Sixpoint Recovers from Hurricane Sandy, Hires First Female Brewer
How did you get into craft beer?
Okay, so I’ll start at the beginning of beer. At University of Florida, I started going to this beer bar, it was the only beer bar in Gainesville. They had about 300 different beers, and up until that point everything I’d had was Miller and Bud. I didn’t realize beer could be great, I thought it was just crappy. I worked there for 2 and a half years, and that’s where I learned all the different styles and kinds of beer. Then I moved to Georgia and got a job at the Cannon Brewpub in Columbus, GA. I trained with the brewer for about two weeks and then he quit, so I was in charge of the brewing. I was brewing there for a year and a half.
What’s a typical day at Sixpoint like for you?
I usually get in at 8 am. I try to get here before 7:30 am, if I’m brewing that day—we alternate brew days because it gets a little exhausting. Like any house, there’s also stuff that’s gotta be maintained, and the brewers are the ones who are here every day. Every tank and hose has to be cleaned and sanitized between each use, and the tanks have to be pumped full with C02 to keep oxygen away from the beer.
How long before you would feel comfortable enough to try out a new recipe, or dabble around with one of the current ones?
Oh, that already happens now. Part of the process is that we all have input on the process. We also have a small 25-barrel system in the brewery that we can use to try something out or play around, so I might brew on that, just to have it in house. There has to be a demand before we make a beer, we can’t just make beer because we feel like it. There has to be somebody out there who wants to buy it.
Is there a beer that you like most?
No, it’s kind of just what I’m in the mood for. I like our Spice of Life beers—they are single hop IPAs, which means we use only one hop in the beer, so you get a really good idea of what that hop tastes like. It’s really fun for us beer nerds. But every beer is appropriate for a different environment. I’m not going to drink Budweiser on a daily basis, I’m not going to go home from work and have one, but sometimes, like at a dive bar, or a hot day on the beach, sometimes a Budweiser is good too.
All the other brewers at Sixpoint are men, and this is true at most breweries. Is it weird for you?
I gotta say, for people who are in the brewing industry, they have no problem with the fact that I am a lady. It’s just, ‘Oh you’re a brewer? Okay cool.’ They don’t even give it a second thought. It’s only people outside of the industry, and basically old white guys, who have a problem with it. But anyone who is in the industry, they know what I do on a day-to-day basis, because everyone has the same job, and they know that anybody can do it, you just have to be willing to get dirty.
For more info: www.sixpoint.com