Dan Carey, New Glarus Brewing Co., WI. “In my experience, brewers are pragmatic, even pessimistic people, and they’re not big risk-takers. They’re detail people, not entrepreneurs. I would never, ever, ever in a million years start a brewery.”
Dick Cantwell, Elysian Brewing Co., WA. “At the risk of seeming to bite the hand that raises the glass to my lips, I still have to laugh at the cachet the rank of brewer seems to have engendered.”
Frederick Bensch and Kevin McNerney, Sweetwater Brewing Co., GA. “We both brew, but we concentrate on the aspects we’re best at. Neither one of us gets the credit—we’re family. I’ve probably spent more days with Kevin than his wife. We’re a team: we are Sweetwater.”
Geoff Larson, Alaskan Brewing Co., AK. “There was a time when we were in the middle of some fairly amazing expansions and it was pretty stressful. We developed a sort of mantra ‘We’re not saving lives, we’re just making beer.’ It helped put things in context.”
Jim Koch, Boston Beer, MA. “In my mind, there exists a perfect Sam Adams Lager. I know it: it’s imprinted in my mind. As far as I’m concerned, we get it about twenty percent of the time, and my goal is to push that number up. I’m trying to make each batch perfect.”
Mark Edelson, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, DE & PA. “A production brewer never sees the customers, works hour by hour. A brewpub brewer looks his customers in the eye day after day. When something’s bad, there’s nowhere to hide. When it’s good, you get all the glory.”
Matt Brynildson, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., CA. “There are the people you never read about, but they’re the masters in the trade. Walter Swistowicz at Siebel started brewing in 1933 when they repealed Prohibition. He could answer any question, because he’d seen every problem first hand.”