Craig MacLellan Wins 2024 American Brewers Guild Scholarship
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 2023
From an outstanding group of talented applicants, Craig MacLellan of Barebottle Brewing Company (San Francisco, CA) has been named recipient of the 2024 American Brewers Guild scholarship. Craig will be attending ABG’s Intensive Brewing Science & Engineering (IBS&E) course that runs from January to June 2024. The Intensive Brewing Science & Engineering course is a 22-week distance education program with a final week of residential instruction in Middlebury, VT. The course covers all the fundamentals of beer production and quality assurance with a special emphasis on practical issues.
Craig came to brewing from a decade-long career working in marketing and public relations. His passion for craft brewing and desire for greater personal and professional fulfillment drove his career shift. And Craig has never looked back. Largely self-taught, Craig has a tremendous appetite for knowledge, reading widely, listening to podcasts, and consulting his fellow brewers on recipes, brewing techniques, and technical know-how. In his own words, “every day is a learning day.” Craig is a board member of the San Francisco Bay Area Brewers Guild and has been instrumental in raising its profile in the area. Craig has a number of professional goals and among those is inspiring other members of the LGBTQ+ community to seek out brewing as a career option. Noted a Selection Committee member: “One of the things that made Craig a standout is his commitment to his communities. He has demonstrated a background and willingness to give back and also has solid future plans in sharing his knowledge and experience with others, especially lesser-represented communities.”
The Selection Committee also highlighted “Craig’s passion for craft brewing along with his strong record of giving back to the community making him a worthy winner of the scholarship among some very strong competition. The opportunity to increase his brewing knowledge will allow him to contribute even more than he obviously does already.” Added another member: “Craig encompasses the essence of the Foundation. A desire to learn and a desire to give back, not only to the Foundation but the community around him; brewing and beyond.” Craig has no shortage of creative ideas and recently developed an Irish coffee nitro stout at Barebottle, pulling from his Scottish heritage to put his own spin on the industry. Craig is at that stage of his brewing career where to really propel forward, he would greatly benefit from the strong technical foundation that the ISB&E course offers. As Craig was a prior applicant for a Foundation scholarship, the Selection Committee noted that they “were able to see Craig grow over that period of time showing his readiness for the classwork and his commitment to the industry.” Another member summed it up so well saying that “Craig sets himself apart from the other applicants in that his goals are clearly defined, displays a refreshing level of humility, and a has a strong desire to further the objectives of the Foundation.”
The American Brewers Guild is a premier school for the craft brewing industry dedicated to providing a comprehensive learning experience that focuses on the technical, scientific, and operational matters and issues that brewers face in a craft brewing environment. We offer our deepest gratitude to American Brewers Guild for its long-standing and continuing support for the Foundation’s brewing education scholarship program.
Join us in thanking the Selection Committee of Jamie Floyd (Ninkasi Brewing), Lisa Morrison (Belmont Station Bottle Shop & Biercafé), Steve Parkes (American Brewers Guild), Dan Russo (Oakshire Brewing), and Brett Thomas (Sunriver Brewing) who were given the difficult decision of selecting a single recipient from a deep and talented group of deserving candidates. This year also marks the first time the Foundation has included prior scholarship recipients (Dan 2013 ABG and Brett 2010 ABG) on the Selection Committee. Dan and Brett’s long-standing commitment to the goals and ideals of the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation are notable and much appreciated. We are planning to continue to include prior scholarship recipients on the Selection Committees for all future scholarships.
The Falconer Foundation has granted 54 scholarships since 2004 and is dedicated to promoting knowledge and expertise in the craft brewing industry in memory and honor of Glen Hay Falconer. For more information on the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation, visit www.
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