Even after graduating from college at Texas A&M, Brewmaster Derek Smith's idea of a great beer was whatever he could easily afford.  It was not until a chance job opportunity with Mark Dorber at the White Horse Pub on Parson Green in London that beer truly came into focus.  The epiphany came one night after work when the staff sat down for a drink and he chose a Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus.  Since that pivotal moment, Derek realized there was much more to beer than the fizzy, yellow, watery stuff that was being widely consumed. 

 

Derek's first  creative brewing experience occurred at work as he and a fellow cellarman brewed an English pale ale that was put on cask and served over the bar one night.  Upon returning to his native Texas, he worked for Two Rows Restaurant and Brewery in Houston and then at its alternate location in Dallas.  Wanting to expand his horizons, Derek decided to go to UC Davis and attend their Master Brewers program (which made him that rare bird – the Double Aggie).  After completing the program, he hired on at Black Diamond Brewing Company as an assistant brewer.  Two and a half years later, Derek was promoted to the position of Brewmaster.  While appreciating classic English ales, he also marvels at the unique flavor combinations offered by many of the Belgian beers.  

While studying Biology at UC Davis, Dan started home brewing when he landed a side job at "Brew-It-Up" - a brew-on-premise business where customers brew with 13 gallon kettles and return after fermentation to bottle and take home their reward.

 

After graduating from college, Dan initially took a job as an environmental biologist but his love for brewing grew so strong he changed course to become a professional brewer.  He worked at several breweries, including Pyramid Brewery, San Francisco Brewing Company, and Rafters Grille & Brewery, before teaming up with Derek at Black Diamond.  He currently assists Derek in all aspects of the brewing process, from designing recipes to quality control.

 

In his free time Dan likes to play golf, hike, cook, snow board and home brew.

A veteran in the beverage business, Greg has over 30 years of experience in a variety of positions, including truck driver, sales rep, distributor brand manager and brewery rep.  Notorious for both his sense of humor and his reliability, the distributors know that no matter what, they can "just call Greg" for whatever they need (except on stormy weekends in the winter, when he's in a duck blind, singing love songs to the mallards).  Greg has a great passion for the hunt as well as bass fishing and the SF Giants. 

Mike has seen the beer business from all sides: as a grocery manager at retail, a sales rep, a brand manager and director of sales at the distributor level, and as a sales rep for Gordon Biersch before joining the Black Diamond team.  He now manages the chain accounts and directs the marketing efforts from copy writing to social media and beyond.  But his favorite part of the job is pouring the brews for customers at tastings and festivals where he can channel his passion for the beer to the people.

 

When not expounding the wonders of Black Diamond's brews, Mike enjoys hanging out with his family, hiking, photography, gardening, cooking, music, reading, films and writing beery Haiku.

Dan is another veteran in the beer business with over 30 years of experience in both the brewery and distributor worlds.  Dan covers distributors in Eastern California, from Fresno to the Oregon border.  He describes his MO as a "follow-through attitude" and we agree.

 

When Dan is not traveling about for work he likes to...travel, as well as play a little golf and enjoy dinner with his wife.

Marrilee brings 25+ years of experience in the banking, bookkeeping and accounting industries.  Having lived in the Tahoe area for 18 years, she moved to the Bay Area and took on the daunting job of cat herding (AKA, "keeping the guys in line") at Black Diamond.  From handling A/R issues to phones, processing orders to managing POS, Marrilee keeps the sales and production departments going in the same direction, always with a smile.

 

Baseball takes a prominent role for Marrilee as her son plays for Sonoma State and her husband coaches the Clayton Valley High School Varsity team, so she frequently gets to be a sideline player and her "teammates" get to enjoy her cookies.  Her baking is legendary - cakes for employee's birthdays and beer-infused baked goodies for office surprises.  Her dark chocolate cupcakes, made with our perfect-with-dessert PEAK XV, are sublime.  In addition to her culinary skills, she finds time to make her own line of greeting cards.

Shawn started as a waiter with Black Diamond in 1994 and worked his way both in front of and behind the bar and to the Bar Manager position.  In 2004, the brewpub was closed and moved to the brewery in Concord.  Shawn donned a new hat and hit the street as a salesman, working the draft market.

 

In 2005, the bottling line went up (with a special thanks to Bob August - one of the originals from the famous Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.) and Shawn was again handed a new hat and asked to take the position as production manager.  In typical Shawn fashion, he took the challenge without blinking.  He does not grasp the word "can't" - if he doesn't know how to do something that needs to be done, he soon will.

 

Bottling, kegging, building the pallets, loading and unloading trucks, delivering orders to distributors, lab work, working with suppliers to help create new packages, tearing down and rebuilding broken machines with giant wrenches, cleaning taps and jockey boxes, putting together a last minute emergency request - all in a days work for Shawn.  When he has a down minute you might catch him high up on a forklift, hand-polishing the bright tanks (they really are bright) or other parts of the über clean brewery.

 

Shawn says that "every day there is something new, that's what makes this adventure so awesome…".  That's our fire-breathing-blaze-of-red we call Stickman.