After his first sip, Fabian Torres fell in love with craft beer. That love of drinking it soon became a hobby of brewing at home. The step after the hobby was starting his own brewery, which he did when he founded First Gen Brewing. He recently came back home to Salinas after spending some time in Kalamazoo, Michigan, gaining more knowledge about the brewing industry. We sat down at a table at one of his pop-up events featuring his beer and food from Chef Alex. I talk with Fabian, his brother, and a couple of the attendees of this fun event on a sunny afternoon in Salinas.

Recently, the Salinas community lost a big pillar with the passing of Sergio Alejo, the owner of Stonies Taphouse. We were fortunate enough not only to know him personally, but back in 2020, we were able to get him into the studio so he could tell his story in his own words.

This episode originally came out on January 10, 2020.

Local journalism has been struggling for years now, and we have not escaped that issue here in Salinas. We certainly do not consider ourselves journalists, but we think it is important to talk about other issues happening in town that sometimes don't get the time they deserve.

With that, we are introducing "SUP Independent" a once-a-month episode where we talk about the nuts and bolts of the city. From new businesses to sidewalk and road repair, this is all that stuff we don't talk about but is so important to the function of our city.

In this episode, we discuss potential new restaurants opening in town and the revitalization of the old El Rey Theatre in OIdtown.