Brew in hop country with the founders ofBale Breaker, Brujos, Breakside, Russian River, and more

Brew With

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  Kevin Smith + Kevin Quinn

  Brewmaster Kevin Smith started his brewing career on the other side of the Cascade Range, in Seattle, before returning to the family farm and joining with his sister and brother-in-law to launch the brewery. Through Bale Breaker, he’s been able to showcase a hop-forward identity that embraces the crop that he grew up with.

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  Sam Zermeño

  Based in Portland, Oregon, Sam Zermeño is the brewer behind Brujos—a nomadic brand that’s given him the opportunity to make some intensely flavored, highly regarded beers with friends and favorite brewers from around the country. Yet behind the acclaim and heavy-metal imagery is a mind of real technical know-how and experience. Previously an R&D brewer at Portland’s Great Notion, his accomplishment there include a GABF gold medal last year for their Feniks grodziskie. Nor was that his first GABF gold; in 2018, he won for a hazy double IPA brewed while at Black Market in Temecula, California. Now, Zermeño is embarking on the next phase of Brujos, taking over a now-closed brewhouse that he’s transforming into a dark church worthy of the heavy brand.

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  Vinnie + Natalie Cilurzo

  Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo are the founders of Russian River Brewing Company in Santa Rosa and Windsor, California. The brewing industry power couple are two of the most respected in the world of craft beer. Their downtown Santa Rosa brewpub has been a legendary destination for craft beer fans for many, many years, and the production brewery in Windsor, California is the culmination of decades of experience plus a desire to build their dream brewery. In 2008 Vinnie was honored with the Brewers Association Russell Schehrer Award for Innovation in Brewing and in 2017 Vinnie and Natalie were honored with the Brewers Association Recognition Award. Natalie was the keynote speaker at the 2022 Craft Brewer’s Conference in Minneapolis.

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  Ben Edmunds

  Ben is the brewmaster at Breakside Brewery in Portland, Oregon, where he oversees the company's production brewery and two pub breweries. As founding brewer of Breakside, he helped grow the company from a small brewpub into a successful 30,000 barrel regional brewery. Under Ben's leadership, Breakside has won many medals at national and international competitions, including 8 World Beer Cup awards and 22 Great American Beer Festival medals since 2011, as well as six Brewery of the Year honors at the Oregon Beer Awards.

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  Neil Fisher

  Neil began homebrewing with friends at his home in 2009, and over the next few years, a full roster of nearly 2 dozen different colorful characters would come around once a month to brew, learn and enjoy one another’s company. Fast forward a few years to the 2014 Big Beers, Belgians, and Barleywines festival, held at the time in Vail, CO, which is home to one of the nation’s best homebrew competitions. A soft agreement was made in advance that if Neil was able to bring home a medal at this prestigious competition, he would consider opening a brewery. Well, as it happened, he didn’t win a medal – he won two. That informal agreement quickly turned into a business plan, and 11 months later, the first beers were poured at WeldWerks Brewing in Greeley, CO.

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  Whitney Burnside

  Whitney came to brewing through food and fermentation, as her degree in culinary arts from Johnson & Wales led her first to cheesemaking then to brewing at Portland’s Laurelwood. She’s brewed at some of the most influential breweries in the Pacific Northwest—Upright, Elysian, and Pelican—and rose to head brewer at Pelican before joining 10 Barrel as brewmaster for their Portland pub. Now, she and husband Doug Adams—a Top Chef: Boston finalist, Eater PDX Chef of the Year, and James Beard semifinalist—have joined forces with Grand Fir, and the medals have kept on coming with six GABF medals, three World Beer Cup medals, Oregon Beer Awards Small Brewery of the Year, and more, over the past three years.

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  Kelsey McNair

  Kelsey McNair is the Founder and Head Brewer of North Park Beer Company in San Diego, California. Kelsey began his brewing adventure in 2004 as a homebrewer armed with inspiration, an affinity for hops, and a Mr. Beer kit. After brewing a single batch, Kelsey found himself completely hooked on the magic that is brewing beer, and it wasn't long before his garage was transformed into what might as well have been a pilot brewery decked out with stainless steel tanks. In the years following, his West Coast IPA, Hop-Fu!, became one of the most award-winning homebrews in history, fueling a desire to take his beers to the next level. Kelsey took the leap and left a 16-year-long career in the video games industry to open North Park Beer Company with his wife Amanda in the heart of San Diego's North Park. Since opening in 2016, NPBC has earned numerous awards in major beer competitions, including Gold and Silver at the World Beer Cup and a Bronze at GABF for its flagship Hop-Fu! IPA and Brewer and Brewery of the Year at GABF in 2022. In addition to its brewery headquarters, NPBC operates two satellite locations in San Diego, including a Taproom and Kitchen in the Bankers Hill area and a recently opened Pizza Shop in Crown Point.

