ALPINE, WY — First there was the great beer, then there were the medals and awards, the successful opening of the new production facility and the expanded distribution. Now, Melvin Brewing continues its upward trajectory with the addition of beer industry expert Steve Breezley to its board of directors.
Steve works as an independent brewing and management consultant with more than 20 years of experience at notable breweries including Jackson’s Snake River Brewing Company and Boulder’s Avery Brewing Company.
Like most brewers, Steve spent more time home brewing than studying during college, but he still managed to graduate from the University of Montana with a degree in geology (albeit now a very dusty one). He started his commercial brewing career at Oregon’s Saxer Brewing Company in 1995 before returning to school in 1996 — this time to attend the Masters Brewers program at the University of California, Davis.
Steve successfully passed the Institute of Beer exam and joined Snake River as a brewer, also pursuing his love of climbing and skiing. He later ran a small production brewery in Bozeman, Mont., and in 2001 moved to Boulder to run operations at Avery. During his 14-plus-year tenure at Avery, Steve held many titles, culminating as the Chief Operating Officer.
Steve’s lasting contribution to Snake River is McBreezley’s Brown, a North American Brewers Fest bronze medal winner modeled after a dark, chocolately, hoppy ale Steve’s great, great grandfather “fictionally” brewed a century ago in Scotland.
As the newest member of Melvin’s Board of Directors, Steve is eager to help great people make great beers. Of course, he hopes its beers continue to win the awards they deserve, but he also is very focused on helping Melvin plan for their future growth and expansions, knowing the challenges and potential pitfalls ahead from his own experiences
Steve is looking forward to enjoying Melvin’s beers and while he doesn’t like to pick favorites, he always makes sure his wife has some Hubert’s in the fridge, and he actively searches out the Colorado locations pouring Brosaic.
Melvin Brewing was founded in 2009 by Jeremy Tofte and Kirk McHale to fulfill their need to drink the biggest, most exciting West-Coast Style IPAs in Jackson, Wyo. Experimenting on a 30-gallon, then 3-barrel brew house system, they developed the Melvin IPA and 2×4 Imperial IPA, which went on to win gold medals at the 2012 Great American Beer Festival, back-to-back Alpha King awards in 2012 and 2013, and a Gold Medal at the World Beer Cup. On the strength of these and other beer brands, Melvin Brewing was awarded the 2015 Small Brew Pub and Small Brew Pub Brewer of the year.
Melvin brewing now has more than 40 amazing beer recipes to its name, expanding its portfolio of hoppy beers and other styles with brands such as ChChCh-Cherry Bomb (Fruit Beer), Killer Bees (Honey Ale), Coffee Ruckus (Coffee Imperial Stout), Wu’Wit (Belgian Wit), Hey Zeus! (Mexican Lager).
In the fourth quarter of 2015, Melvin Brewing opened its production facility in Alpine, Wyo., brewing out of a new 30-barrel brew house. Kirk will keep manning the 3-barrel system in the back of Jackson’s Thai Me Up Restaurant, where it all began, and will continue creating some of the most exciting beers on the market today.