Joel

My road to running a brewery in Washington was a bit roundabout. I grew up in Yreka, CA. I wanted to be a cook and went to culinary school at Sullivan University in Louisville, KY.

I got an awesome cooking gig at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in Garmisch, Germany after school. The Edelweiss is one of our Military Welfare and Recreation resorts and I worked there as a civilian contractor in the various hotel restaurants. I had the opportunity to travel many places in Europe as we had no bills; being housed for free, and with public transport in Europe being so great you don't need a car! I fell in love with beer while in Germany and also with a girl I worked with there. Turns out she's from Leavenworth, WA so that's why I'm here now!

Upon returning to the States I took up the hobby of homebrewing trying to recreate the beers I'd tried overseas. I stumbled upon Doghaus Brewery in it's infancy and became a “professional” brewer. A couple years later I bought out the brewery with one of the other employees, Aaron. Aaron moved out of state in 2023 so I bought him out and now I’m a Top-Dog! (Or so I tell myself…) I often use my culinary experiences to create interesting brews and I love to work with unusual ingredients when possible.

While I don’t currently have a dog of my own (just two cats…gasp!) I do love dogs and grew up with them in the family. For now I live vicariously through all the guests’ pups that they bring to Doghaus. I keep skating by, by luckily having another employee that own’s a dog to be the mascot.