Mari and Will Kemper were early insurgents in the craft beer revolution that introduced America to sophisticated, small-batch suds. With Will’s engineering degree and homebrew recipes and Mari’s culinary prowess and tenaciousness the couple left Boulder, Colorado for more mountains in Washington state, eventually hooking up with Andy Thomas to open the German lager centric Thomas Kemper brewery in the Kemper’s basement on Bainbridge Island. With only eight craft breweries in the Pacific Northwest when they launched in 1984, Thomas Kemper quickly became a favorite. Roughly five years later, the Kempers took their non-compete and helped build the craft beer scene in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Washington DC, Mexico, and Turkey. Tune-in to Grit & Grain Episode 50 to hear Mari and Will Kemper fill in the blanks with their accomplishments and amazing stories on their journey to open Chuckanut Brewery in 2008. Next week, Mari and Will return to tell the Chuckanut story in Episode 51.
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Alright Grit and Grainers! Email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and thoughts on what might have happened if Mari and Will fell in love with Bellingham’s Elm Street instead of the city’s Chuckanut Drive. You can subscribe to GGP on Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, iHeartRadio, and Stitcher, and please leave us a review. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter. Cheers!
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