Historic Beer Birthday: Adolph Joseph Zang

August 14, 2026 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of Adolph Joseph Zang (August 14, 1856-September 28, 1916). He was born in Louisiana, Kentucky, and was the son of Philip Zang, who founded a brewery in Louisville, Kentucky, before moving west in 1859 to Denver, Colorado, where he founded the Philip Zang Brewing Co. that same year. It was the oldest brewery in Colorado. Adolph worked at the brewery and eventually became its president after his father retired in 1889.

This is his short biography from Find-a-Grave:

Brewery magnate for the Zang Brewing Company, the oldest brewing company in Colorado. He was son of company founder Philip Zang. He commissioned the construction of two buildings within in Denver that are now historic landmarks; the Zang House and the Zang Mansion.

And here’s another obituary from his local newspaper:

The blog, Dead in Denver, has a nice biography of Adolph, and so does the Zang Mansion website.

Historic Beer Birthday: William K. “Bill” Coors

August 11, 2026 By Jay Brooks 2 Comments

Today is the birthday of William Kistler “Bill” Coors (August 11, 1916-October 13, 2018). Bill Coors was born in Golden, Colorado, and is the grandson of Adolph Coors, who founded the Coors Brewing Company in 1873. He worked for the family business all his life, and ran the brewery from 1961–2003.

Here’s a short description of Coors from the Leadership Initiative of the Harvard Business School:

Under Coors’ leadership, the brewery underwent a period of massive growth. Though it was a regional brewery, it held the top market share in 10 of the 11 western states in which its product was distributed, becoming the 4th largest brewer in the United States in the mid-1970s. Despite several union confrontations and product boycotts as a result of Coors’ political opinions, Coors took the firm public and established a national presence for its products.

And this is from the Academy of Achievement in Washington, D.C.:

From 1961 to 2003, William K. Coors served as Chairman of the Adolph Coors Company of Golden, Colorado. The grandson of brewery founder Adolph Coors, he joined the family firm in 1939, where he pioneered the development of the recyclable aluminum can. He assumed the chairmanship and presidency of the Coors Company in 1961, shortly after his older brother, Adolph Coors III, was murdered in a bungled kidnapping attempt. Rising above this senseless tragedy, William Coors led the company through an unprecedented period of expansion, one that ultimately transformed a little known local brewery into the nation’s third largest, a massive, vertically integrated business that included Coors Transportation, Coors Container (the largest single can plant in the world) and the Coors Food Products Company. He led the way in making the Coors Company energy self-sufficient, and expanded the company’s program of aluminum recycling, at one point recovering and recycling as much as 85 percent of its cans, while handling a third of the nation’s recycled aluminum. Even after retiring from the Board of Directors in 2003, he remained active in the company, working well into his 90s as a senior technical adviser.

William Coors on March 12, 1976, by photographer Bill Johnson.

The Adolph Coors Company Board of Directors posing together at the dedication of the new headhouse at the brewery in Golden, Col., on April 16, 1952. Three men are standing and three men are seated on top of the headhouse. Standing in back left to right are brothers, William K. Coors, Joseph Coors, and Adolph Coors III. Seated in front left to right are brothers Grover Coors, Herman Coors, and Adolph Coors II (from the Golden History Museum).

And here’s a short video about Bill Coors, from his induction into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame in 1996.

Beer Birthday: Chuck Skypeck

August 10, 2026 By Jay Brooks 3 Comments

Today is Chuck Skypeck’s 72nd birthday. Chuck was a founder of Bosco’s, a brewpub which has three locations in Tennessee and Arkansas, and also Ghost River Brewing. I met Chuck at BA functions many years ago and he’s always been one of the warmest, most genuine people I know. A few years ago, he joined the Brewers Association staff as Technical Brewing Projects Coordinator, and a few years ago we judged together in Melbourne, Australia, at the Australian International Beer Awards. Join me in wishing Chuck a very happy birthday.

