Fullsteam Brewery hires former Head Brewer of Abita Brewing Company
Durham, N.C. – Brooks Hamaker, former Head Brewer and Vice President of Brewery Operations for Abita Brewing Company, has accepted a position as Head of Operations for Durham, North Carolina-based Fullsteam Brewery. Immediately after Christmas, Brooks will relocate from New Orleans to Durham to work for the startup brewery, which will open in the spring of 2010. Brooks is Fullsteam’s third employee, joining president Sean Lilly Wilson and brewer Chris Davis.
Brooks Hamaker has been involved in the craft brewing revolution almost since its inception. He joined Abita Brewing Company in 1988, growing the company from fledgling startup to one of the nation’s largest and most successful craft breweries. As Head Brewer and later as Vice President of Operations, Brooks was charged with the dual task of encouraging and managing rapid growth. He was wildly successful, taking Abita from a few hundred barrels of beer to 35,000 barrels a decade later. Brooks also created and developed a number of Abita recipes — most notably, Abita’s flagship, Turbodog.
Following his tenure at Abita Brewing, Brooks brought his experience and know-how to breweries worldwide, constructing and operating brewing operations in the southern United States, Mexico, Ireland, and Hong Kong, as well as consulting for a number of U.S. breweries and brewpubs.
Brooks is a well-regarded food, beverage and travel writer who has appeared in many regional and national publications, including the New York Times, Chile Pepper, Offbeat, and the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Salon.com recently appointed Brooks to the Salon Kitchen Cabinet, where he serves as the online magazine’s resident beer expert.
“A total boon”
Fullsteam founder and president Sean Lilly Wilson is very excited about this new hire. “Brooks brings incredible experience and brewing know-how.” Wilson said. “But he’s by no means a know-it-all. Brooks thinks we’re on to something in our mission to craft a distinctly Southern beer. Who better to explore this concept than the former head brewer of the South’s largest brewery? Hiring Brooks is a total boon for Fullsteam Brewery.”
Brooks first tasted Fullsteam’s esoteric “Southern agricultural beers” at the 2008 Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium in Oxford, Mississippi. A year later, Fullsteam returned to the SFA to offer up a few more samples, including Sweet Potato pale ale and a Scuppernong sparkling ale. It was at this recent gathering that Brooks learned the brewery was close to breaking ground, but that it needed an experienced operations manager to help grow the venture from vision to reality. “Sean and I talked a week after the event,” Brooks recalls. “The rest, I hope, is the beginning of a great history.”
“A year from now, we’re going to stare at each other and ask, ‘How can we be having this much fun?’”
Brooks’ first task includes helping to move and install Fullsteam’s 15-hectoliter brewhouse to the new brewpad at 726 Rigsbee Avenue. He’ll work with brewer Chris Davis to help fine-tune the brewing system and scale brewery operations in anticipation of a spring launch. And he will attempt to explain why he prefers cake to pie.
About Fullsteam Brewery
Durham, North Carolina-based Fullsteam Brewery seeks to answer the most interesting question that’s never been asked: What is Southern beer? Our experimental “plow-to-pint” beers showcase and support Southern farms by brewing with seasonal ingredients, heirloom grains, and local botanicals. We also craft traditional ales and lagers through our “Workers’ Compensation” series. The Curious and Skeptic alike can follow the brewery’s progress and discover upcoming sneak previews at www.fullsteam.ag, on Facebook (/fullsteambrewery), or on Twitter (@fullsteam)!