Peter (The Scrubber) Hackett
I was lucky enough to find myself in San Francisco just as the micro brewery movement was in it's infancy. Having a soft spot for good beer, when I opened my first bar in S.F. (Zeitgeist), I'd take day trips out to the small breweries to pickup those otherwise unavailable kegs for the bar. I envied those guys, they seemed to have a pretty good thing going.
After a couple more bars (The Rat & Raven, and Southpoint Bar), I tried a career change as a programmer but quickly found it to be just a bit too dry.
Above, Learning the ropes with Peter (The Tank) Kruger.
Finally, in 1997, the Stumptown was open and upon permit approval we started brewing. The next step was to find the right brewer.
When I met Kruger he told me he could brew. "Of course you can brew", I said, "but can you teach me to brew?"
"I could teach a monkey to brew", he replied and was hired on the spot.
I then began my brewing apprenticeship (where I earned the title "scrubber").
Towards the end of 2005, after four (long) years of following Kruger around like a bad smell, we kicked him to the curb.