Fred Scheer, Charlie Papazian, Chuck Skypeck, and Ray Daniels at GABF 2002.

Chuck and me at the Craft Brewers Conference in Seattle in 2006.

Chuck, me and a few others judging a couple of years ago in Melbourne at the Australian International Beer Awards.

Ray Daniels and Chuck Skypeck relaxing at a well-used table at the Wynkoop during the opening brewer’s reception for GABF when it was still just upstairs in 2002.

Beer Birthday: Paul Gatza

July 25, 2026 By Jay Brooks

Today is also Paul Gatza’s 62nd birthday. Paul was the Director of the Brewers Association in Boulder, Colorado until recently. He’s held numerous executive positions with the BA and its previous incarnation, the Association of Brewers. An avid homebrewer, Paul was great face for the BA and a terrific person, and I hope he’s enjpoying retirement immensely. Join me in wishing Paul a very happy birthday.

At the podium during the opening of CBC in 2008.

Paul giving his annual state of the industry talk at CBC in 2012.

Historic Beer Birthday: Charles von Buddenbrock

June 27, 2026 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of Charles Arthur von Buddenbrock (June 27, 1878-1948). He was born in Marianwewrder, Germany and served in the Germany army during World War I. He was taken prisoner and brought to an interment camp in Colorado. After his release when the war ended, he decided to stay in Colorado and worked for the Schneider Brewery in Trinidad, Colorado for over 35 years. In 1920 he was listed as the Chief Engineer, but that would have been only shortly after he started working there. I’m not sure about the math, since he died in 1948 and the war ended in 1918. Also known as the Ph. Schneider Brewing Co., it survived prohibition by obtaining a license to brew non-alcoholic beverages, and later received brewery permit COL-U-1001 in 1933, the first in the state to get back to making beer. After prohibition ended, it went through a few owners, and name changes, before closing for good in 1957 as the Bohemian Brewery of Colorado.

Century-Beer-Tip-Trays-3-6-inches-Ph-Schneider-Brewing-Co--Pre-Prohibition

Beer Birthday: John Bryant

June 14, 2026 By Jay Brooks

Today is my friend John Bryant’s 59th birthday. I first met John when he was with Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon. Several years ago he migrated to Odell Brewing in Fort Collins to work his magic on them, and then a few years ago he joined Dale at Oskar Blues. He then left Oskar Blues and disappeared for a time, finally re-emerging in Spokane, Washington as the owner of No-Li Brewing. Join me in wishing John a very happy birthday.

At the Brewer’s Reception before GABF in 2006. From left: John and his wife Cindy, Banjo (Real Beer) and Tom McCormick (California Craft Brewers Association).

Tom Dalldorf, Jim Cline (from Rogue) and John at Wynkoop in 2005.

John, with Ray Daniels, then with the Brewers Association, who celebrated his own birthday last week.

John and me during a visit to the brewery in 2007, when we were in Colorado for my cousin’s wedding.

Historic Beer Birthday: Charles Voegtle

June 7, 2026 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of Charles Voegtle (June 7, 1841-September 27, 1914). He was born in Rothwell, Germany, and emigrated to the U.S. just as the Civil War was ending, in 1865, initially settling in Illinois. He started work in a brewery there and was promoted to foreman after five years. In 1869, he married Johanna Weisenhorn, herself a German immigrant who arrived through New Orleans in 1857 with her family and also settled in Adams County, Illinois.

The couple later moved to Boulder, Colorado, where Voegtle would co-found the Crystal Springs Brewing & Ice Co. with his brother-in-law, Frank Sales Weisenhorn in 1875.

The Crystal Springs Brewing & Ice Co. sometime between 1879-1907.

