For anyone interested: working at Straight To Ale in Huntsville, AL. Getting to learn a new system (30-35bbl steam internal Calandria). Also brewing on their 7 bbl pilot. Great crew and having a ton of fun! Have a new project in the works that I’ll relay as soon as it is made public but super fun stepping stone in the mean time and lots of great new experience.
Yeah, old middle School building. The brewery itself is in the gym. I’ll post some pictures soon because some of the stuff there is super freakin’ cool. There is a “Speak easy” hidden behind some lockers…!
It’s … interesting being a founding partner and share holder of a brewery literally within walking distance of where I work now but I have known Dan Perry (Founder of Straight to Ale) since we were both homebrewers and we are going to be working on some really interesting projects together over the next year or two. I can’t share it ye (signed NDA) but it is some truly exciting stuff that is going to transform the Southern Brew scene starting in Huntsville. He’s giving me an opportunity to come in and learn brewing on their brew house and pilot and I will be releasing some fun recipes there.
The Head Brewer there is George Grandinetti. He has a rather impressive resume. He has worked at Rogue with John Maier, the original Bells (Kalamazoo) with Larry Bell and has worked with John Mallet who was a consultant at some Breckenridge Satellite breweries (now defunct). he’s got some fun horrow stories for sure.
I’m not a fan of all the STA beers and, personally, I hope they let me instill a few processes down there that I feel could help the QC but overall they are killing it, have a truly great crew, and they’re on an upward trajectory for sure.
I’m finally able to fully disclose the project I will be working on - Southern Brewer’s CoOp - we hope to launch the new location sometime this summer.
Woohoo! Happy for you, Keith, and all the Secret Squirrel stuff the last few months has been getting me worked up. I gather this is an important development in the craft brewing model. But, for us heathens not on FB, could someone link other sources, like the news report Dwain just mentioned? Inquiring minds want to know.