Curious about the brilliant minds behind some of the world’s best craft beers? So is The Wench, which is why I’ve started the “Inside the Mash Tun” brewer spotlight series featuring some of the most talented men and women in the craft beer industry.

Today I would like to introduce to Ben Edmunds, the genius brewer behind Breakside Brewery’s outstanding line-up of aristan beers. Inspired by his passion for the culinary arts, Ben is one of the most creative and innovative brewers in the craft beer industry. As a graduate of both Yale University and the Siebel Institute of Technology, Ben is not only talented, but extremely intelligent. Cheers!

Photo Credit: BREWPUBLIC.com

Inside the Mash Tun: Ben Edmunds

Head Brewer, Breakside Brewery
Portland, OR
Twitter handle: @breaksidebrews

How did you get into the craft beer industry?
I am a long-time craft beer lover and homebrewer. I left my job as a high school teacher in 2008 to move to Portland, where I was amazed by the depth of the craft beer scene. I always had it in the back of my head that I might want to try and become a pro brewer, and moving to Portland confirmed it for me. In 2009, I went to the Siebel Institute to get my training. I returned to Portland in 2010 and have been here in the industry ever since.

How long have you been brewing at Breakside?
I’ve been involved with Breakside since the planning phase–the owners and I first met in early 2010. It wasn’t until November 2010 that we were actually brewing in house. Since then we’ve been going strong!

Photo Credit: BREWPUBLIC.com

Out of all the beers you have brewed, what is your all-time favorite?
We made a lot of different beers–over 85–last year, and we’re on track to do the same this year, so it’s hard to pick just one. We made a spruce beer last summer called “Just the Tip” Spruced Wheat that I really loved. We made a German Pils last fall that I was really proud of as well.

What is your favorite beer and food pairing?
I don’t know that it’s my all time favorite, but recently I was at a beer dinner where we had a Bourbon Barrel-Aged Tripel paired with pork scrapple. That was pretty mind blowing.

What is the best part about working for Breakside?
We’ve got a fantastic staff and wonderful regulars. Everyone in our pub looks forward to trying new beers, and on a small brew system we get to be really creative. Portland is also the greatest beer city on the planet, and one of the direct perks of working for Breakside is that I get to contribute to and learn from the beer community here.

If you were a style of beer, what would you be and why?
I guess I fancy myself as a saison of sorts. Fruity and dry…appropriate in most situations and well suited to food.

Beer Bloggers Conference Panel - Photo Credit: Emily Engdahl

Outside of craft beer, what are some of your other hobbies and interests?
I’m an avid cook–if I weren’t a brewer I would definitely work in a kitchen, and some of my closest friends are cooks and chefs, so we spend a lot of time playing with cooking projects in our spare time. Portland has a lot of great smaller music venues, so I love going to see new music and up-and-coming acts. I do the gym thing a lot these days. Usually I’ll spend a lot of time on a day off in a coffee shop reading the New York Times, The Economist, or one of the books I have checked out from the library.

And lastly, what does craft beer mean to you?
I’m a brewer because I believe that creating a great environment with beer and food creates great community. Making beer is also a labor of love–it requires patience, trial and error, precision, living with your mistakes, technical rigor, imagination. I love that at the end of the day, I have a product of my own making to share with someone. It’s an industry that’s equally committed to quality, artisanship, and fun.

————————————————————-

Want to see one of your favorite brewers featured? Just leave a note in the comment section below or shoot me an email!

Ladies and gentlemen,

welcome to the main event.

Last year, I teamed up with some kickass women from all corners of the country and various facets of the craft beer industry to present the first ever “20 Most Eligible Bachelors of Craft Beer”. After reviewing last’s year process, we made some tiny adjustments to this year’s competition, and added more women to the nomination committee and the judging panel.

All though the process was slightly tweaked, the basic qualifications and the judging criteria remained the same.

The basic qualifications were as such:

1. Must work for a craft brewery (all positions considered)
2. Must NOT be married (other relationship statuses accepted)

Now, this whole concept might sound simple, but I assure you that it is more complicated than it looks. We accepted nominations via Twitter, Facebook, the comment section on this site, email, etc. After sorting through the various nominations from the outside, adding more to the list from the inside, and then reviewing the previous year’s winners, we were able to narrow down the pool. Many men were evaluated, and only 20 made the final cut. The top 20 nominees were then submitted to a judging round, where they were each judge on three very specific criteria.

The judging criteria were as follows:

1. Industry Talent
2. Personality
3. Appearance

I hate to disappoint, but this was not a “beauty pageant” type contest. In fact, the qualification that had the most impact on the scores, and the overall rankings, was personality. Looks and talent can get you far, boys, but personality will get your further.