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  Zach Turner

  Before cofounding Single Hill Brewing, Zach Turner honed his skills at Odell Brewing and worked closely with growers while at Yakima Chief Hops. Today, he uses that background to brew expressive, hop-forward beers right in the heart of Washington hop country. Single Hill is a hub for the Yakima community and hop industry throughout the year but it really comes alive during harvest. Zach and his team head to nearby fields to collect freshly picked hops, rushing wet cones straight to their mash tun-turned-hopback and pelletizing kilned whole cones themselves to capture the freshest flavors possible. Single Hill’s collaborative, community-focused approach has brought consistent recognition—including being named Washington Brewery of the Year, alongside medals at GABF, the World Beer Cup, and the Fresh Hop Ale Fest.

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  Chris Baum

  Varietal Beer has become known around the world for their hop-driven beers and deep roots in the US hop growing community. Since 2018, Chris Baum and his team have been focused on showcasing the hard work of the local farmers and hop processors, many of whom are regular customers in Varietal’s taproom. Chris’s “Sup Cuz? IPA” and Twine Climber IPA are local favorites among growers and highlight their connection to the Yakima Valley’s farms. Varietal’s IPAs and Fresh Hop beers have won various awards, from GABF, WA Beer Awards, Best of Craft, Best of the West Coast, Fresh Hop Ale Fest and most recently at Japan Brewers Cup.

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  Henry & Adriana Nguyen

  After pursuing a PhD in Early Christianity and homebrewing mostly Belgian-style beers, Henry and his wife, Adriana, started Monkish in Los Angeles, where they were born and raised. The brewery initially focused solely on Belgian-style and mixed-fermentation beers — and the occasional spontaneous fermented beers, which are a challenge given the Southern Californian warm climate. As a yeast-driven brewery, Henry has expanded the brewery’s scope to include hoppy beers (i.e. IPAs) that are more focused on yeast character than simply hops. And with their affinity for monastic brewing traditions, Henry and Adriana embrace the spiritual and metaphysical dimensions of brewing, and their brewery remains nimble and intentional in creating meaning through beer.

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  Sean Lawson

  Lawson’s Finest has earned critical acclaim and an enthusiastic fan following. Sean started the 1bbl nano-brewery with his wife Karen in 2008 after 20 years of home brewing. His specialty maple beers & IPA’s have garnered awards at the World Beer Cup, Great American Beer Festival, and at two National IPA championships (2011 – Triple Play IPA and 2016- Super Session #2). Lawson’s Finest grew to a 7bbl system in 2011 in a small sugarhouse style shed next to their home. In 2018 Sean and Karen opened the Waitsfield brewery, taproom and retail store.

Itinerary

1. DAY 1 (AUG 23, 2026)

   • 4:00pm: Hotel check-in at the hotel
   • 5:00pm – 6:00pm: Welcome Happy Hour
   • 6:00pm: Dinner
   • 8:00pm – 11:00pm: Bottle share at Single Hill Brewing

2. DAY 2 (AUG 24, 2026)

   • 6:30am - 8:45am: Breakfast
   • 9:30am – 11:30am: Panels + Seminars
   • 11:30am – 4:00pm: Brewing session at Bale Breaker
   • 12:30pm: Lunch
   • 6:00pm - 8:00pm: Dinner
   • 5:00pm: Tours
   • 6:00pm - 8:00pm Dinner

3. DAY 3 (AUG 25, 2026)

   • 6:30am - 9:00am: Breakfast
   • 10:15am – 11:45am: Brewing Seminars
   • 12:00pm: Lunch
   • 12:45am – 4:30pm: Brewing session at Bale Breaker
   • 5:30pm: Farm to Table Pairing Dinner at Bale Breaker, With Special Beers From Each Master Brewer
   • 8:00pm – 11:00pm: Bottle share at Single Hill Brewing

4. DAY 4 (AUG 26, 2026)

   • 6:30am - 9:00am: Breakfast
   • 11:00am: Checkout

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