Two friends and avid homebrewers, Ben Matz and Jay Irizarry, had an idea to bring their love of hand crafted micro-brewed beer to the masses via a small scale manufacturing and production facility. No small task when you consider this “dream” was taking form during the latter part of 2008, when the financial markets were set to implode, credit markets were freezing, and good economic news, especially for entrepreneurs and business start-ups, was hard to come by. The two pressed ahead and, with the financial assistance of Brian Flanagan as a third partner and business development specialist Don Parker, launched Chocolate City Beer in November of 2009.