Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Brewmaster transition at Manzanita Brewing
Original brewmaster's return to IT paves way for next generation
They say passion is the secret ingredient in any good consumable. While genuine affinity doesn’t guarantee success in the fermentation arts, I have found that brewers without passion are at a severe disadvantage when attempting to produce exceptional beer. Brewing is a grind of a job that requires a thirst for knowledge as well as ale. Often, it’s ardor for the craft that keeps the flame of enthusiasm burning long after a brewer’s energy has been zapped by back-to-back-to-back-to-back brew sessions. Like any job, passion or not, people in the profession run the risk of getting burned out.
Garry Pittman, the original brewmaster at Manzanita Brewing Company (10151 Prospect Avenue, Santee) recently succumbed to such a fate, stating he’d lost his passion for the brewing industry. Rather than go through the motions, he opted to leave the brewery he opened and helped to quickly advance over the last three years, and return to his information technology roots.
But this change of course didn’t involve any blind-siding. Manzanita was able to make a smooth and lengthy transition, promoting head brewer, Matt Patterson, to brewmaster. Patterson came to Manzanita as a walk-on volunteer in January 2011. At that time, he was also working as a member of the production team at The Bruery in Placentia, California. That required him to be in Orange County during the week and travel to Santee for weekend work with Pittman and company.
After eight months of double duty, Manzanita offered Patterson a full-time job, which he accepted. From there, he became primarily responsible for keeping the company’s original brewery churning out beer while Pittman focused on construction of Manzanita’s current, larger brewery. Now that everything has transitioned into the current brewery, he is up to speed and has made a rather seamless transition, as proven by the fact that very few knew that anything had changed.
*UPDATE: After this article was posted, both Garry Pittman and several of his colleagues from Manzanita Brewing Company contacted me to refute information that had previously been provided from within the organization, and I am happy to report that Pittman states he has not lost his passion for brewing or the craft beer industry. While it is true that he has parted ways with Manzanita and returned to his previous profession, he did not leave because of burn out. In fact, he returns to the brewery with great frequency and, according to both parties, "is still very much a part of the Manzanita family."*
Here's something you might be interested in.
Brewmaster transition at Manzanita Brewing
Original brewmaster's return to IT paves way for next generation
Brewmaster transition at Manzanita Brewing
Original brewmaster's return to IT paves way for next generation
They say passion is the secret ingredient in any good consumable. While genuine affinity doesn’t guarantee success in the fermentation arts, I have found that brewers without passion are at a severe disadvantage when attempting to produce exceptional beer. Brewing is a grind of a job that requires a thirst for knowledge as well as ale. Often, it’s ardor for the craft that keeps the flame of enthusiasm burning long after a brewer’s energy has been zapped by back-to-back-to-back-to-back brew sessions. Like any job, passion or not, people in the profession run the risk of getting burned out.
Garry Pittman, the original brewmaster at Manzanita Brewing Company (10151 Prospect Avenue, Santee) recently succumbed to such a fate, stating he’d lost his passion for the brewing industry. Rather than go through the motions, he opted to leave the brewery he opened and helped to quickly advance over the last three years, and return to his information technology roots.
But this change of course didn’t involve any blind-siding. Manzanita was able to make a smooth and lengthy transition, promoting head brewer, Matt Patterson, to brewmaster. Patterson came to Manzanita as a walk-on volunteer in January 2011. At that time, he was also working as a member of the production team at The Bruery in Placentia, California. That required him to be in Orange County during the week and travel to Santee for weekend work with Pittman and company.
After eight months of double duty, Manzanita offered Patterson a full-time job, which he accepted. From there, he became primarily responsible for keeping the company’s original brewery churning out beer while Pittman focused on construction of Manzanita’s current, larger brewery. Now that everything has transitioned into the current brewery, he is up to speed and has made a rather seamless transition, as proven by the fact that very few knew that anything had changed.
*UPDATE: After this article was posted, both Garry Pittman and several of his colleagues from Manzanita Brewing Company contacted me to refute information that had previously been provided from within the organization, and I am happy to report that Pittman states he has not lost his passion for brewing or the craft beer industry. While it is true that he has parted ways with Manzanita and returned to his previous profession, he did not leave because of burn out. In fact, he returns to the brewery with great frequency and, according to both parties, "is still very much a part of the Manzanita family."*
Comments