Famous People of Beer Brewing

We come home from work and the first thing beer enthusiasts want to do is crack open a nice cold beer. That's us and there's no one like us. But, wait! We make up ninety-five percent of the world's population.

Beer drinkers make up ninety-five percent of the world's population, that is. Beer enthusiasts make up only a small statistic of that. We are the travelers who find all kinds of beer events. We are the consumers who find all kinds of new and interesting beers to try. We are the beer brewers who do it in our own homes.

We take our love for beer to the next level. That's the "us" I was referring to when I said there is no one like us. But, you'll find it very interesting to know who is among us.

You might not know of him because he's not famous throughout the world, just in the active beer enthusiast circles. But, Charles Papazian is very famous among home brewers. If a home brewer hasn't heard of him, they should do some research and find out that Charlie is actually a nuclear engineer. But, his love for brewing prompted him to found the Association of Brewers and to write the Complete Joy of Homebrewing.

When the Brewers Association of America merged with his own Association of Brewers in 2005, Charlie became president of the merged organization. He never sat still. After you've founded one organization, you get the bug to found more. Charlie went on to found the Institute for Brewing Studies, Brewers Publications, the Great American Beer Festival, the World Beer Cup, and Zymurgy Magazine. What a guy! To this day he is known as the author of the Homebrewer's Bible.

A few famous names you might be able to point out rather quickly include Adolphus Busch, Captain Frederick Pabst, and David G. Yuengling. Those were pretty easy to map in history. But, what about Jim Koch? Well, he's the founder of the Boston Beer Company who make, among other beers, the infamous Samuel Adams.

You might find these names rather interesting as well. Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi are responsible for Sierra Nevada Beer Company while Sam Calagione is the founder of the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. Sam actually earned his name to fame and put Dogfish on the map with what he termed "off-centered stuff for off-centered people."

But, the one I've been dying to tell you all about is the one I saved for last. With his own brewing equipment that he bought with his own money, the President of the United States is a home brewer. Well, he is technically.

I mean, he does have other things to do like meet with heads of state, fight with Congress over new laws, stay on top of the world and basically, run the country. So, he has his staff at the White House utilize his equipment and brew up batches for special occasions like St. Patrick's Day, the Superbowl and when a newly awarded Medal of Honor earner simply asked to have a beer with the President.

Home brewing is very honorable. It's an old tradition. It used to be normal to find some brewing apparatus in a person's home so they could enjoy a brew at the end of the day. That all changed when a few savvy business people learned how to mass produce enough to satisfy an entire country full of beer drinkers. But, that doesn't mean we should lose touch of our past and our heritage. Get yourself a bucket and a pot and go to town. If you don't know what I'm talking about, grab yourself a copy of the Complete Joy of Homebrewing and get yourself up to speed with the rest of us!