What was the status of craft brewing when you arrived in the U.S.? Back in 1986, there were about 50 breweries, period, including all the big guys. I came here in June of ’86 to help David Geary build Geary Brewing Co. About a month after I got here, Richard Wrigley opened the Commonwealth brewpub... View Article
I think Goose Island was the first brewpub I ever visited, not too long after you opened. Tell me how the brewery began and how you moved into the company. My father [John Hall] was in the paper packaging business, which was a good business, but about the least sexy business there is. And he... View Article
How did you become involved with the Lhasa Beer project in Tibet? When I was at Portland Brewing, one of the things we offered was consulting for other breweries. The Lhasa people came to me and said they were interested in brewing a beer in Tibet. I liked what they had to say. That was... View Article
How long have you been the head brewer for Duvel? I’ve been with the company for 17 years, and I’ve been the head brewmaster for 10 years now.
Over here, we tend to think of brewing in Ireland as being dominated by one very big brewing company and two smaller ones. Tell me about the rise of craft brewing culture there. These days, it’s really one big company and one smaller one, Diageo and Heineken. Craft brewing really took off in Ireland in... View Article
You’ve brewed at just about every size of brewery during your career. I started in Greene King doing a pupilage, and then an improvership―you never hear of that these days. Then I spent 20-odd years at Whitbread, which was then a national brewery, I was seconded to various places all over the U.K., and, of... View Article
Besides being the brewmaster at Foothills, you’re the president of the North Carolina Brewers’ Guild. What do you see in the future for NC breweries? I think therewill continue to be an awakening of spirit in the state’s breweries as people gain confidence. They’ll push the envelope of brewing styles and business plans will develop,... View Article
Given that Boston Beer brews most of its beer at facilities elsewhere, what goes on at the Jamaica Plain site in Boston? We have a couple production breweries [Cincinnati and Lehigh Valley, PA], but we still think that the Boston brewery is the most important brewery in our system. This is where we do all... View Article
How long have you been a professional brewer? A long time. I’m not actually brewing now, but I was a professional brewer for 19 years, and I’ve been in the beer industry for the last two.
