Devon @ The Lost Abbey


Brewer


Brandy @ Bar Manager


Toronado st Point


n Ballast Point’s North Coun- ears. “As a lover of craft beer, position to combine my de-


arketing with my passion to ewery.” She loves being with because it’s a great company. e people and sell an excep-


ed at Ballast Point’s Scripps or a few good reasons: “Beer and I can wash glasses at an started out as a temporary


ob she truly enjoys. “It’s an On any given day, I can try a ouble chocolate stout. Who


been at BP for a year and half, nk here long enough, they’ll e and her husband, Dan, live y, and have been drinking at cation since shortly after its earing about a new brewery , so one day we made it our ssion accomplished!”


up homebrewing with her


all of her money on craft beer in Nutrition led her to vari- entually she saw a craigslist Point bartending and went stumbled onto gold, Amber y brewery function or festival e herself in the beer commu- Amber’s sweet but sharp wit y pint she slings on Old Grove


rewery Tours ego


our Guide


rated south from Concord nd began working at Ballast location in 2006. Mindy felt


ay to assist the out-of-town ld get lost in trying to navi- an Diego freeways, or worse,


want to drive after over-in- ncée Jon McDermott started with a “let’s see how it goes” ll. Recently, the company has ucation tour services to Nor- ocated briefly to oversee op- ea.


Devon, taking a break from brewing


Originally from the LA area, Devon Ran- dall has sailed from South Africa to the Caribbean. When the homebrewer’s job & lease ended in LA, she decided to chase a dream. The UC Berkeley grad interviewed with The Lost Abbey. She was hired to intern for 2-3 months in early 2010 and started working on the bottling line. When she was brought on full time, she still lived in the LA area and, thus, spent many nights on her friend’s couch before moving down.


Since then, Devon has


been promoted to work in the brewhouse and packaging. The toughest part about a production brewery? “Scheduling.” She continues, “It’s a fun job but you have to love what you are doing, and I’m lucky be- cause I do. I’m proud to work here.” Devon also works part time at Pizza Port Solana Beach as a beertender.


Brandy Brown got her start tending bar up in SF, but didn’t leave mixology behind until she saw San Diego’s bustling craft beer scene firsthand. Toronado had recently opened and Brandy soon found herself behind the bar. Now, as Bar Manager, she handles the daily challenges of serving a large selection of draught and bottled beer at their op- timum quality. “Fresh lines and proper glassware are so important to serving beer as the brewer intended.” And although getting non-beer-lovers that revelatory pint can be tricky, Brandy is con- fident that she can find the right beer for anyone. When it comes to helping other women find beer that they love, Brandy rejects the stereotypes: “I don’t care for the genderization of beer,” she says. “Brewers make a product that they’re proud of, and whoever is into it, is into it.”


Eve @


Brandy, on Toronado’s outdoor patio


Iron Fist Brewing Co. Co-Owner


Eve, ready to greet customers @ Iron Fist Brewing Co. in Vista


Lisa, Ingrid, Shaney Jo & Melanie


Lisa Hinkley co-founded Green Flash Brewing Co. with her husband Mike in 2002. She admits hav- ing “a lot of catching up to do in terms of learning the industry and beer style education back in the beginning.” In 2011, the Vista-based brewery will be bottling a new beer with the proceeds going to breast cancer research.


Ingrid Qua recalls: “The High Dive was born out of the need for a good Chargers bar in San Diego.” At least, that was the idea between Erik Qua and Chad Cline. Tired of hearing the two friends lament loudly on the lack of SD-only sports bars, Ingrid told her husband and friend to “put up or shut up.” The trio then promptly “mortgaged our asses off” to secure the now-iconic bar off Morena Blvd. Ingrid discovered the local beer community thanks to the after-work Home Brew Mart crew that would stop by. Ingrid also founded Chicks for Beer, which is a monthly female-only beer pairing hosted at The High Dive which seeks to convert more women into craft beer lovers.