Here’s Tavern Trove picks up the story:

Voegtle’s brother-in-law, Frank Sales Weisenhorn, was the son of a well-to-do farmer and saloon operator. In 1873, Franks’s younger brother August moved his family and business out to Montana, where he quickly found success making wagons for miners who had plenty of gold and nothing to purchase.
Frank decided he might try his own luck in a boomtown, and in 1876 he persuaded his brother-in-law Charles Voegtle to pack up their families and move west to Boulder, Colorado. There they purchased the Crystal Springs Brewery from Keller & Zuelfehofer. Frank’s father had likely provided the funding, and Charles provided the skill, as the firm was christened with Frank’s name first, “Weisenhorn & Voegtle.” Their brewhouse was situated on the picturesque Boulder Creek, near where the Boulder County Library is today. The creek was both the source of the water used to cool the brewing beer and the source of the gold that fed the quickly growing town.
Weisenhorn and Voegtle ran the brewery as partners for eleven years, after which Voegtle sold his partnership to Weisenhorn. At age 45, Voegtle retired from the rough and tumble occupation of a brewer in a mining town. He, Johanna, and their children moved away from the rowdy brewhouse to a then-rural plot of land under the shadow of the Flatirons. There they grew flowers and sold fruit.

Sketch of the old Crystal Springs Brewing property by Joseph Bevier Sturtevant.

After Voegtle left the brewery, it went through several different owners and configurations of owners before closing for good due to prohibition in 1911. He died September 27th, 1917, at the age of 76 years.

A Crystal Springs Brewing Ice Wagon in 1901.

Beer Birthday: Julia Herz

May 31, 2026 By Jay Brooks

Today is the 58th birthday of Julia Herz, who until the pandemic was the craft beer program director for the Brewers Association, but more recently was named executive director of the American Homebrewers Association, which is now independent of the Brewers Association. She worked for big media like CNN before turning her attention to craft beer in 2007, when she joined the organization. Julia was an awesome addition to the BA and was an integral part of its growth and the positive attention that beer is starting to get from the media at large, plus she’s a pleasure to work with. Join me in wishing Julia a very happy birthday.

P1120226 — Hawking the media at GABF in 2008.

P1030552 — Julia with Erin Fay Glass at CBC in San Francisco in 2011.

The BA Staff — The BA staff photo from the World Beer Cup dinner in Chicago in 2010. Julia’s near the center in the front row, just to the right of Charlie Papazian (in the tuxedo).

Beer Birthday: Adam Avery

May 30, 2026 By Jay Brooks

avery
Today is also Adam Avery’s 60th birthday. Adam, of course, founded his eponymous brewery, Avery Brewing, in Boulder, Colorado. Since 1993, Adam’s been making some increasingly hoppy and big, challenging beers that are also quite wonderful, too. Join me in wishing Adam a very happy birthday.

collabdin-10 — At a Collaboration Beer Dinner with Bruce Paton, center, pitting Adam Avery’s beers against Vinnie Cilurzo’s in 2007.

cbc07-22 — Tomme Arthur, from Port Brewing/The Lost Abbey, with Adam — behind bars — and Eric Rose, from Hollister Brewing at CBC in Austin, Texas 2007.

5guys-din-12 — After the Five Guys and a Barrel Beer Dinner, a toast was offered with *Isabelle Proximus*, the Collaborative Sour Ale made by blending beer and done by the five of them. Top row: Adam, Rob Tod, Bruce Paton and Sam Calagione. Bottom row: Tomme Arthur and Vinnie Cilurzo.

Beer Birthday: Eric Warner

May 13, 2026 By Jay Brooks

Today is the 61st birthday of Eric Warner. Eric founded Tabernash Brewing in Colorado, and later ran Flying Dog Brewing, until they moved their operations to Maryland. He’s also the author of two brewing books, German Wheat Beer and Kolsch: History, Brewing Techniques, Recipes. More recently, he moved to Houston to be the brewmaster (although his official title is “Yeast Rancher”) at Karbach Brewing. I first met Eric at Tabernash a million years ago, and several times since then, but most recently during World Beer Cup judging this year. Join me in wishing Eric a very happy birthday.