The co-owners of Subversive Malting and Brewing, environmental studies major Zane Coffey ’15 and journalism major Max Ocean ’15, kickstarted their business in 2015 at the second annual Ithaca College Business Plan Competition. During the event, which is still held yearly at IC, the students pitched their ideas to a panel of judges in hopes of receiving start-up funding. That’s when Subversive, a brewery and malthouse concept crafted by Coffey, Ocean, and fellow senior Daniel Minogue ’15, took home the first-place prize of $20,000.
Ocean felt that the group’s presentation highlighted a new, “niche” marketing concept that helped them to stand out from their competitors: sourcing everything locally. “I think the judges saw how serious we were about our idea and [were impressed by] the way that we sort of honed in on something that was a developing industry in New York State—specifically, the supply-chain side of local craft beer, not just the customer facing and brewing manufacturing side,” Ocean said. “It was a unique idea at that point, and it certainly still is.”
Three years later, Subversive Malting and Brewing oficially opened its doors, and, while the business has grown over the years, the company’s roots can be
traced to winning the business competition at IC. “The competition and the faculty support around it—and the fact that the prize was as substantial as it was—were
definitely motivators for us,” Ocean said. “Without that, and the money that we won, I don’t think we would’ve tried to make this a reality. It bought some critical components of our original brewhouse.”