And then the paychecks stopped, because they were struggling a bit, so I decided to look for another job to make sure I was safe. Learned a lot from the head brewer, who was a huge influence on my brewing career, a phenomenally smart guy. Looked at staying in England, but nothing available felt like a good fit, so came back home and took a job at a small brewery in Williamsburg, Virginia, using a very English system that I was very comfortable with, a classic direct-fire, old, old English brewing system. Popped around England and a few breweries in working during school to get the experience as part of my degree and walked away with a diploma in brewing. Got there, just fell in love with the atmosphere, the knowledge, the science and immediately knew it was a good decision. On the farm, I deconstructed an old stainless steel silo and sold it for scrap to raise money to pay my way to go to England. So while I was working I did some digging into schools first, because after looking at jobs I knew I would need to learn a bit more about brewing before I could get into it. I fell in love with it right off the bat. I immediately knew there was more to it and immediately also knew it was something I wanted to do. So I moved into brewing from there, I said to myself, “I like beer, I think I can make my own beer.” So I started homebrewing on an extract kit only. Made wine, and did some stuff with what was growing out at the farm, raspberries among other things. And part of the odd hours and jobs I had at the time, I started making wine of all things. I realized I didn’t want to end up working in a museum, so I went back home and helped my family open up a restaurant and grocery store back on the farm. So they didn’t give you a leather satchel and whip with your diploma? Treasure hunters are a very few-and-far-between breed. Definitely one of those things that when you get out of school you realized you chose a life path that isn’t everything you thought it would be in a lot of ways. ![]() That and I watched a lot of Indiana Jones.ĭecided to go to college for classical studies, archaeology as a part of that, and minored in philosophy. So you knew it wouldn’t be dairy farming, so what was your dream job?Īs a kid I read a lot of books about archaeology and convinced myself that is what I was going to do for a living. I enjoyed the work, but I didn’t really want to do it the rest of my life. A lot of cows, lot of land, got started with field work right off the bat. Worked with raw materials a lot as a kid. What’s your story, how did you get into brewing beer?īeing raised on a dairy farm, I wasn’t any stranger to work by any means. I am really looking forward to exploring Austin, in a lot of ways. So, now that the list is getting more checks, what are you looking forward to? I keep getting emails from people here, but I am going to have a lot of visitors in Austin. It’s go time now, it’s everything I wanted it to be so far. First week I am starting to relax a bit, things are getting checked off the list, getting done. I wore my best farm work clothes today, and that was the extent of it.Ī move like this you get involved with the stress and trying to plan everything. Had rain every day for the past two weeks, slow going. ![]() Just got the planting done today, turned into a longer day than expected. Today I was out in the mud planting our hopyard all day here at Victory, and it took a little bit longer than expected, but it is nice too. ![]() Just getting ready to head down to Austin and get started putting together the brewhouse and starting the brew. Interview with Matt Couch, Lazarus' new Brewmaster. So our man Austin sat down with our new brewmaster and asked him for an interview.
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