happy place.”
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing in areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
It’s best to play to your strengths, but don’t be afraid to try something new. And always surround yourself with good people! It takes an army, right? When you partner with people that are strong in the areas you’re not, it tends to even things out. I’m great at shaking trees, herding cats, and follow through, which makes for a good Pres . . . but I’m no CPA, and I know it. That’s why I nudged my close pal and taxman David Vazquez when it came time to nominate a club Treasurer.
Come have a cold one with the El Rey Beer Club over at Citizen Brewers on Mission Gorge. ERBC. We Brew – We Bottle – We CAN!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jmichaelniotta.com/el-rey
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/elreybeerclub?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/ElReyBeer
- Other: www.citizenbrewers.com
