The Tug Hill Artisan Roasters origin story starts in 2016. Vanessa and Scott had been back in the United States for 1.5 and didn’t really have much of a bearing. While driving septic tanks across North America can be a way of life for some (God Bless truck drivers), it wasn’t really something Scott was finding any fulfillment in. He knew he needed to get out sooner than later. One evening sitting around the table with brother Ian Gilbert and friend Greg Widrick, it was decided to start a coffee roasting business. The thought process was something like this: Ian: I can write up LLC documents. Greg: I know what specialty coffee is. Scott: I’m relatively handy, can figure stuff out and I like coffee. Tug Hill Artisan Roasters was born and we spent the next 6 years roasting coffee in a little storage shed on Ian’s property.
Honestly, the story could have stopped there. Inertia could have taken over and a whole ray of circumstances could have never happened. Honestly, that would have made more sense. But here we are.
When Greg, Ian and I set up Tug Hill Artisan Roasters, we made it a goal to have a flagship cafe up and running within 3 years. It made good business sense to have a location where we would be able to brew our coffee how we want. A lot of our wholesale customers tended to be price sensitive and we didn’t have many opportunities to show off our better coffees. Hence, I started walking around town knocking on doors and asking if people were interested in selling their property. I had no idea where the money would come from, but I knew I had to start somewhere. Then there was the fateful day I stumbled upon the old jail the ball was set in motion and an old jail started to become a coffee roastery.
I had been asking around about real estate and a friend recommended I look into the old county jail. Set back behind an old blue spruce, I had never even noticed it. There was a phone number on the door and I called it. The owners were happy to unload it. We had some funding promised and being aware that we didn’t know what we didn’t know we took a plunge. Now three years later and three grants into this project we’re thankful and excited about the future.
Things could have turned out differently. I can remember at the beginning we had a deadline to meet and a radon test had to be conducted. Even if there had been radon at a level that would have made the building fail the test, there are ways to get radon out of buildings, but they cost $15,000 and we wouldn’t have made the deadline. Point being there were so many times when this project could have fallen apart, it’s like it was meant to be.
Now, 7514 S State st. is home to Tug Hill Artisan Roasters, Saint Drogo’s Coffee and Bakehouse, and a short term jail themed rental. The patio is completed in front and the porch will be finished within a few weeks. This winter we’re building out the cafe in the front of the building. And the truth is, we’re still not done. There’s a lot more going on and we’re excited to try to continue to improve the property over the next few years.
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