Brewers

All the Hopworks brewers are graduates of the prestigious American Brewers Guild

Christian Ettinger – Brewmaster

Christian’s brewing career began in 1992 in his parents’ kitchen during his first summer break from the University of Oregon School of Business. He quickly fell in love with the brewing art and after a semester abroad in Cologne, Germany, the home of Kölsch style beer, Christian saw an opportunity to combine German brewing traditions with bold Northwest beer flavors. As of 1995, he was the only student in University of Oregon history to receive five college credits for making beer as a brewery intern and a paid brewing position with Eugene City Brewery followed closely after graduation. Christian ventured to Davis, California to complete the Intensive Brewing Science and Engineering course from the American Brewers Guild. In 2004, while at Laurelwood Pub and Brewery, Christian was awarded the World Beer Cup Champion Brewmaster Award. Brandie, Christian’s wife of 14 years, Julian (6) and Evelyn (3) complete the family and make it all worthwhile. Traveling, cycling, snowboarding and hiking are the means to the perfect pint.

Tom Bleigh – Head Brewer

Thomas Bleigh started his career at Portland Brewing Company as an un-paid intern.   Prior to joining Hopworks, he held the positions of Brewer, Lead Brewer, Lead Cellar Operator, Head Brewer and Plant Manager at Portland Brewing, Pyramid Breweries, Independent Brewer’s United and North American Breweries. In 2008, he was recognized, along with Pyramid Breweries as Mid Size Brewer/Brewery of the Year at GABF.
He is a graduate from UC Davis and UW-Madison with an MFA in Fine Arts. Born in Augsburg, Germany, he has an appreciation for beer appellation and the “drink local” mentality. When not spending time with his two young children, or playing soccer, he can be found spending his time pursuing charcuterie or fermenting various meats, cheese, fruits or vegetables.

Jaime “Ocho” Rodriguez

Jaime was born and raised in Nebraska.  He’s brewed at Steelhead in Eugene and Max’s Fanno Creek in Tigard.  He came to work at HUB after a chance meeting at the Lucky Lab’s Barleywine & Big Beer Fest in 2008.  He enjoys camping and VW’s.

Matthew Speckenbach

Matthew Speckenbach, better known simply as “Speck”, was born and raised in Long Island, NY.  He went to college in Pennsylvania where he competed on the fencing team, before leaving the east coast to follow the beer to Portland, OR.  He enjoys live music, drinking and homebrewing beer.

Mike Neubauer

Mike began home brewing with his roommate Pete in B’ham, WA while attending WWU.  After graduation, Pete went to S.Korea while Mike went to Oregon in search of a job…in brewing!  He landed a gig in Newport working the packaging line at Rogue Nation.  Shortly after that, he received a phone call from the Pelican Pub and Brewery to interview for a job in the cellar.  Well…he got the job, and from there his immersion in the craft beer industry truly began.  He stayed at the Pelican for a little under three years working his way into an assistant brewing position.  During that time, he completed the American Brewers Guild course and was part of the Pelican brewing team that won the Large Brewpub of the Year at World Beer Cup (2008).

Amelia Pillow

Amelia went to Bennington College in Vermont where she met William Ryan Nestor, a Vermont native, and who introduced her to craft beer and gave her her first copy of the Joy of Homebrewing.  Together they formed the school’s first homebrew club and, for a short period, convinced the school to let them use the campus kitchen to make their beers and to pay for the ingredients.  She’s been in love with brewing ever since.  After graduation and a couple of years in New York, Amelia realized that she wasn’t cut out for a desk job or the big city.  She longed for work that was physically and mentally challenging, creative and yielded a concrete result at the end of the day.  She came up with a crazy plan to move to Portland and become a brewer.  After a short time she got a job at a start-up brewpub in the SE.  Taking every opportunity to prove her dedication, Amelia went from serving at Hopworks to office manager, bookkeeper, floor manager and finally landed in the brewery. She’s now gotten her Guild certification and is an Asst. Brewer, and is grateful to work in a place where hard work, (and some shameless self-promotion), pays off.

Trever Bass

Trever began home brewing in Flagstaff, Arizona over a decade ago. At some point he was bitten by the beer bug and, at the helpful encouragement of his wife, decided on a career change. He interned at Flagstaff Brewing Company and fell in love with the beer business. While in Flag, Trever brewed at the award-winning Beaver Street Brewery and The Lumberyard Brewing Co. for a few years before moving to Portland and settling right in. When he is not brewing, drinking beer or thinking about beer, he enjoys fly fishing, charcuterie and riding his bicycle.

Walker Pruett

After a few years as a financial analyst in NYC, Walker realized that was not what he wanted to do with his life. One day while homebrewing he had a revelation: “People do this for a living…” He spent the next year getting certified as a Beer Judge, brewing tons of beer at home and reading every brewing book he could get his hands on. Walker arrived in Portland in 2009 and got a job as Assistant Brewer at the Old Market Pub & Brewery. In the spring of 2011 he completed the American Brewers Guild program & joined up with Hopworks where he is excited to help produce some of Portland’s best beer. Outside the beer world you’ll find Walker hiking, skiing, camping and visiting his hometown of Steamboat Springs, Colorado.