When Andrew Estabrooks of Foghorn Brewing first got wind that he was up for the brewer of the year at the Brewer’s Journal Canadian Brewer’s Choice Awards in early December, it was a welcome surprise.
“It happened fast,” Estabrooks says. “I just got an email sort of hinting ‘we strongly recommend that you come to the workshop.’ It was the first time I’d heard about it. [I only had] two weeks to get tickets and get there.”
Two weeks later, ‘Esty’ as he’s known, was at the awards ceremony in Toronto’s Old Flame Brewing Company in the Distillery Historic District, receiving an award for his outstanding achievement on the Canadian brewing scene.
“He has proven not only to be an exceptional brewer, but he also has an incredible sense of humour, making everyone feel welcome and included,” says Richard Piotrowski, publisher and Canada bureau chief of Brewers Journal.
“In a nutshell, Andrew is a compassionate leader, a devoted family man, a clever jerry-rigger, a tireless workhorse, and a true craftsman in the brewhouse, as referenced by friends, colleagues, partners – and has created quite a strong impression on all of us. “
The Brewer of the Year is awarded by a panel of judges in the brewing profession, from both inside Canada and the UK.
“We think that it’s important to get a perspective from professionals outside Canada as well,” Piotrowski says.
“To be nominated is a big deal because there were some amazing brewers in that category,” Estabrooks says. “Everybody in our industry works so hard… nobody does this because they expect to retire in a mansion somewhere. It’s very passion-driven.”
He says the ceremony was a great opportunity to meet fellow brewers and the judges who had a wealth of industry knowledge, including one who worked for Fuller’s in England.
“It was a great honour. An opportunity to lift each other up and showcase craft beer.”
With an almost 20-year career in New Brunswick’s brewing scene, Estabrooks has expertise of his own to share with other brewers.
“Andrew has worked for, consulted for, or trained the best and most decorated breweries in New Brunswick over the course of his career before risking it all to open one of his own, which is six years strong this year,” says Piotrowski.
“His passion and craft has proven to be remarkable. If you’ve had a craft beer in New Brunswick in the last 20 years, the odds are better than good that Andrew had a part to play in it.”
Starting in university Estabrooks used to work at Picaroons in Fredericton using the ‘old crazy bottling machine’, just things were getting started in the brewing scene there.
After taking a bit of time to travel, he was back at Picaroons, washing kegs, making boxes, and cutting his teeth in brewing. He also spent time helping out with the brewing community around Fredericton, up in Edmundston, and across the province as it grew.
At one point, he even headed down to Portland Maine to hang out with the crew at Shipyard, which had “a really big, opening fermentation style English brewery that taught a wave of people on the Eastern Seaboard how to brew.”
Around 2013, he decided to take it to the next level, getting a formal education in brewing in Madison, Wisconsin.
The decision to strike out on his own, partnering with Steve Russell to create Foghorn, which at the time was the only craft brewery in Rothesay, was a risky one – but it’s paid off. Six years later there’s a taproom in Rothesay, a production facility in Quispamsis, and half a decade of memories, including helping to grow the local craft beer scene in the Kennebecasis Valley.
“I love everything about beer culture, brewing culture. This taproom has created friendships, some of which would never existed outside of this place,” he says. “Beer is that social elixir that gives people a chance to sit down, put their phones down, connect with people. And I love the craft beer creates that.”
Alex Graham is a reporter with Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
