Susquehanna Brewing Co Names Jaime Jurado Operations Partner & Master Brewer!

Just in case you missed our announcement on the Friday BeerBuzz this morning…I’m excited to be the first to report that effective Jan 1st 2012, Jaime Jurado will join our very own Susquehanna Brewing Co as their Operations Partner and Master Brewer.  Jaime comes to us from the Gambrinus family of breweries (Shiner, Bridgeport, Trumer…) so he brings with him a wealth of brewing & brewery operations experience, and I’m very happy to see him join the SBC team. 

For those just catching up  Here’s my original story about Susquehanna Brewing from Feb 2011 and their latest update from Oct. 

Please join me in welcoming Jaime to our Northeastern PA craft beer community.  I look forward to following along as SBC progress and as their beers become available.  Congratulations & welcome Jaime!

And now the official press release from Mallory Nobile:

Contact: Mallory Nobile FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Marketing and Community Relations Coordinator
Telephone: 570-654-3557
Cell Phone: 570-510-7247
Email: [email protected]

ANNOUNCEMENT 11/18/2011

Susquehanna Brewing Company is pleased to announce that effective January 1, 2012, its Operations Partner and Master Brewer, Jaime Jurado, will be returning to the Wyoming Valley.  He left in 1990 when he assumed a management position in a European brewery. Currently based in San Antonio, Texas, Jurado has served as the Director of Brewing Operations for The Gambrinus Company breweries since early 1997. The Gambrinus Company, the 6th largest beer company in the U.S., is composed of Spoetzl Brewery (with its iconic Shiner Bock) in Shiner, Texas, Bridgeport Brewing Company of Portland, Oregon (with groundbreaking IPA), and Trumer Brauerei of Berkeley, California (and its storied Trumer Pils).

Susquehanna Brewing Company (SBC), like The Gambrinus Company, is a family-owned company. Owners, Ed Maier, Fred Maier and Mark Nobile have respected the Chairman of The Gambrinus Company for decades. “Gambrinus brews outstanding and varied beers across a broad portfolio, and the creativity, passion and pursuit of excellence is evident in what it has accomplished. We’ve known Jaime for years, and have seen how he has grown and gained impressive depth, which is attributable to The Gambrinus Company. Jaime comes with best wishes of Gambrinus, and no hurdles, “notes SBC President Ed Maier.

SBC represents a new direction in the exciting trajectory of American craft brewing. Founded by the former beer distributors of United Beverage in Pittston, PA, with a rich history of significant
regional breweries in one family, as well as a multi-generation beer distribution enterprise in the other, this is the first successful beer distribution company to take up brewing… but being from brewing across generations, there already exists hand’s-on experience from running a regional brewery in the organization in its President.

“Jaime has been immersed in technical brewing management since 1983, having trained in Bavaria, with a successful academic career relevant to brewing in chemical engineering, electrical engineering (M.S. Wilkes University), as well as three years postgraduate research at Oxford University while continuing with his work at a respected British brewery,” notes brewery executive Fred Maier. Jurado also worked at a national brewing company, in the Irish brewing industry, and in Rajasthan, India. Aware that larger breweries enjoy scale to justify energy conserving technologies, the owners of SBC have invested in unique technologies (including the first new-brewhouse installation of PDX wort boiling) based on energy footprint reduction principles. As owner Mark Nobile shares, “we see what the Gambrinus breweries, Yuengling Brewery, New Belgium, Sierra Nevada and the largest national breweries have accomplished and continue to deliver on, and we’re excited that we will be carrying the ball along also, in support of these important objectives but from the perspective of a smaller scale regional brewery with different economics as drivers yet with our determination to brew superlative beers…Jaime pointed us to our key brewing and packaging hardware vendors.” The senior engineer advising the enterprise, Kevin Smith, P.E. of Highland Associates, has a long track record of sophisticated engineering projects across an international horizon and has led the conversion of the state-of-art beer distribution warehouse to transform into a brewery, coordinating with suppliers including BrauKon, Moravek, M+F, PRO Engineering, Buhler, JVNorthwest, Miura, Hümmer, Atlas Copco, Pursuit Dynamics, and K2Mechanical. Local technical specialists Apollo Group, Inc. and
A. Pickett Construction Inc. have provided necessary civil and electrical services for the brewery and the $6 million investment of the Nobile and Maier partners into the 11-acre site and its large
specialized built space which previously served efficiently as their beer distribution center.

The Wyoming Valley already includes a venerable regional brewery, a nano-brewery-becoming a- micro, a brewpub, and with SBC opening in Pittston, the region will enjoy its newest brewery with a unique signature in the Valley, and its contribution to the area being a great beer destination for visitors.

Jurado notes that the engineering support from Highland Associates has delivered impressive results for the showpiece brewery. “Kevin is all about what a supremely competent P.E. (Registered Professional Engineer) brings to the table, and he’s as comfortable in executing a brewery as he is in any other development.” Jurado shares that he’s known the partner families
for years: “Ed was once my top distributor and Mark was a close second… they saw me work through challenges and their support to me as the Brewer-supplier in the 80’s made a lasting impression, and I’ve always loved reconnecting with them. When our dear mutual friend (Packaging Manager) Dave Finn suddenly passed away, we were regretting this sad occasion after the Memorial service…and in recalling our anecdotes about when we both worked with Finny at different breweries, I guess that’s when an early spark must have ignited….that’s when the beer distribution partners started thinking seriously about a new world that would make Pittston, PA proud. Fred Maier and Mallory Nobile, the next generation, have grown up in the business, engaged thoroughly and represent great examples of the education of Penn State and King’s College, respectively. The part that is hard for me is moving from one outstanding group of friends who happen to be my colleagues. Thank Heavens for Facebook.”

END
If you would like more information about this topic please call Mallory Nobile at 570-654-3557
or email Mallory at [email protected]