Down East has published a profile of Alan Pugsley, co-owner and master brewer of Shipyard Brewing Co.
Among the beer cognoscenti, however, Pugsley’s reputation verges on the legendary. “My former partner called him the Johnny Appleseed of craft beer,” says Bob Johnson. Now an owner of South Portland’s Scratch Baking Co., Johnson co-founded Magic Hat Brewing in Burlington, Vermont, in 1993. “Brewing is an almost magical mix of hands-on physical labor, art, and science. When they all come together, at the end of the day, you’ve got this beautiful glass of beer — and Alan Pugsley is the one who brought that aesthetic to New England.”
It was fascinating to read about the history of brewing in Maine from the perspective of Alan Pugsley. The only account I was really familiar with before was from DL Geary in the book “Red, White and Brew.” While DL says “My mom always said, ‘If you can’t say something nice. . . . ’ So that’s a ‘no comment’ from me.” in the Down East article, he’s a bit more candid in Brian Yaeger’s book.