Brewing Exceptional Beers Behind the Scenes
Megan Parisi
Samuel Adams
Boston
There’s a certain thrill that comes with experimenting with new ingredients, more so when there’s a collaboration involved. In 2013, Megan Parisi—then with the soon-to-open Bluejacket in Washington, D.C.—helped create a collaboration beer called “Snack Attack” that mimicked all the flavors of Cracker Jack and chocolate. For those lucky enough to sample the ale, it was a delight and landed Parisi, who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music performance and served nearly five years in the U.S. Navy Band, firmly on the radar of brewers to watch. The noise around Bluejacket, which was already pretty loud, turned up a notch higher.
This, of course, was no surprise to those who had been following her career, which started in 2004 at the Cambridge Brewing Co., where she would serve as lead brewer from 2006 to 2011, picking up several Great American Beer Festival medals along the way. After leaving Bluejacket, she returned to Massachusetts and helped Wormtown Brewery install its new 30-barrel brew house, before heading to Sam Adams’ pilot brewery. Expect to see her on your TV screen in brewery commercials very soon.
“Every recipe, in my experience, is always a collaboration unless you have your own brewery and you’re only one person,” she says. “Beer is not happening in a vacuum. Inspiration comes from other people and helps you develop how to execute flavors.”
–John Holl