Portrait of a Brewer: Garrett Perkins, Booze Brothers Brewing

There are hundreds of talented brewing professionals giving their all to help maintain the San Diego beer industry’s storied reputation. While these industrious practitioners share numerous similarities, each is their own unique person with individual likes, dislikes, methodologies, techniques, inspirations, interests and philosophies. The goal of San Diego Beer News’ Portrait of a Brewer series is to not only introduce readers to local brewers, but dig in to help them gain a deeper appreciation for the people making their beer and how they have contributed to the county’s standout craft-brewing culture.

Today’s featured brewer is…

Garrett Perkins
of Booze Brothers Brewing

What is your current title?
Head Brewer

Where did you grow up?
I was born and raised in Oceanside.

What was the first beer and/or alcoholic beverage you ever had?
I’m pretty sure it was a warm can of Budweiser on a hot summer day, and I may or may not have been of age.

What was your a-ha moment that turned you on to craft beer?
Being part of a brew day for the first time really piqued my interest. The mix of hard work and chemistry was very interesting to me and I was just into learning more about it.

What led you to consider a career in brewing?
I sorta fell into it. At 21, I started working at Breakwater Brewing making pizza, and became more and more into beer as a whole over my years there. I eventually was able to transition into the brewhouse after some time flipping pizzas and pouring beer there.

What was your first brewing/brewery position?
Assistant Brewer at Breakwater Brewing

What breweries have you worked for over your career and in what roles?
Only two. I’m a bit of a loyalist. I was at Breakwater Brewing for about five-and-a-half years and have been at Booze Brothers going on over eight years now. I started at Booze Brothers as a delivery driver, then went to packaging technician, cellarman and assistant brewer, and now Head Brewer.

Who have been the individuals that have helped you the most to learn and advance in your career, and how?
Rich Carney, the head brewer at Breakwater Brewing when I was there. He really sparked my interest in more the brewing science part of making beer and gave me the opportunity to become an assistant brewer with him. Mike Stevenson and the MiraCosta Brewtech program he (and now myself) teaches was a big help and awesome crash course into brewing as a whole. All of the brewers I have encountered over the years, not just in San Diego, have been beyond helpful and more than happy to lend a helping hand whenever I have had any brewing-related questions or needed ingredients in a pinch. There are too many to name and we truly have one of the best communities ever. I am happy to call a lot of them my friends now.

What singular piece of advice would you give to someone interested in becoming a professional brewer?
Ask questions, don’t be afraid to look like the least knowledgeable person in the room and take notes. There are so many great brewers around us that are invaluable resources and great people.

What ultimate career goal would you like to achieve?
Stay-at-home dog dad would be ideal, but starting my own brewpub would be pretty awesome, too.

What is your favorite beer you’ve ever brewed, be it on a professional or amateur level?
I think it’s gotta be the collaboration IPA I did with Artifex Brewing called Steady Hand IPA. It had Strata, HBC 586 and Citra hops, and was bright, citrusy and delicious.

What is your least-favorite beer you’ve ever brewed on any level?
A cucumber Gose. I’m not a big cucumber fan.

What are your favorite and least-favorite hop varietals at present?
Strata, Simcoe and most New Zealand varieties. My least favorite are probably Eureka and Amarillo.

What are some of your favorite brewing ingredients that aren’t hops?
Yeast is probably my favorite other brewing ingredient. It imparts so much flavor diversity during the fermentation process.

If you weren’t a brewer, what do you think you would do for a living?
I think I would take a stab at being a voice actor.

In your opinion, what non-brewing position is of great importance at a craft-beer company but often gets overlooked or less credit than those making the beer?
Beer delivery drivers. They battle California traffic every day, all day so we can drink beer.

What is your favorite beer style?
Pale ale. Sierra Nevada Brewing’s sparked that interest long ago.

If you could wipe one style of beer off the face of the earth, what would it be?
Probably smoked porters. I’m not a fan of smoky beers.

What single brewing company’s beers and/or ethos/style has been most influential on your style?
I have always been in love with Pizza Port’s model of making beer. There is so much beer diversity between each individual pub and pub brewer, but they always have the good ol’ core favorites and so many fun one-offs.

What is your favorite San Diego County brewing company?
There are so many that it’s hard to pick one, but I am at Craft Coast pretty often.

What is your favorite brewing company outside of San Diego?
It’s a tie between Farland Aleworks in Tijuana and Riip Beer Co. in Huntington Beach.

What three breweries that you haven’t yet visited—local or elsewhere—are on your current must-see bucket list?
Bierstadt Lagerhaus, Russian River Brewing and Sierra Nevada Brewing

What are your favorite local beer events?
Pizza Port’s Strong Ale Fest is amazing and so is June Lake’s Autumn Brewfest.

If you were to leave San Diego, where would be the next-best place you’d want to brew?
The beer scene in Denver is pretty incredible. I would consider Colorado or possibly even Texas.

Which musical genre or artists are on your brew-day soundtrack/playlist?
Lots of Queen, The Talking Heads and JD North.

What motto rules the way you brew and approach brewing in a professional brewhouse?
Clean equipment makes clean beer. Clean beer is good beer.

What do you consider your greatest professional accomplishments?
Getting to help teach the same brew technologies class that I had taken to advance my brewing career was pretty neat.

What are you proud of having achieved in your personal life?
When I was first getting into beer over a decade ago, I wanted to be a head brewer at a brewery, and make my own recipes and beer that I could call my own for my community, friends and family, and for the last four years I have been able to do just that.

When you’re not at work, what do you like to do for fun?
I like to play video games with friends, hit the beach, brewery-hop, go to shows and eat good food.

Where do you like to drink off-the-clock?
You can usually catch me at Craft Coast or Burgeon Beer Co.

What is your favorite beer-and-food pairing of all time?
I remember Pizza Port did a lumpia-and-beer pairing night and it was beyond amazing.

If you could somehow plan your last beer dinner before dying, what would you drink and eat, and who would you invite to join you?
A 40-ounce bone-in ribeye, garlic mashed potatoes and Caesar salad with a Coors Banquet and a shot of Underberg. I’d invite the entire cast of Beer Fest and comedian Adam Ray.

Who do you think you are (a purposely broad question)?
I think I’m a pretty laidback guy that is passionate about making beer, spending time with loved ones and laughing as much as humanly possible.

If you’re a brewer at a San Diego brewing company and would like to be featured in our Portrait of a Brewer series, drop us a line at [email protected].