No brewery is an island. Now that we’ve been open for some time we’ve needed some help, and a few stalwart friends have stepped up to the challenge.

These are their stories.

This week: Jeannie Alexander, Assistant Brewer

Still haven’t gotten over missing Danny Pudi

Hi.

Hi

Tell us a little about yourself.

I grew up in Hamburg and moved into Buffalo towards the end of college. Went to undergrad for classical voice with a heavy focus in music theory and graduate school for the later. Really dove into craft beer mid college and three or four years ago finally started to learn about it, which included an awful lot of home brewing. Right around the time of getting into home brewing I decided school was taking too long/ I was getting old and I should come up with a plan b, which seemed impossible. About two years ago I realized beer was taking over my life and decided to just let it happen. First I started working at Village Beer merchant last year. Then in January of last year Ethan asked if I was interested in an internship at CBW (um, of course!), started in February and now I’m an employee. All beer, all the time; I don’t know how much more awesome it can be!

How did you get involved in the CBW gang?

-Met all of the cbw guys through my Beard (aka boyfriend). Tried their beer about 6 mo. after they opened (I had never heard of them at that point) and they quickly became, and stayed, my favorite local brewery, friends…and now bosses!

What started you down the rabbit hole that is good beer?

I’ve said this many times before: my first alcoholic drink was either Laphroaig scotch or Guiness Foreign Extra. I can’t remember which, but either way: it explains so, so much in my life. That was when I was a kid and my father would give me sips of his beverages on occasion. Once in college I would just buy anything that looked interesting or that I’ve never had before. It was an exciting time for my palate.

Duff’s or Anchor Bar?

Mr. Goodbar

[Ed. note: grr]

Anything else we should know about you? Any parting words of wisdom?

I dedicated a huge portion of my life to something that made me happy. After a lot of contemplation and almost chickening out, I left that life behind. I wasn’t sure if I could find another vocation to be as passionate about as the first, but I did. I did so by surrounding myself with good people and trying new things. So yeah, surround yourself with good people and try new things. Or not. Whatev.