2012 Speakers

  • Jeff Althouse

    Oakshire Brewing

    Jeff Althouse, a former school teacher, pursued the common dream among homebrewers. In 2004, he and his brother Chris registered their business with the state and set to work building Oakshire Brewing. From a modest launch in 2006 with an amber ale to the innovative craft brewery that Oakshire is More »

  • Drew Beechum

    Maltose Falcons

    Drew Beechum, a 10-year veteran of the hobby, has survived multiple experiments and forays into wacky brewing misadventures. He even managed to “lead” the Maltose Falcons for four grueling years. During that time

  • Beaux Bowman

    Black Raven Brewing

    Beaux Bowman is co-owner/founder/head brewer of Black Raven Brewing Company. Black Raven Brewing is a neighborhood brewery in Redmond, Wash. that opened its doors in 2009. Beaux has been brewing professionally since 2001 in the Seattle area.

  • Martin Brungard

    Foam Blowers of Indiana

    Martin Brungard is a professional engineer who specializes in water and environmental services for municipal and industrial clients, including breweries. He has been homebrewing since 1999 and is ranked as a Beer Judge Certification Program National judge. He is the author of Bru’n Water software for brewing water More »

  • Dick Cantwell

    Elysian Brewing Co.

    Dick Cantwell has been brewing professionally in Seattle since 1990, and as a homebrewer for a couple of years before that in Cambridge, Mass. Seattle is a great place for finding the weird ingredients he favors. He co-founded Elysian Brewing Co. in 1996, published Barley Wine with Brewers Publications 1997 More »

  • Bryan Cardwell

    Chuckanut Brewery

    Bryan Cardwell is the head brewer of Chuckanut Brewery in Bellingham, Wash. which focuses on brewing German lagers and ales. While attending the University of Colorado, where he earned a B.S. in both biochemistry and chemistry, he began homebrewing, leading to his career in the brewing industry.

  • Jess Caudill

    Wyeast

    Jess Caudill is a microbiologist at Wyeast. Prior to his career there, he brewed for multiple brewpubs and breweries in the Pacific Northwest. His interest in homebrewing began 19 years ago when he stumbled upon a copy of Papazian’s The Complete Joy of Home Brewing. He has been hooked on More »

  • Ray Daniels

    Cicerone Certification Program, Author

    Ray Daniels has more than 20 years’ experience as a brewer, beer judge, brewing author and beer educator. He is director of the Cicerone® Certification Program as well as a senior faculty member of the Siebel Institute of Technology, America’s oldest brewing school. Daniels is the author of Designing Great More »

  • A.J. deLange

    Brewers United for Real Potables (BURP)

    A.J. deLange has been homebrewing beer for over 30 years and fiddling with brewing water chemistry for about 25 years. Convinced early on in his brewing career that knowing some brewing science would help him make better beer, he thought he’d start with water. He never finished. He’s lectured everyone More »

  • Greg Doss

    Wyeast

    Greg Doss began homebrewing in 1995 while working toward his degree in microbiology at Oregon State University. Following college, he brewed professionally for five years. In 2000, Greg joined the staff of Wyeast Laboratories, where he currently works as QC manager and microbiologist. Greg had the distinction More »

  • Nicole Erny

    Cicerone Certification Program

    Nicole Erny got her start as an amateur beer judge on the weekends, which led her down the debaucherous path of full-time work in the beer industry. In 2011, she became the first woman to pass the Master Cicerone® Exam, and is presently one of four people to hold the More »

  • Michael Fairbrother

    Moonlight Meadery

    Michael Fairbrother has homebrewed since 1995, is a lifetime AHA member, and the founder and mead maker of Moonlight Meadery. Started in his garage in 2010, Moonlight Meadery now has capacity to produce over 200,000 bottles per year. This small business continues to grow from its humble beginnings and More »

  • Charles Finkel

    The Pike Brewing Co.

