What happens when local chefs try their hand at microfarming? Sometimes the hard work yields a sweet taste of success. Other times it’s just toil and trouble.
It was the summer of 2012, and Jack Hubbard and Joe Maiellano were having a few G&Ts in Maiellano’s Crystal City condo when the talk turned to opening their own distillery. “Usually, it’s a drunken idea that never goes anywhere,” Hubbard says.
Building a brick-and-mortar operation seemed out of the question for the 20-somethings, both of whom work as nonprofit fundraisers. That’s when they had their “lightbulb moment.”