Chris Spinelli – Roc Brewing Company
Statement:
After 3 years on the board, it has challenged and helped me to see the needs and goals for craft beer in NYS. If elected again, I would work to continue to educate, promote and protect NYS Breweries. I would focus on community and building the collaborative nature that has helped build the great success here in NYS. We make some of the best beer in the world and I want to help promote that fact on a state level and beyond.
Bio:
Kevin Mullen – Rare Form Brewing Company
Bio:
Kevin Mullen is a co-owner and head brewer at Rare Form Brewing Company, a farm brewery in Troy, New York that opened in 2014. Kevin started in the industry as a bartender for a craft beer-focused bar in Colorado in 1998 and been brewing since 1994. Since then he has lived and breathed the craft beer culture working with breweries in Colorado, Washington, and New York. Along with the sitting on the University of Vermont Beer School Advisory Board, Kevin currently is the secretary of the New York State Brewers Association.
Hutch Kugeman – Brewery At CIA
Statement:
It’s been a privilege to serve on the Board these past three years as an at-large member. We’ve made great progress in promoting New York Craft Beer and personally I’ve enjoyed assisting in the development of the New York Craft Beer Competition, the New York Craft Brewer’s Conference, and the upcoming launch of the Draft Quality Program. If elected to represent the Hudson Valley, I hope to be able to continue to work on behalf of the breweries and brewers of New York State on these initiatives and help to develop more programs that directly benefit our members and reach out to consumers.
Bio:
Hutch has been brewing professionally in New York State since 2002 including time at Great Adirondack Brewing in Lake Placid, Ithaca Beer Company in Ithaca, and Crossroads Brewing in Athens, before assuming his current position as the first Head Brewer for the Brewery at the Culinary Institute of America working in partnership with Brooklyn Brewery and the CIA. . At the CIA he works with culinary students to create beers for the restaurants and student commons of the campus that reflect the high standards of the school while teaching the students more about brewing and the world of craft beer. Hutch’s beers have won numerous GABF, World Beer Cup, and most recently New York Craft Beer Competition medals. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the American Brewers Guild.
Jeff O’Neil – Industrial Arts Brewing
Statement:
Bio:
Kenan Porter – Clemson Bros Brewery
Statement:
To me, owning a brewery is about more than just brewing beer and serving food. It’s about bringing people together to share in good times while enjoying their surroundings. As an owner of soon-to-be three brewery locations in the Hudson Valley, I would be honored to serve on the board and continue strategizing ways to promote, protect, and further grow the craft brewing industry in New York State.
Bio:
Back in 2012, Kenan and his brother started brewing beer out of their garage in Pine Island. After his brother spent years apprenticing with the owners of a brewery in Vermont, Kenan decided to open a brewery of his own, and he purchased an old hacksaw metal-cutting factory in Middletown, New York. Paying homage to the former owners of the hacksaw factory, Kenan named the brewery Clemson Brothers Brewing. Fast forward 7 years, Clemson Bros Brewery now has its second location in New Paltz, New York and is working on its third location where it all began in Pine Island, New York.