The Beginning of the Journey

Things are moving in my attempt to become a professional brewer. It is soon going to be a reality and I am going to share my journey and experiences here.

I started as a beer lover. The process of brewing beer has fascinated me since the time that I could first comprehend what beer was. My first real taste of beer was from my Dad. It was an Apricot Hefeweizen by Pyramid Brewing. I still remember thinking, "I had no idea that beer could taste good!"

The first brewing experience I had was at Gallagher's Where You Brew in Edmonds, WA. I remember thinking during the 60 minute hop addition, "This is what I want to do for a living."
I started homebrewing soon after that with a Mr.Beer kit from Bed, Bath & Beyond.

The kit made less than stellar beer. But it was a good introduction to the process. Only a few batches in the Mr. Beer later (and only one that was mildly drinkable), I went all the way and got a fermenter and the equipment necessary for 5 gallon batches from Bob's Homebrew Supply. (206 527-9283) After a few extract batches, I made my own mash/lauter tun (shown below) and went all-grain.


The first beer was of my own creation. A pale ale called Taboo Dew shown in the picture below. It turned out quite good. I learned the process through the book, "How To Brew" by John Palmer. That was in May of 2008. Since then I have brewed over 25 different ale and lager styles, won a handful of awards, gained a lot of brewing knowledge, and cultivated my passion for brewing.

I joined the North Seattle Homebrew club where I met tons of great brewers, and local brewery owner and brew master Seth Gilligan. He started Gilligan's Brewing Company in Fremont, WA about two years ago; a nano-brewery at 2 bbls (4 standard kegs) per batch. I decided to take a risk and donate my time and knowledge to the brewery that had a cult-like following from bikers and runners that passed by on the Burke-Gilman trail. Seth was kind enough to let me lend a hand and even formulate some recipes. The first time I helped in the brewery, everything went wrong with the brew day. Stuck mash, overshot gravity, trouble with the pumps, then the port on the brew kettle got so hot that the wort inside burnt into a solid piece of charcoal. The beer was transferred over to the fermenter using 5 gallon buckets. It ended up infected.

Things went a little more smoothly for Gilligan's after that.

Then there came a blessing in disguise. A corporate-wide layoff from my employer. There I enjoyed a modest yet helpful salary to support myself and my wife who was in graduate school. She was working so hard with school and internship that there was no time for even part time work. Once we lost our only source of income, we decided that this was the perfect time for me to pursue my dream of becoming a brewer.

I started getting a hold of local breweries and seeing what connections I could make in the industry. By chance, I happened upon an ad on CraigsList of all places, for a position at a (somewhat) local restaurant and brewery. They had won numerous awards at the North American Beer Awards, the Great American Beer Festival, and the World Beer Cup. I jumped on the opportunity and called the company. Minutes later I got a call from the brew master himself and I set up a time to meet, brought my resume, and that is where I sit now.

Let's just say I have a really good idea that this will work out.....



Cheers,
Greg