Born to Brew — Nicknamed "Arnebräu"
I was destined to become a brewer. In 1978, when I was thirteen, President Jimmy Carter signed the bill that legalized homebrewing — and my parents took it up in earnest. I'd later learn they'd first brewed together on their second date back in the late 1950s; Mom was a microbiologist at the University of California, so Dad figured she had the know-how to turn grain into beer.
Saturdays were brew days. I'd watch the process, clean the equipment, and help Mom cultivate the yeast and autoclave the bottles at her lab. Before long our fridge was stocked with homebrew, my friends were invited to taste it — and they nicknamed me "Arnebräu."
I moved to San Francisco after college in 1989, just as the craft beer scene was taking off. My roommates pushed me to brew as much as I could, and — inspired by early local legends like Anderson Valley, Anchor, and Marin — I obliged. The beer got good enough that I worked two jobs to put myself through the American Brewers Guild's Brewing Science & Engineering program. I apprenticed at my favorite brewery, Marin Brewing Company, was promoted to Head Brewer before my first year was out, and spent the next 27 years running its brewing operations.
🍻 Catch him at the tanks most brew days — say hi and ask what's fermenting.
