TESTIMONIALS

As the owner of Legend Brewing Company, I am always concerned about the flavor characteristics of our beers. When I read Wayne's article in The New Brewer I decided to give him a call to see if he could help me and my team take a critical look at our process to see if we could uncover any process issues that we might improve.  Wayne spent a couple of hours with me touring the brewery and tasting our beers and he said that he thought he could help us improve our process and ultimately improve the flavor of our beers.  Based on his years of experience and in depth knowledge of the brewing process, I decided to give him the opportunity to help us.

Wayne worked closely with our staff to understand how our processes worked.  He worked efficiently, got on well with our staff, and answered tons of technical process questions from the staff as he observed our process. I am certain that the brewery staff learned a lot from Wayne about best practices, which will no doubt make them better brewers.  After he finished observing our process, he wrote a detailed report about his observations and suggestions for improvement.  He spent two hours going over the report with me to make sure that I understood in depth the changes that he recommended and the reasoning behind his recommendations.

At the end of his time with us, we had a roadmap of simple, practical process changes and quality checks that once implemented will enhance the quality, taste characteristics, and flavor stability of our beers.  I would recommend Wayne's services to any brewer that could use an experienced brewmaster to take an unbiased look at their process and recommend ways to improve product quality.

Tom Martin, President - Legend Brewing Company  

 

Because he lives locally, I have had the opportunity to spend a significant amount of time with Wayne. With his years of experience in the brewing industry, he has been able to offer keen insights into ways to improve our processes. He freely offers suggestions for ways to improve process control and product quality. He is a skilled beer taster which gives me another tool to use in my efforts to create beer styles new to me and to maintain my current beers true to style. In addition, he has used his beer tasting expertise to help me make decisions about beers that have experienced process issues. Wayne’s passion for beer and willingness to share his knowledge, expertise, and experience has been a huge help to me. I look forward to working with him long into the future. 

Geoff Logan, Head Brewer - Alewerks Brewing Company


Starr Hill Brewing Company set out to make a major improvement in our brewing process by replacing our vintage 2 roll malt mill with a state of the art 4 roll mill.  Since this was a significant capital decision for Starr Hill, I asked Wayne if he would be willing to add his considerable experience and expertise to our formal evaluation of several mill vendors and models.  Wayne energetically accepted Starr Hill's invitation and he traveled to Crozet to review our brewing process and to spend time with our team.  Wayne interacted well with our team and participated in conference calls with each vendor and provided an additional voice of an experienced brewmaster to the discussions.  Wayne followed up with a written report detailing the reasons for his recommendations.  He stayed engaged with Starr Hill throughout the final decision making process through email and phone conversations.

Starr Hill ultimately made its decision and installed the new mill in January, 2013.  The installation went smoothly and the mill is performing flawlessly.  The new mill made a positive impact on the overall quality of all our brands and has delivered significant efficiencies with a CAPEX payback in less than one year. 

Starr Hill made the right selection and Wayne was an integral part of the evaluation and decision making process.

Brian McNelis, Managing Director and Vice President of Brewery Operations - Starr Hill Brewing Company