Brookston Beer Bulletin

Today is the 61st birthday of Greg Hall, former brewmaster at Goose Island Brewing. Goose Island, of course, made some incredible beers. Founded by Greg’s father John Hall in 1988, Greg became brewmaster a few years later and has been setting high standards ever since, though he left...

Today is the birthday of William Gustave Jung (November 5, 1886-September 17, 1947). I couldn’t find very much information about Jung, though I believe he was born in Germany. After seeking his fortune in America, he apparently worked at the Silver Creek Brewery, which also became known as the Chas. Hamm Brewing Co. in 1910. Unfortunately, Charles Hamm died of pneumoni...

Today is Rob Widmer’s 70th birthday. Rob is, of course, one of the bros in Widmer Brothers. He and his brother Kurt helped found the Oregon Brewers Festival, created the style American Hefeweizen and are one of the few small brewers that have managed to retain their spirit and reputation as they’ve grown much larger. Join me in wishing Rob a very happy birthday.

Today is the 63rd birthday of Alastair Hook, founder and brewmaster of Meantime Brewing, which was one of the first breweries in the UK to make good Non-CAMRA beer. I’m not sure when I first met Alastair, either at GABF or World Beer Cup, or over on his turf, but sometime last de...

Today is the 47th birthday of Kim Sturdavant. He was born in Eugene, Oregon and got his professional brewing start at Marin Brewing Co. before taking over at Social Kitchen & Brewery in San Francisco in 2011. While there he invented the Brut IPA sub-style, which was a popular type of IPA for a time. He left in 2019 and for a time was brewing at