    Charles Finkel of the Pike Brewing Co., is presenting this year’s keynote address! His experience is far-reaching, from founding a wine importing company that specialized in craft producers in the ’60s, to importing some of Europe’s finest beers in the ’70s, and contributing to many books and magazines regarding beer, More »

  • Kent Fletcher

    Maltose Falcons

    Kent Fletcher has been brewing for over 11 years and making brewing gadgets from day one. His various brew-related creations and constant tinkering led fellow club members to dub him //Brewgyver//” “

  • Jamie Floyd

    Ninkasi Brewing Co.

    Jamie Floyd is part owner and founding brewer of Ninkasi Brewing Company in Eugene Ore. He has spent 21 years brewing beer, 17 of them professionally. Jamie wears many hats at Ninkasi including brewing, marketing, sales, QA/QC sensory analysis as well as being the face of the company. He is More »

  • Will Fredin

    Great Everett Brewers Leagu

    Will Fredin has been home brewing for more than 18 years, including brewing professionally for 5 years at Moab Brewery and Wasatch Brewery in Utah. In the past 10 years he has been very active with the Great Everett Brewers League (GEBL) in Everett, Wash. as president and vice president. More »

  • Chris P. Frey

    AHA Governing Committee

    Chris P. Frey started homebrewing in 1995, and immediately joined the F.O.R.D. homebrew club in Dearborn, Mich. Over the years he served in every elected role (secretary, librarian, treasurer, vice president and president). In 2000 he also joined the Ann Arbor Brewers Guild, a club of over 160 active members More »

  • Erin Glass

    Brewers Association

    Erin Glass has been kicking around the craft brewing industry since 1994, having worked with New Belgium Brewing Company, Magic Hat and Breckenridge Brewery as she tried to learn as much as possible about the art, science and business of beer. She has held various duties in packaging, cellar work, More »

  • Ted Hausotter

    Good Libations

    Ted Hausotter started homebrewing in 1983. Since that time, he has brewed more than 375 batches, or 3,000 gallons, of premium beer and mead. Some of his more notable awards are first runner-up Homebrewer of the Year at the AHA National Homebrew Competition and many best of More »

  • Stan Hieronymus

    Author

    Stan Hieronymus is the author of Brew Like a Monk and Brewing With Wheat. His newest book, For the Love of Hops, will be available from Brewers Publications in October 2012. During the past 20 years he’s contributed to several other books and written scores of articles for magazines from More »

  • Ron Irvine

    Vashon Winery

    Ron Irvine is the owner, winemaker, bookkeeper and janitor of Vashon Winery and produces Irvine’s Vintage Cider, one of the first to use European cider apples in the production of full flavored ciders first under the brand Centennial Cider (1990) and then Irvine’s Vintage Cider (1996). Ron has been promoting More »

  • Jason Kahler

    Solera Brewery

    Jason Kahler began his brewing career 16 years ago in northern Minnesota before moving to Oregon. for its abundant breweries. Prior to opening Solera Brewery in Parkdale, Ore. he worked for various breweries throughout the Columbia Gorge. Jason’s passion continues to be brewing and blending all things.

  • Colin Kaminski

    Downtown Joes Brewery & Restaurant

    Colin Kaminski started homebrewing in 1996 with a girlfriend who had a fermentation science degree from UC Davis. Within a few months, he was volunteering at local breweries to have a place to practice the concepts he had been reading about. Brian Hunt (Moonlight Brewing) recommended DeClerk’s classic brewing text. More »

  • Alistair Kocho-Williams

    University of the West of England

    Alistair Kocho-Williams is a leading historian of 20th century Russia and published author who also has a keen interest in beer. He is an award-winning homebrewer and Beer Judge Certification Program beer judge and currently living in the UK.

  • Randy Mosher

    5 Rabbit Cerveceria Inc, Author

    Randy Mosher has been writing about beer and brewing since 1989, and is the author of three beer and brewing books: The Brewers Companion (1991), Radical Brewing (2004) and Tasting Beer (2009), which covers the sensory and stylistic aspects of beer. A new book entitled The Handy Book of Homebrewing More »

  • Nate Muller

    Cascade Brewers Guild

    Nate Muller has brewed for seven years. He has served as both the president and the treasurer of the Cascade Brewers Guild homebrew club that meets in Woodinville, Wash. he is a Beer Judge Certification Program Certified beer judge. His latest brewing interest is trying to perfect More »

  • John Palmer

    Author

    John Palmer is the author of the best-selling How To Brew, co-author of Brewing Classic Styles with Jamil Zainasheff, and co-author of the forthcoming book, Water : A Comprehensive Guide for Brewers with Colin Kaminski. Whenever he is not writing, John heads up Palmer Brewing Solutions Inc., offering brewery consulting More »

  • Neva Parker

    White Labs Inc.

