Brewing Exceptional Beers Behind the Scenes

All About Beer Magazine - Volume 36, Issue 5
November 1, 2015 By
Alan Taylor of PINTS Brewing Co.
(Photo by Emma Browne)

Alan Taylor

PINTS Brewing Co.

Portland, Oregon

Tucked away in a little corner of downtown Portland, Oregon, is a small brewery called PINTS that most people—including a lot of Portlanders—don’t know exists. But they should, because inside toils Alan Taylor, and the lucky few who have wandered through PINTS’ front doors will have discovered an impressive line of German-style options—including an absolutely spot-on Berliner weisse.

Well, funny story. A decade and a half earlier, Taylor was living in Berlin. He had a master’s degree and was studying Middle High German—think Chaucer, but German— for his Ph.D. when he made an abrupt life change. He put aside the dense tomes and enrolled instead at the brewing school VLB. While living and studying in Berlin, he interned at a couple of local breweries, and after receiving his degree became general manager at Brauhaus in Spandau. During his time there, he not only learned to make typical styles, but also made a study of Berliner weisse, which has become a specialty of his. (Secret ingredient: Brettanomyces.)

After bouncing between breweries in the U.S. and Germany, Taylor finally settled in Oregon. When he set out to start his own brewery a few years back, the process took far longer than he expected, so he took a job at PINTS—and that turned out to be a lucky break. PINTS owner Chad Rennaker hired him as brewer and later brought him into the ownership group. Ultimately, he helped him finally realize his dream with Zoiglhaus, the new brewery he opened in September. That will add a second Portland location for Taylor to highlight his German-inflected approach and begin to bring him the attention he deserves.

–Jeff Alworth

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