Shaney Jo Darden is the Founder of the Keep-A-Breast Foundation. Over the past 2 years, Pizza Port’s Brewbies Festival has raised over $28,000 for the organization. Here’s to even more next year!


From left to right: Lisa Hinkley, Ingrid Qua, Shaney Jo Darden, Melanie Pierce


Anita @


Melanie Pierce was raised “in a little po-dunk town in Colorado” and moved to San Diego 7 ½ years ago because she had never seen the ocean. After attending GABF w/ Pizza Port, she wanted to be more involved with the company. Now, in addition to beertending, she plans events with Pizza Port’s Director of Brewery Operations Jeff Bagby: “He challenges me to learn how to do events on my own, but helps guide me in the right direction.” Looks like it worked – Melanie came up with the idea for the Brewbies Festival, an annual event benefitting the Keep-A-Breast Foundation, “because it’s just something I believe in (beer, boobs & the color pink). More people than not are affected by the disease, and I love KAB’s mission to live healthier and to be more aware of your body.”


Maui Brewing Co. Mainland Operations Manager (M.O.M.) bout bus. GET ON THE BUS! bQuest


remembers having to cross state lines just to find a can of aduated from UCSD and decided on a career in law enforce- to become a police officer, so she attended SDSU and earned Administration / Criminal Justice. An internship with SDPD pping, and now she works full-time keeping track of crimi- t Attorney’s Office. Julie met eventual PubQuest Co-Founder an industry conference in 2000. The two commiserated on ng good beer while traveling, and decided to combine their and love of craft beer to solve the problem. Thus, in 2005, unched, and currently tracks 2300 craft-beer locations in the


works: PubQuest plans to provide mapping services to craft n showing the consumer where their beers are being sold.


Anita Lum is the mother of Maui Brewing Co.’s Garrett Marrero. When Garrett, a UC Davis grad & San Diego native, decided to switch careers and buy a brewery, the supportive mother was converted into a craft beer lover. “Any business, we’d support him. But beer? That’s something we could really get behind,” she declares with husband Greg (Greg proudly claims responsibility for getting Garrett into craft beer). Maui’s M.O.M.’s official duties include event planning, sales training, and brewery representation in the mainland United States. A proud Pink Boots Society member, Anita has been responsible for the organization’s website maintenance, membership roster, and recruitment.


Denise @ Stone Headquarters Receptionist


Chocolate packaging technician, the first and only fe- male bottle filler operator at Sierra Nevada, bottling line operator at Stone Brewing Co., active duty mem- ber of the U.S. Army: Denise Ratfield has an impres- sive list of former occupations, but her best may yet be on the horizon. With Stone planning a European brewery site in either Bruges or Berlin, Denise told us she “would move to Europe in a heart beat.” And though these days she misses being involved hands- on in production, there is no typical day at the office at Stone’s HQ. Check out her escapades via twitter @deniserat


It was on a family trip to Europe when admitted wine snob Eve Sieminski fell in love with beer. Having watched her two sons, Brandon & Adrian, homebrew under the supervision of their father, Greg, she was the last of the Sieminski clan to get hooked. After receiving positive comments regarding the family’s product, Eve began to notice what was happening with craft beer and the light bulb went on. “We were sick of depending on others and not determining our own destiny. We wanted to secure our family’s future.” After consulting with helpful industry heavy- weights Greg Koch of Stone and Patrick Rue of The Bruery, the Sieminski family mustered up the capital and courage to open Iron Fist. Now, nearly 6 months after their opening in October of 2010, Iron Fist bottles are being distributed by Stone, and their tap handles are spreading like wildfire across the county. Eve capably manages the day-to-day operations, or as she puts it, “everything but brewing.”


Julie, with a CBC Mermaids Red, @ KnB


Denise, enjoying a beer @ Small Bar


Anita, showcasing at URGE


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