James Howat

Former Future Brewing Co. & Black Project Spontaneous Ales

James has a microbiology and education background and was a prolific and experimental homebrewer before founding Former Future Brewing Company and his personal side project that produces only 100 percent wild/coolship/spontaneous ales called Black Project Spontaneous Ales. The first Black Project release was also Former Future’s only entry into the 2014 Great American Beer Festival®, which won a bronze medal (the only medal in the subcategory) for Experimental Ale (subcategory 16C Wild Ale). James manages the barrel program at Former Future, and also handles yeast isolation and culturing for several house strains in addition to designing recipes and techniques for Black Project coolship beers.