Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

  • Home
  • About
  • Editorial
  • Birthdays
  • Art & Beer

Socialize

  • Dribbble
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Powered by Genesis

You are here: Home / Birthdays / Beer Birthday: Dan Gordon

Beer Birthday: Dan Gordon

September 13, 2025 By Jay Brooks 11 Comments

gordon-b
Today is the 65th birthday of Dan Gordon, co-founder of Gordon Biersch Brewing, which began in San Jose, California. Dan studied brewing in Germany and was the first American to graduate from Wissenschaftszentrum Weihenstephan with a brewing degree. His brewpub chain was one of the first to really focus on lagers, and especially German-style beers. Dan has gotten to be a good friend over the years and he’s also a terrific jazz trombonist! Join me in wishing Dan a very happy birthday.

During a visit to the brewery a few years ago.
gb-dunkle-dan
At the Celebrator tasting us his newest beer, an unfiltered Dunkelweizen.
dan-gordon
Dan at yet another private Dunelweizen tasting.
gordon-biersch-early
I love this early promotional shot they use on Gordon Biersch’s website.
Untitled
Dan Talking to my SSU class a few years back.

Filed Under: Birthdays Tagged With: California, Northern California, San Jose



Comments

  1. thedarkside says

    September 13, 2010 at 11:26 am

    Happy Birthday, The Dan!!! Looking forward to your next visit to the Brewing Network’s studio “D”.

    P.S. how about a Gordon Biersch in New England?

    Reply
  2. Greg Warwick says

    September 13, 2010 at 12:21 pm

    Hey Dan,
    Happy Birthday! Thanks for all the tremendous support that you and Gordon Biersch provide to University events in the SF Bay Area. I know that you were a Berkeley grad, but you’ve been very generous to Stanford, as well. Hope you have a fantastic 50th!
    Cheers,
    Greg Warwick

    Reply
  3. Mike Pierce says

    September 14, 2010 at 10:16 am

    Dan Gordon – one of the giants of the craft brew industry and among the most eloquent and interesting people in any industry – a true Renaissance Man. He also makes some damn tasty lagers!
    Happy 50th buddy!

    Reply
  4. Joe Petras says

    September 15, 2010 at 12:30 pm

    Happy Birthday Dan !
    You motivated me over decade ago, which led me to purchase defunct
    brewery and start brewing Czech/German lagers.
    Thanks again and enjoy life in Beer World!!!

    Reply
  5. Kim and Harry says

    September 13, 2011 at 11:20 am

    Hi Dan,

    We’re going to the SJ GB tonight to help support the autism cause. Maybe we’ll see you there.

    Kim and Harry

    Reply
  6. TheDarkSide says

    September 13, 2011 at 11:22 am

    Happy Birthday to The Dan!!

    Reply
  7. Adam says

    September 13, 2011 at 11:58 am

    I stopped drinking Gordon Biersch after they strong-armed Oskar Blues. There’s enough great beer out there not to support jackass corporate “business” practices. Too bad because I like Dan.

    Reply
  8. Mr. Nuts says

    September 13, 2011 at 2:34 pm

    Happy Birthday, Big Dan. You and Dean are both class acts. And your San Jose brewery tour rocks!

    Reply
  9. TheDarkSide says

    September 13, 2012 at 11:21 am

    3 years in a row….hell why not?!?!

    Happy Birthday Dan!! ( Still waiting for GB in New England 🙂 )

    Reply
  10. beerman49 says

    September 15, 2013 at 12:16 am

    I hope he’s having a good chuckle over the fact that the GB site on SF’s Embarcadero that a greedy landlord forced them to vacate last yr is still empty (passed it twice mid-late Aug on the light rail on my way to Giant games).

    Reply
  11. Kim and Harry Graham says

    September 14, 2015 at 4:26 pm

    Just at the GB downtown, had a great time. Happy beerday!!!

    Reply

Leave a Reply to thedarkside Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Find Something

Northern California Breweries

Please consider purchasing my latest book, California Breweries North, available from Amazon, or ask for it at your local bookstore.

Recent Comments

  • Steve "Pudgy" De Rose on Beer Birthday: Pete Slosberg
  • Paul Finch on Beer Birthday: Dann Paquette
  • Steve 'Pudgy' De Rose on Historic Beer Birthday: Louis Hudepohl
  • Steve 'Pudgy' De Rose on Historic Beer Birthday: Sharon Vaughn
  • Paul Gatza on Beer Birthday: Paul Gatza

Recent Posts

  • Beer Birthday: Will Kemper September 15, 2025
  • Historic Beer Birthday: John H. Meyer September 15, 2025
  • Beer Birthday: Lars Larson September 15, 2025
  • Beer In Ads #5078: Cal’s Going!! Going!! September 14, 2025
  • Beer Birthday: Steve McDaniel September 14, 2025

BBB Archives

Feedback

Head Quarter
This site is hosted and maintained by H25Q.dev. Any questions or comments for the webmaster can be directed here.
Go to mobile version