A man of few words, Dave Johnson is the co-founder, brewmaster and chief squeegee operator at Missouri Beer Company in O'Fallon, Missouri. He has been in the craft beer business for 17 years and is currently serving on the Guild's board of directors.

How did you get started in the craft beer industry?
Homebrewing

What's your "why?" or what gets you out of bed each day?
The beer doesn't make itself!

What was your first-ever craft beer?
Pete's Wicked Ale

What does your job entail at the brewery?
What doesn't it?

What do you do with your free time?
Slapping the bass. Fishing.

If you could work on a collaboration beer with any other craft brewery, who would it be?
Too many to pick just one.

What is your favorite thing about the craft beer industry?
The camaraderie, all the different choices, the creativity

What's the best beer you've ever had?
Lots

What's one fun fact about you?
I play the bass in a band called, Rokology.

Why did you join the Missouri Craft Brewers Guild?
To have a voice and help maintain a level playing field for our great industry.

Meet Tyson Hunt, Captain of Logboat Brewing Company in Columbia, Missouri. Tyson is serving as the vice president of the Guild's board of directors and has been in the craft beer business for five years. 

How did you get started in the craft beer industry?
I was in a band with my business partners and we were making music and making beer in my garage. The beer was turning out better than the music and we saw an opportunity to bring something fun and exciting to Columbia, MO.

What's your "why?" or what gets you out of bed each day?
Producing something creatively that has never existed before while working alongside the most amazing people I have ever known. 
 
What was your first-ever craft beer?
Probably a Boulevard Wheat and/or a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. New Belgium Fat Tire was also an early craft beer for me, as was Sam Adams Boston Lager. The classics.

What does your job entail at the brewery?
I spend a lot of time analyzing spreadsheets, financial statements, and making sure we can pay our bills and make payroll while meeting our sales and production goals. I also work on a lot of legal issues associated with producing an alcoholic beverage, and spend a good deal of time developing our business through various local organizations and networking opportunities.

What do you do with your free time?
I head to the Lake of the Ozarks as often as possible to spend time with my family at our lake cabin. Boating, fishing, and relaxing on my dock with a cold beer in hand is my happy place. I also love to play golf, travel, camp, and explore our beautiful rivers, woods, and adventurous places. Oh, and I still love to play music with my partners in our band from time-to-time.

If you could work on a collaboration beer with any other craft brewery, who would it be?
Oh dang, that's a really tough one. Besides our numerous friends in the state of MO craft beer scene whom we have yet to brew with, I'd pick Garage Project in Wellington, New Zealand for a couple of reasons. One, I've always wanted to visit New Zealand, and two, they are making some interesting beers at several locations in New Zealand. They have a dedicated "experimental" brewery where they are working on spontaneous, mixed culture and wild ferments, and have even started dabbling in wild wine fermentation. That would be an amazing trip to take with the Logboat crew.

What is your favorite thing about the craft beer industry?
The beer. So much amazing beer. I love beer.

What's the best beer you've ever had?
I got to pull a nail on a barrel in Cascade Barrel House's cellar (Portland, OR) for a beer that never made it to the public because they drank it all. It was called White Christmas, and it changed my life.

What's one fun fact about you?
I was a semi-professional wakeboarder when I was 19 years old and competed nationally in a U.S.-based amateur wakeboarding circuit.

Why did you join the Missouri Craft Brewers Guild?
The Guild provides us all in the craft beer industry in MO to have a collective voice in order to advocate for our needs, protect our industry, and have a blast with like-minded people!

Meet Chris Meyers, co-owner of Crane Brewing in Raytown, Missouri. Chis is currently serving as the Guild's secretary of the board of directors. He has been involved in the craft beer industry for 6 years.

How did you get started in the craft beer industry?
Fell in love with Craft Beer, then homebrewing, and needed to open a brewery
What's your "why?" or what gets you out of bed each day?
My family - ( Direct, Brewery, Guild, and our customers)

What was your first-ever craft beer?
Sam Adams Pale Ale

What does your job entail at the brewery?
Everything. Production, Sales, Events, Distribution, Cleaning, etc

What do you do with your free time?
What's that?

If you could work on a collaboration beer with any other craft brewery, who would it be?
Sierra Nevada

What is your favorite thing about the craft beer industry?
The community. The ability to create and share what we love.

