Ray is committed to superior customer service and relations, always remembering the customer. He believes in quality products with competitive prices.
Ray offers periodic training groups to help beginners have a positive experience producing their very own product. He also participates and sponsors local events and competitions while informing his customers how to participate, learn more and even compete in contests.

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• Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE
  Date: THU 01/27/2005
  Section: ThisWeek
  Page: 2
  Edition: 2 STARBusiness owner hopes to tap market / Philbrook targets beer lovers with shop that caters to home brewers
  By CARISSA D. MIRE, Staff

PROHIBITION is long past, but Ray Philbrook was still surprised to learn nine years ago that you could brew beer for a living, right out in the open.
"I always thought it was a clandestine thing you do in the back room that you didn't tell anybody about," he said.
Now, thanks to this career brewer, folks in Montgomery County can engage in some brewing behavior of their own - it just takes a trip to Philbrook's newly opened shop, Brew It Yourself, nestled in the Oakwood Plaza strip center on Interstate 45 just north of Rayford Road.
Customers can purchase kits to make their own wines and beers, complete with fruit, sugar and yeast and other necessary ingredients.
"I've got everything you need except water and time," he said.
Speaking of time, Philbrook estimated a typical wine, from opening the kit to savoring that first sip, will take about three months to complete. He said customers are looking at approximately three weeks for most beers.
This is something he lets his customers know up front.
"I let them know what they're getting into," Philbrook said. "It's not for everybody."
Brew master Philbrook, 44, embarked on self-employment last December after spending six years at DeFalco's, a similar haunt in Houston.
He got the gig, which started out part time, but quickly evolved to full time after learning about area brew clubs like the Kuykendahl Gran Brewers, or the KGB, and Foam Rangers. Both groups meet at DeFalco's locations on Kuykendahl Road and in Houston.
"My mom found an article about DeFalco's and I went down (to the Kuykendahl location) and started talking to people," said Philbrook, a Houston native and Spring resident.
Despite his late entry into the brewing field after having spent 20 years on stage as part of the three-man cover band, Private Eye, Philbrook said brewing beer and creating his own wines is something that has long held interest with him.
"I always wanted to work at a winery. I also like to cook and I like to taste the difference between good wines - that got me interested in it," he said. "I also started making beers that you couldn't find in Texas, like cranberry ales and peach ales."

Building business
Philbrook is hoping his business concept will catch on, not only with consumers interested in brewing themselves, but those who want to give the kits as gifts. "A lot of people make them as gifts or for weddings," he said.
Philbrook said he is confident the Montgomery County area is ripe for what he's offering.
"People were coming in from The Woodlands and Conroe to DeFalco's, so I know there's a need up here," he said.
Another consumer benefit to his business is cost. Philbrook said beer and wine consumers' costs over time would decrease if they made their spirits themselves.
"People want to make a good wine," Philbrook said. "(By doing it yourself) you can make the same type of wine (you would buy) and spend $2-$4 per bottle."

Classroom sessions
In addition to the beer and wine kits, Philbrook said he hopes to expand his business to offering beer brewing and wine-making classes. He also sees a Montgomery County brew club in his future.
"I've got a list started of people who are interested in having Brew It Yourself as a home base," he said. "It's just a matter of us sitting around and coming up with a name and getting started."
He said brew clubs often will hold competitions that are open not only to their members but to the general public as well.
"They get real competitive," Philbrook said.
For now, however, one of Montgomery County's newest business owners is happy to have his own shop and is looking forward to folks discovering he's in the neighborhood.
And even though he's a professional, he said he still enjoys brewing up a batch of beer for himself every once in a while - now that's it's legal, of course.
"I still brew," Philbrook said. "I've been doing it for nine years, but now, hopefully, I don't have to drink it all myself."
...
BEER IN AMERICA
Beer first arrived in America with Christopher Columbus. When he landed, he noted the natives were making a brew of maize, resembling English beer. Beer was of major concern in the new land, even for the Pilgrims. The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, instead of further south as planned, partly because they were out of beer.
Source: BeerWineOnline
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RAY PHILBROOK
Age: 44
Occupation: Business owner, part-time musician
Community connection: Lives in Spring with his wife and baby daughter
Fast fact: Brews his own beer and plays bass guitar in the cover band Private Eye