What’s your current position at your brewery, and how did you get started in the craft brewing industry?

I’m the owner/brewer [of Blue Star Brewing Co. in San Antonio, Texas.] My bar Joey’s opened in 1988 and we started nanobrewing there shortly after brewpubs were allowed in Texas, around 1994. We haven’t brewed there in quite a while.

What’s new at Blue Star?

New laws will allow us to do some limited self-distribution and we just put in a beautiful, old grain silo.

What’s the best part of being a part of the craft brewing community?

Everybody knows your name.

What do you like to do in your time away from the brewpub?

Make biodiesel, shoot guns, spend time at the ranch with friends, and check out BBQ joints.

What’s your favorite food and beer pairing?

Recently, spicy Thai beef pasta with Blue Star Pilsner.

What’s your biggest accomplishment unrelated to your job?

Getting my wife to put up with me for 18 years.

What’s your favorite beer that your brewery does not produce?

Fresh Budvar.

What’s the most memorable travel destination at which you’ve had a chance to sample the local beer?

At a brewpub in Portland, Ore. called Northwestern, they were fermenting beer in these plastic date barrels. What made it most memorable was drinking a beer with my dad, and we met and conversed with one of the finest gentlemen in the business of beer—the late, great Michael Jackson.