    Neva Parker has been with White Labs, Inc. since 2002. She earned her bachelors degree in microbiology from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash. and first became interested in the brewing industry while studying abroad in London. She currently manages laboratory operations for headquarters in San Diego and the More »

  • Warren Peterson

    Schooner Exact Brewing

    Warren Peterson graduated from the California Culinary Academy in 1996, after he worked as a chef all around the world, from San Francisco to New York and even England, Ireland and France. After working at the famous Salish Lodge and living behind the Snoqualmie Brewery, he developed a passion More »

  • Joe Rovito

    Mt. Si Brewing Society

    Joe Rovito is an embedded microcontroller design expert specializing in new product design, development and test. A prolific, product-focused engineer, his designs span a diverse set of industries and markets including automotive, industrial automation, biomedical, consumer and unmanned aviation. He received his B.S. in electrical engineering from Lehigh University More »

  • Robert Seggewiss

    Great Western Malting Co.

    Robert Seggewiss received his BSc in agriculture at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. He started his career with Canada Malting Co. (CMC) in Toronto, in quality control. In 1989 he became lab manager at the Thunder Bay Malt Plant with CMC and moved to Maltster in 1991. He transferred More »

  • Brad Smith

    BeerSmith LLC

    Brad Smith is a former rocket scientist, author of BeerSmith brewing software, as well as the book Home Brewing with BeerSmith, the BeerXML recipe standard, BrewWiki.com and host of a popular homebrewing podcast.

  • Mitch Steele

    Stone Brewing Co.

    Mitch Steele is the brewmaster for Stone Brewing Co. Since graduating from UC Davis in 1984 with a fermentation science degree, he has brewed at some of the largest and smallest breweries in the world. After starting on a 14 bbl system at the San Andreas Brewing Co. in California, More »

  • Gordon Strong

    Author

    Gordon Strong is an award-winning homebrewer, beer judge and author. He is the only three-time winner of the coveted Ninkasi Award. He is the current president and highest ranking judge in the Beer Judge Certification Program and was the principal author of the current BJCP Style Guidelines. Gordon is the More »

  • Jennifer Talley

    Redhook Brewery

    Jennifer Talley has been mashing in craft session beers now for over 20 years. She recently relocated to the Seattle area from Salt Lake City to take on the role of brewing operations manager for the Redhook Brewery in Woodinville, Wash. When not running the daily brewing operations at Redhook, More »

  • Mark Tanner

    Beer Renegades of Everett Washington

    Mark Tanner, a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, spent the past 18 years brewing extract or partial grain beer. He has won awards in 19 states and British Columbia, in 50 different sub-styles. After living in Bavaria, he returned to the U.S. and had difficulty finding fresh German light lagers (helles), More »

  • Berniece Van Der Berg

    Moonlight Meadary

    Berniece Van Der Berg was born in South Africa. Now a U.S. citizen, Berniece has lived in the United States for the past 13 years. Partnering with Michael Fairbrother of Moonlight Meadery, she has since discovered the sweet, wonderful world of mead, continued to educate herself with a passion for More »

  • Jamil Zainasheff

    Heretic Brewing Company & Author

    Jamil Zainasheff is the owner/brewer of Heretic Brewing Company. Jamil started as a homebrewer and he says will always be one. While homebrewing, he brewed an award-winning example of every style in the BJCP Style Guidelines and wrote a book about it called Brewing Classic Styles. He also co-authored Yeast: More »

  • Drew Zimmerman

    Northwest Cider Society

    Drew Zimmerman has a passion and that is cider: producing, educating, advocating…anything to do with cider and Drew lights up. He began as a self-taught home cidermaker and orchardist. Retired from the aerospace industry, he spends his time reading about, researching and making cider. He has made varietal ciders as More »