Short’s Brewing Company is a special place. It brings strangers together through community table small talk and Huma Lupa “De-Licious” beer. This “Short’s Bug” is powerful and contagious and has a trick or two up its sleeve when it comes to igniting romantic flames between people who savor its beer. Today we enjoy the stories of four Short’s employees and how they found their true love right through the doors of Short’s Brewing Company.
Jon and Shana Wojtowicz
Jon, known throughout Short’s as Woj, has an extensive knowledge of beer, a boisterous personality, and a hard-working demeanor. He started his Short’s career in the brewpub deli and worked his way up to Head Beer Liberator. His love story began in the Short’s kitchen with a lovely lady named Shayna.
Shayna walked into the brewpub hoping to get a hospitality job in Northern Michigan. She successfully landed the job and started working side-by-side with Woj. After weeks of sandwich making lessons, club sandwiches to be exact, Woj and Shana started dating. This, however, created a slight problem since Short’s had a “no dating employee” rule. Woj, being the loyal employee he is, talked with Joe and Leah about the situation. Joe told Woj that he was given the green light as long as “Shayna was the one.” He was kidding; sort of, but luckily it turned out that a happily-ever-after was written in the stars for the two kitchen love birds. Woj and Shayna have been married for two and a half years and have an adorable son, Ian.
Steve and Summer Ison
Steve, also known as Uncle Steve or the Wizard, is Short’s packline supervisor. He met the love of his life, Summer, during the build out of the Production Facility in Elk Rapids. During the build out Summer painted walls and worked on the floors. Once the building was complete, Steve was directed to teach her how to keg beer…and that is where a spark grew into a full-fledged love flame. Steve says that he loved her appreciation for beer, her commitment, and hard work. One day the bathroom flooded and Summer told Steve she would clean it up. Steve went to Tony and said he was going to “marry that woman” and Tony responded with “you should.” Steve did exactly that just 6 months after their first interaction. Steve and Summer have a beautiful baby girl, Pearl.
Matt and Dana Drake
An early March afternoon at the brewpub is where Matt’s love story began. Matt, Short’s COO and HR Director was enjoying a pint at the pub after the annual Shanty Creek Cardboard Classic. As he was sipping on his Huma he heard the door open with that “telltale” bell ring. He turned to peek at the incoming visitors and saw two women and a toddler walk in. He couldn’t help but think how extremely cute his now future wife was. Matt was determined to find a way to talk to her. By a stroke of fate, the cute women’s friend’s baby took off running towards the deli. Matt swooped her up into his arms just before she got to the kitchen. Handing the baby back to her mother, the mother looked at Matt and said, “Hi, so that is my friend Dana and she is totally single and you should get her number.” So, Matt worked up the courage to get her number and successfully landed a first date. Dana and Matt have been married for one year and have a little Drake on the way.
Joe and Leah Short
Leah and Joe met many years before Joe opened Short’s. In 2004 when Short’s did open, Leah was exploring South-east Asia and decided to come back to Michigan for the summer. She asked Joe for a job and worked in Bellaire for a couple months. When the summer ended she headed out West to enjoy the great outdoors. She decided to come back to Short’s in the summer of 2005 before she would start graduate school. That summer Leah did a fantastic job taking over the pub Deli. As the summer days counted down, Joe knew he needed to make Leah stay. She did stay until the very last second before finally making her way back to Montana. Once she arrived she realized that Short’s was where she belonged. Joe met her out in Montana to help move her back to Michigan and they made the 2,000 mile trip together. Joe and Leah have been married for 5 years and have two awesome boys, Simon and Elmer.
The moral of all four love stories today is to seize opportunity! Life is Short’s, drink it while you’re here. To hear these stories from the four gentlemen’s perspectives, you can tune in to Short’s Cast episode 6, “Love in this Pub” http://www.shortsbrewing.com/love-pub/
Have a Happy Valentines Day!
