John Bucher and Chad Tydings | Tetrad Brewing Co. | Greenville Craft Beer

"Brothers-in-law, Chad Tydings and John Bucher have been dreaming about opening a brewery for years. It all started about 15 years ago when they got John a Mr. Beer home-brew kit for his birthday. “They were terrible,” John said, “nothing came out good, but that’s how I started to fall in love with the process of making beer.”

Tomorrow (September 28th) Chad and John are opening Tetrad Brewing, located on 603 Stone Avenue in downtown Greenville. It’s been quite the journey between the first home-brew kit and the grand opening of their own brewery.

Chad and John are originally from Rochester, NY before they landed in Greenville. John, who was an elementary school teacher, and his family spent time in Utah, the Outer-banks, and Vermont. When Chad would visit they would tour breweries or John would bring home beer, where they would constantly evolve their craft beer pallets.

The dream started when he got the kit, but it always seemed to be a pipe dream. During John’s time in Vermont, where there was an explosion of craft beer, he joined the very active home brew club. One the eve of Thanksgiving in 2013 Chad told John that “we either need to do this, or stop talking about it.”

So, they started to look at what it was really going to take. John’s wife got a job offer in Greenville, they landed here in 2012, and several family members followed suit. John applied to brewing school which had a year waiting list. However, the timeline moved forward when someone dropped out and he was called two months later and got in.

The wheels were turning on Tetrad while John was finishing up school. Chad was regularly touring Greenville looking for spots for potential places. John would pop down to see family and would roam around.

They started meeting local brewers and did some collaborations.

Their current space came to them very quickly in 2016. They had architectural drawings and were completing lease negotiations and ready to sign when they found out the former owner had sold the building. They restarted the process, found a space, and did the same thing. It was then when they met with the owner of Halfmoon Outfitters who ended up purchasing their original space.

“I believe things happen for a reason,” Chad said.

“Tetrad is a name that has a lot of meaning for us,” John said. “Tetrad means ‘group of four’ in Greek. It was on a list with about 200 other names. We weren’t a fan of it at first, but it grew on us.”

“There are four ingredients in beer, four steps in making beer, four people in each of our families, and we’ve spent time in the four corners of the United States.”

This concept is shown in their logo, featuring four trees and four blue ridge mountains. Representing everything above in addition to their love of the the outdoors.

“One of the definitions of Tetrad that I like is “a group of four distinct elements,” John said. “To me it’s a picture of my wife and two kids. That’s our family tetrad. I ask myself, how can we bring a distinct element to the Greenville craft brewing scene.”

Chad continued, “We’re family people and this has been a long dream of ours. We’ve always had the mindset that beer was created for a reason. We’ll stick to the original recipe of a beer and put a twist on it.” They plan on having some IPAs, Kolsch, and Pale Ale style beers. They also plan on supporting other local brewers by having regularly rotating guest taps.

Chad and John have plans for community service components and will giveback to their local neighborhood and to Greenville in general. After nearly two decades of dreaming about opening their own brewery, it's finally become reality. Greenville is in for a treat with their creative beers and welcoming space.

Tetrad Brewing Co. opens this weekend with live music, food trucks, and plenty of festivities planned.