We’ve known about the best brewery on Martha’s Vineyard for a while now. And, while it’s Martha’s Vineyard’s only brewery, if there were others it would still be the best. We’re of course speaking of Offshore Ale Company. We came to speak with new brewer, Joe Cleinman, who has had a short but interesting time in the industry so far. He started out with a love of beer in college at Vassar, where he started teaching a beer tasting class and home brewing classes. He also worked as a tour guide at Brewery Ommegang, the Belgian style brewery in Cooperstown, NY.

When his friends bought a complete brew structure, it seems he basically took over the operation of brewing on that. After setting it up for them, he would brew often while showing people how it worked and how to brew. As a junior in college, earning his degree in Biology, he became friendly with some of the Ommegang brewers and moved up to become an assistant brewer.

Above: Joe Cleinman - brewer