TAPROOM

In 2015, Steve and his best friend Morris, aka “Mo”, were brewing two beers in the garage, preparing for the Zona Rosa Beer Festival. They had not yet settled on a brewery name. One particular evening, while crafting an Imperial IPA and Brown Ale and reminiscing about the heroes they personally knew that were lost during their time in the military, Mo had the idea to name their beer after the call signs of aircrafts that were lost. The discussion started with a tanker McConnell jet that Steve and MO spent time on, it crashed in Kyrgyzstan in 2013. They decided their beers would be named to honor the call signs of fallen aircrafts. They quickly named the Imperial IPA after Shell 77, a KC-135R, that crashed in 2013 in Kyrgyzstan killing three Air Force service members. Their Brown Ale was named Komodo 11, paying tribute to the six crew members lost in a 2013 helicopter crash in Afghanistan. Additionally, they also wanted to find a way to help soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder (‘PTSD”). To that end, labels were created depicting renderings of aircrafts and the names of the lost veterans, along with a mission statement.

Fast forward two months to the Zona Rosa Beer Festival and the events leading to the birth of Callsign.

First, six Army service members jumped in line. They went through the line several times without sampling any other brewery offerings. They read the mission statement and loved the C-130 airframe label. The most mature gentleman of the group walked around the table and gave Steve a hug. He said, “Let’s never forget these guys, we can’t forget them, thank you for what you’re doing.” He then backs up, misty eyed and renders a slow salute. He turns around, walks away, never to be seen again.

Next, a gentleman arrives and jumps to the head of the line asking to hear the story about Callsign’s beers. When Steve begins telling the story of one aircraft the gentleman interrupted asking to hear about Komodo 11, a helicopter that crashed in Afghanistan in 2013. Steve started to tell the Komodo 11 story but noticed the man’s hands were over his face. The man said “Stop. I know the story; my wife was on that helicopter.” Steve, stunned, asked if he was Tamara Archuleta’s widower, the co-pilot on that helicopter. He replied, “Yes, I am.” . Tamara’s 15-year-old son then came around the table and gave Steve a hug saying, “Thank you. Nobody has done anything for my mom since she died in 2013.” Steve thought, “How do you respond to that, what do you do”?

Thirty minutes later, an A10 pilot arrives. Through conversation, he and Steve soon realize they know some of the same people. As fate would have it, the A10 pilot’s father was Steve’s wing commander when Steve flew helicopters out of Long Island New York. The man looks at the labels, stops in his tracks, picks up the label of the Komodo 11 Brown Ale, then leaves briefly to get his wife. Ten minutes later they return and he hands her the label. As her eyes start to swell, she said, “Oh my God that was Jason’s helicopter and call sign.” She sees the list of other names on the label and says, “Oh my God there’s Jason’s name.” Jason was the flight engineer on that helicopter. Steve asked if she was Jason’s widow and she replied, “Yes, I am, did you know him?” Steve, in fact, knew Jason; they went to flight school together in 2000. They both cried.

It was an emotional day in 2015, that started with a simple idea of honoring heroes on a beer label. Following the beer festival, Steve and Mo immediately realized they had a mission…continue to brew beer and support veterans, thus Callsign Brewing was founded. Fast forward to 2018 to the official opening of the original brewery.

Since opening, Callsign has raised money for: 1) a fellow member of Steve’s squadron that was the victim of a homicide 2) a firefighter and home brewer that died from an illness who was to assist brewing , 3) Missouri Patriot Paws, a non-profit foundation providing service dogs for veterans with PTSD and 4) Veterans Community Project helping veterans to get back on their feet.