The Brewery Gulch Inn
Not your everyday stop in the road
Reviewing one of Mendocino County’s
most stunning B&Bs
By Bob Page
As one who knows something about 2n3 and or even 383 chapters in life, what great fun it was to catch up with Guy Pacurar, a son of Del Mar, who gave up the corporate whirlwind to run, manage and own one of Mendocino’s most stunning B & Bs.
The Brewery Gulch Inn is not your everyday stop in the road. Nor is Mendocino. Pacurar’s jump from the world of suits and ties to innkeeper was inspired by his daughter, Taylor, who had made the leap to Sonoma County wine country a few years earlier. She is the events coordinator for Arista Winery in Healdsburg.
“She got tired of me critiquing places where we stayed when we traveled and told me to go buy my own place instead of always telling her how I would do something differently.”
Welcome to the Brewery Gulch Inn.
Pacurar said he had always wanted to own an inn ever since staying at a small place in Palm Springs and watching the owners make everyone feel like a part of an extended family.
He said growing up in California he had always imagined living in the snow. He holds degrees in communications and international relations from the University of Southern California. He was president of PaciTic Intercultural Exchange, an international high school exchange program, before retiring in 2008.
So, he began his search in New England, visiting inns in the north woods of Maine, and WaitsTield and West Dover, Vt. Not finding one there that appealed to him with the right terms, he scooted off the Outer Banks of North Carolina. After striking out there, he was off to Taos in New Mexico.
The San Geronimo Inn held some appeal but not enough to close a deal.
He said he could have closed a deal in WaitsTield and came close in Taos and Palm Springs but both would have required extensive renovations.
After a year on the road, he was back home in Del Mar, not discouraged but determined to find the right one. He turned his computer to LoopNet, an Internet site that lists commercial properties for sale, and on the screen up popped the Brewery Gulch for sale.
He said it was exactly what he was looking for, and that’s where Pacurar’s “second chapter” in life, as he describes it, began.
After a series of introductions around town, he met his wife, Sarah, who was visiting her parents in the Anderson Valley. A year later, they were married.
The Brewery Gulch is a family affair, with Sarah and Guy very much involved in its success, yet still finding time to parent their daughter, Ella Mae, now nearly four.
The inn celebrates the amazing bounty of Mendocino, and each day, an accomplished chef prepares cooked-to-order breakfasts and a light dinner buffet featuring organic produce and Mendocino county wines and craft beers. Both are included in their room rates.
A stay at the Brewery Gulch will put you in one of its 11 individually furnished guest rooms, featuring fireplaces and LCD televisions. Rooms have private balconies. Wired and wireless Internet access is complimentary while MP3 docking stations and cable programming provide entertainment. Conveniences include desks and coffee/tea makers, as well as phones of free local calls.
If Mendocino is in a future itinerary, the Brewery Gulch is not to be missed. It has been ranked as the 18th best lodging property in a worldwide survey by Travel & Leisure magazine. From our three-day stay, it has earned every accolade.
Rates for its high season, May 1 through November 30, range from $325 to $495. Low season rates have a range from $285 to $455.
Not content to sit on their innkeeping laurels, Guy and Sarah have jumped full long into the wine business and why not, given that her parents own the Ferrington Vineyard in the Anderson Valley.
When their daughter, Ella, was born they decided to produce a Pinot Noir in her honor. he 2012 Ella’s Reserve was produced under their label, Fathers & Daughters, which is comprised of Sarah, her father Kurt, Guy’s daughter Taylor and their daughter, Ella. They have added a chardonnay and sauvignon blanc to their brand.
