What’s the history of the Schlenkerla tavern and brewery? The building dates back to 1405, so it’s a little more than 600 years old. At the time of its first recording, it was owned by coopers, people who make barrels. In Bamberg, coopers and brewers were united in one guild, so very often the coopers... View Article
You’re practically synonymous with BridgePort Brewing Co. Haven’t you been with the company since the very beginning? Yes, I basically built it. I got out of UC Davis with a BS in Fermentation Sciences in 1983 in June, and I hired on with Dick Ponzi at Ponzi Vineyards in July. The very first time I... View Article
You have a true farm brewery, on an organic farm. What’s unusual about your brewery? B: I thought about putting together a diagram: it would start with us growing the hops—it’s less than 30 feet away from the brewery. So we bring the hops into the brewery, we use them, then we put then back... View Article
Most of your generation of brewers begin by homebrewing. Not many start out with a background like yours in food science or brewing chemistry. What were you going to do if brewing hadn’t come along?
How did you get into brewing? I was fortunate enough to go to Kalamazoo College, in Kalamazoo, MI in 1990. By that time Larry Bell was fairly well established at his brewery, so my first microbrew experiences were some of Larry Bell’s creations. I started homebrewing shortly after moving there. I also had the opportunity... View Article
Where do you see Meantime Brewery in the modern UK brewing landscape? In terms of the modern landscape, we are unique. There are probably 400 micros in the UK. We’re the only one who brewery-conditions all of our products. We’re very much more like an American microbrewery, in that we brew and produce styles within... View Article
I know your roots in Northeast brewing go way back. What got you started? Peter Egelston: Like most of us, I got started by drinking a whole lot of beer, back in the early seventies right through college. None of it was very good: it was a matter of quantity over quality. I was living... View Article
All About Beer: How did you get your start in brewing? Jean-Marie Roc: It’s a long time ago. I was intent to be a brewer when I was 12. I already appreciated. From the beginning, at the midday meal we got low alcoholic beer, tafel beer every day. And on the Saturday evenings in the... View Article
How did you decide to get into brewing? One might have to ask, why did it take me so long? My grandfather was a brewmaster. My father went to Siebel in 1948. His timing was terrible: he got out of brewmasters’ school when there were probably 800 breweries in the United States. But what they... View Article