20 men of all ages and positions were scored and ranked — but only ONE man will take home the crown of Mr. Craft Beer 2012. Without any further ado, let me present the winners of the 2012….

__________________________________

#20 Mr. Troy Casey

Photo Source: Facebook

Brewer, AC Golden Brewing Company

Golden, CO

__________________________________

#19 Mr. Matt Cole

Photo Source: Cleveland.com

Brewmaster, Fat Head’s Brewery & Saloon

Cleveland, OH

__________________________________

#18 Mr. Brandon Borgel

Photo Source: Facebook

Director of Sales & Marketing, Speakeasy Ales & Lagers

San Francisco, CA

__________________________________

#17 Mr. Randy Clemens

Photo Credit: Stone Brewing Co.

Media & Communications Linchpin, Stone Brewing Co.

Escondido, CA

Personal Twitter: @RandyClemensESQ

__________________________________

#16 Mr. Doug Rehberg

Photo Source: Widmer

Brewer, Widmer Brothers Brewing

Portland, OR

__________________________________

#15 Mr. Jared Rouben

Photo Source: Goose Island

Head Brewer, Goose Island Brewpubs‘

Chicago, IL

Personal Twitter: @jbrew312

__________________________________

#14 Mr. Victor Novak

Photo Source: Facebook

Brewmaster, TAPS Fish House & Brewery

Brea, California

__________________________________

#13 Mr. Michael Steffing

Photo Source: MyLastPint.com

Co-founder & brewer, Jester King Brewery

Ceres Park, TX

__________________________________

#12 Mr. Noah Regnery

Photo Credit: MSN Today

Brewmaster, Hollister Brewing Co.

Hollister, CA

__________________________________

#11 Mr. Matt Dauffenbach

Photo Source: Matt Dauffenbach

Colorado and Oklahoma Sales Manager / Craft Beer Evangelist at Tallgrass Brewing Company

Manhattan, KS

Personal Twitter: @mkdauff

__________________________________

#10 Mr. Brent Cordle

Photo Source: FeastingFortCollins.com

Manager of the Pilot Brewhouse & Barrel-aging Program, Odell Brewing

Fort Collins, CO

__________________________________

#9 Mr. Jason Yester

Photo Source: Facebook

President & Brewmaster, Trinity Brewing Company

Colorado Springs, CO

Personal Twitter: @SaisonMan

__________________________________

#8 Mr. Ben Edmunds

Photo Source: OregonLive.Com

Brewmaster, Breakside Brewery

Portland, OR

__________________________________

#7 Mr. Garrett Oliver

Photo Credit: Facebook

Brewmaster, Brooklyn Brewery

Brooklyn, NY

Personal Twitter: @GarrettOliver

__________________________________

#6 Mr. Tyler King

Photo Source: Cal Poly Pomona

Brewmaster, The Bruery

Placentia, CA

__________________________________

#5 Mr. Shaun O’ Sullivan

Photo Source: Facebook

Co-founder & Brewmaster, 21st Amendment

San Francisco, CA

Personal Twitter: @ShaunOSullivan

__________________________________

#4 Mr. Jamie Floyd

Photo Source: Facebook

Co-founder & Brewmaster, Ninkasi Brewing Co.

Eugene, OR

__________________________________

#3 Mr. Dustin Kral

Photo Source: Facebook

Head Brewer, Firestone Walker

Paso Robles, CA

__________________________________

#2 Mr.  Adam Avery

Photo Credit: Imbibe Magazine

Founder & Brewmaster, Avery Brewing Co.

Boulder, CO

__________________________________

And this year’s Most Eligible Bachelor of Craft Beer crown goes to….

MR. CRAFT BEER 2012

Colin Presby

Photo Source: Weyerbacher

Cellerman, Weyerbacher Brewing Co.

Easton, PA

Possesing one of the less glamorous positions in the industry, Colin’s duties include (but are not limited to) bottling, kegging, machine operator and mechanic, transferring of brews, cleaning crew, quality control, and helping out as a sales rep which includes bar events, beerfests, and liquor store tastings — all of which he does with ease, pride and joy.

Photo Source: Weyerbacher

(And meet Peggy: the three legged goat he helped rescue!)

__________________________________

Well folks, that wraps up this year’s Bachelors of Craft Beer Competition! As you can see, we had quite a number of upsets — only eight men from the previous year made it to the top 20 this time around. The craft beer industry is ever evolving and this list will most likely continue to evolve with it. If we missed your favorite beer fella this year, make sure to leave a comment below, or send me an email to routson@gmail.com, so we can put him on our radar for next year.

Lastly, congrats to all the men that made this list. Although it was fun to objectify these lovely gentlemen, the overarching goal was to give credit where credit was do and promote some of the most talented and amiable men of craft beer in a fun and playful way.