Down the coast with Dana Parsons

After I columnized this week about the rigors facing first-year law school students, an Orange County woman e-mailed me the tale of how her son-in-law coped with the pressure: While a Chapman Law School student, he brewed beer in his campus apartment.

No way.

“My wife and I lived in a little townhouse, it had a garage and I was able to convert it into a brewery,” says Patrick Rue. “I didn’t have any hobbies, I was just studying and hanging out with my wife and sort of needed something I could do for myself. Throughout my three years in law school, I became more serious about brewing than I was about law school.”

Rue hung in and got his degree in 2006. Until his senior year, he thought he might be a real estate tax attorney. Then he noticed that “instead of studying I would be concerned what I’d brew for my next beer.”

Happy ending: A few months ago, he and his wife, Rachel, opened the Bruery in Placentia. While they typically sell to wholesalers, retailers or restaurants, this Friday from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. the Rues are having an open house so the public can sample their wares.

Any regrets about not pursuing law: “It’s something I can fall back on if I absolutely need to,” Rue, 28, says. “A lot of my law school friends are pretty jealous of me right now.”

Comments

[Dave McGrath]

Did you really invent the word 'columnize". Is it possible to make any noun a verb my adding ...ize? Maybe so, audiblize, strategize, verbalize, columnize, huh.