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 President's Welcome |
Staff & Faculty |
Brewer Mentors More and more graduates are discovering each year that the American Brewers Guild is the first step toward realizing their goal of becoming successful craft brewers. Brewers across the country have graduated from the program confident that they made the right choice.
Jimmy Seifr
Chris Milum [Chris wrote this to a perspective student] Mark, The ABG greatly enhanced my credibility and expanded my career options in the fields of brewing and brewing science. As a recent graduate, I have had a successful and enjoyable beginning to my career, which clearly would not have been possible without my studies with the ABG. The added value of a diploma from the American Brewers Guild is the prestige of a diploma from the nation's best brewing schools. The ABG is highly regarded for its commitment to excellence in education. The classes are set up to offer you flexibility with learning with part of the course offered as correspondence and part as on campus studies along with an apprenticeship. You also have the opportunities to interact with other ABG students and the professors. The small, personalized environment allows everyone to be available almost full time and attentive to your individual needs. Without hesitation I suggest that you contact the ABG staff for more information regarding the courses available and how they can work for you. Regards, Chris John McClure After seven years of homebrewing I decided to take the plunge and become a professional brewer, but the job market here in Atlanta seemed fairly saturated with would-be brewers. I needed something that would give me a leg up on the competition for a brewing job. After researching other schools I realized that the ABG Distanced Education Course would allow me to keep my current desk job and get the education I needed. When I received my first box of tapes and binders, I realized that this was not going to be an easy ride. The course material is very detailed, thorough, and extremely challenging. The class lectures are simply fantastic. Every aspect of the brewing process is explained and if there are any questions, answers are only an e-mail away. The final week of the class was held in California. Meeting our professors and classmates in person was a treat, as well as a private tour of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company! My classmates were indeed a diverse bunch, from every level of brewing experience. Sensory evaluation was a big part of the on-site portion of the class as well as extensive laboratory work. Not to mention brewing large amounts of beer! Finally, I signed up for the Apprenticeship, which really paid off because I was hired immediately after it was over, and I am now a brewer at Max Lager's here in Atlanta. Thanks to the course and the apprenticeship, my goals were achieved. Thanks for making the dream come true, Steve!! Chris Goehe
The online course was a perfect way to study while keeping my day job and I feel the longer course duration gave me more time to really review the materials more than once. I was lucky to be hired by Arne Johnson at Marin Brewing
Company, (who would later be known as Arne Brau Kenobi, my Jedi beer
master), just a few weeks into the course. I had chosen MBC for my
apprenticeship brewery, and Arne needed some help doing cellar work and
running the bottling line so I was actually employed there during my ABG
session. The "live" week of the course was the most fun; finally putting faces to the chat text and hanging out with a bunch of beer geeks in search of knowledge and the perfect pint. I will never forget the face of Chris Carter, who was coming from 3.2 Utah, as he sipped his first Guinness or Steve Parks being set loose at the taps during our private tour of Anchor Steam Brewery. (Both pics are on the guild's alumni site of 2000 fusty class photos.) The pictures are of my last brew at MBC (Mt. Tam pale) and cleaning the fermenter. Thanks and Cheers ABG! Sean Harris
The correspondence format allowed the material to fit in to a flexible schedule, but with many interesting magazine and scientific articles as well as the brewing text books, I found the information was there to pursue to the level and time commitment I desired. The course struck a good balance of the technical biochemistry and engineering concepts with the practical material and provided a thorough brewing education. I felt well equipped to move in to a brewing position with the knowledge I had gained. The hands-on experience provided by the internship served to reinforce that. An excellent experience with knowledgeable, friendly and helpful faculty and staff. A must-do course for those serious about pursuing a craftbrewing career. Rick Reed It was only three years ago that I was branch manager of a large computer services firm in Northern New Jersey. I had never brewed a beer in
my life. Now I own a small microbrewery making two of the best beers on the
planet: Cricket Hill's East Coast Lager and Cricket Hill's American Ale. Keith Meinert The American Brewers Guild Craftbrewers Apprenticeship Program is no lightweight course. Armed with the technical understanding, hands-on practical experience, industry knowledge and invaluable business contacts I now have the confidence to pursue a new brew-pub startup. This knowledge and understanding would have taken me years to accumulate through the ‘school of hard knocks’ and would not have been possible near home except through the ABG correspondence program. (See Keith's picture on the Programs page.) |
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I enrolled in ABG after interviewing with several brewers
who had taken the course and had great praise for Steve's
class. Living in the Bay Area I was glad to notice many of the head
brewers are ABG graduates. 
After completing the course and my apprenticeship, I worked a
couple of nights a week on the bottling line and eventually started
brewing and filtering one day a week at MBC. I also moved from the brewery
onto the floor as a food server and then shift manager at both MBC and
it's sister company Moylan's. I am now the general manager of Broken Drum
Brewery and Wood Grill in San Rafael. I am lucky to have a recent graduate
as our new head brewer. We have already joined forces creating several new
recipes.
After a number
of years working in scientific research I began looking in to an
alternative career choice, one that would allow me to use more creativity
and eventually get me back home to New Zealand. As an inexperienced
homebrewer I discovered the ABG website and after some thought enrolled in
the Craftbrewers Apprenticeship Program 3 days before the course began,
rather late!