Craft Brewing legend Will Kemper has been chosen as the keynote speaker at the WA Homebrewers annual conference in Vancouver, WA at the Vancouver Hilton on March 17, 2017. Kemper has been brewing commercial craft beer since 1984 and has gone on to direct, engineer, and create recipes for over twenty craft breweries around the US, Mexico and Europe. Known for his elegant, easy drinking European style lagers and ales, Will has not only brewed, engineered and inspired other brewers but taught Brewing Engineering for the American Brewers Guild when it was located in Davis, CA. He is now owner of Chuckanut Brewery & Kitchen in Bellingham, WA. A graduate of the Siebel Institute and a member of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling in London, England, Kemper has a Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Colorado in Boulder. He started one of the first micro breweries in WA State in 1984 called Thomas Kemper Brewery. Will continued to work as a consultant setting up craft breweries across America, two brewpubs in Monterrey, Mexico and a brewpub and craft brewery in Istanbul, Turkey until 2007. In 2008 Kemper opened Chuckanut Brewery in Bellingham and within a year he won the GABF Best Small Brewpub and Brewer 2009 with all lager beers. This was the first and only time a Small Brewpub won with all lager beers. In 2011 he won GABF Best Small Brewery and Brewer with 2 ales and 2 lagers. During the Keynote Speech Kemper will share his influence and contributions to the world of brewing including his scientific/engineering approach to brewing. Will’s love of learning, willingness to share his ideas and path to success will be part of his talk as well as his passion for brewing, how he came to be a brewer and his continued commitment to quality and the importance of brewing education. He hopes all the topics he discusses will be valuable to the homebrewer audience. Kemper’s Chuckanut Brewery & Kitchen, located at 601 West Holly St, has a full service “Kitchen” serving from 11:00am every day to guests of all ages with an eclectic fresh local menu and a wide variety of Chuckanut beers. South Nut (Chuckanut Brewery & Tap Room at 11937 Higgins Airport Way, Burlington) in Skagit Valley welcomes all ages and is open Wednesday through Monday serving a wide selection of Chuckanut beers. Learn more about Chuckanut Brewery at http://www.chuckanutbrewery.com/.