What's the best beer you've ever had?
Farmhouse IPA

What's one fun fact about you?
My former career was in Veterinary Medicine.

Why did you join the Missouri Craft Brewers Guild?
To support those interested in a unified craft beer industry in the state.

Meet Brian Nolan, owner of Friendship Brewing Company in Wentzville, Missouri. A member of the Guild's board of directors, he has been in the craft beer business for 6 years.

How did you get started in the craft beer industry?
Like many, homebrewing, about three decades ago.

What gets you out of bed each day?
The joy of interacting with our people, both our family of employees and our family of patrons.

What was your first ever craft beer?
New Belgium's Fat Tire, but Sun King - Sun Light Cream Ale was my game changer.

What does your job entail at the brewery?
Herding of cats... as an owner I guess I’d say overseeing of brand production, promotion, and customer service.

What do you do with your free time?
What’s free time? When possible, travel. With brewery destinations.

If you could work on a collaboration beer with any other craft brewery, who would it be?
Any Belgian Trappist brewery, at their place of course.

What is your favorite thing about the craft beer industry?
Good people drinking good beer.

What's the best beer you've ever had?
A Westy 12 about 20 years ago, my first whale.

What's one fun fact about you?
I collect historical brewery advertising, perhaps too much...

Why did you join the Missouri Craft Brewers Guild?
To be part of a collective group of independent Missouri breweries and promote and protect our industry and brands in the local/state marketplace.

Meet Jon Shine, co-owner of Urban Chestnut Brewing Company in St. Louis, Missouri. Jon serves on the Guild's board of directors.

How did you get started in the craft beer industry?
I worked for Anheuser-Busch for 10 years. After the InBev buyout, I saw a strategy to dismantle, control, and turn the American beer industry into a monopoly. I decided I wanted to be part of an organic, grassroots effort that would keep the American beer industry independent. I turned in my resignation and invested in Urban Chestnut Brewing Company, which was in its planning stages, on the same day.

What gets you out of bed each day?
Commitment to Family and fulfilling promises.

What was your first ever craft beer?
New Belgium's Fat Tire

What does your job entail at the brewery?
Many Hats. Outside Market Sales (Driving the Box Truck)

What do you do with your free time?
I sell UCBC.

If you could work on a collaboration beer with any other craft brewery, who would it be?
Weihenstephaner

What is your favorite thing about the craft beer industry?
The endless creativity and the freedom to explore any thought or idea and make it become a reality.

What's the best beer you've ever had?
I can't pin it down to one answer.

What's one fun fact about you?
I love St. Louis. I'm going to write a TV Show that will shine a light on how great this city is, despite it's struggles and challenges.

Why did you join the Missouri Craft Brewers Guild?
Feel that it's important that individual craft breweries have a platform to communicate and update one another on potential industry challenges, so they can develop solutions that benefit the group as a whole.

Meet ​Joleen Durham, co-owner and co-founder of Piney River Brewing Company in "Brewcyrus," Missouri. Joleen is also serving as the Guild president this year and has been in the craft beer business for 9 years.

How did you get started in the craft beer industry?
My husband, Brian, and I wanted to make craft beer that was made in the Ozarks and celebrates the Ozarks.

What gets you out of bed each day?
First, I have a big ol' bank bill to pay off by making and selling beer because I'm a doer, not just a dreamer.

What was your first-ever craft beer?
Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat

What do you do with your free time?
In my "free" time my family and I farm on 160 acres with 40 head of beef cattle. My personal pursuits are perennial flower gardening and cooking, and I also and fishing and kayaking with my family. Currently, I'm the head chauffeur in our family for my 14-year old son, Andy, and that seems like a full-time job.

If you could work on a collaboration beer with any other craft brewery, who would it be?
My friends at Mike Hess Brewing in San Diego (it will happen some day).

What is your favorite thing about the craft beer industry?
Meeting and getting to know amazing, fun, and interesting people that have become dear friends.

What's the best beer you've ever had?
The Old Tom Porter we were pouring on the GABF floor after it won Gold.

What's one fun fact about you?
I was a Missouri Master Gardener before I ever brewed a beer!

Why did you join the Missouri Craft Brewers Guild?
The Missouri Craft Brewers Guild is a collective voice for craft beer in our state, and it's important that we have an organization that represents all of us.