Gavin Lord, Founder and Brew Master

Gavin has worked in the craft brewing industry for over thirteen years. And while he began humbly; homebrewing and volunteering to clean kegs, he rose quickly through the ranks to receive many of the industry’s highest honors. In 2011, he attended the prestigious UC Davis Master Brewers Program and passed the infamous Institute of Brewing and Distilling’s Diploma in Brewing Examination (joining just 32% of worldwide examinees in doing so). Immediately after graduation he joined Dan Peterson (who would later start Ferment Brewing Company) and Josh Pfriem (who would later start pFriem Family Brewers) at Full Sail Brewing Company as a shift Brewer. There he was responsible for all aspects of production on a unique and challenging 250BBL system. In 2014, he joined Josh at his new start up brewery, pFriem. With Gavin as Head Brewer, the brewery would grow from a 1500BBL, draft only operation with three production employees, to a regional powerhouse producing 36,000BBL over 150 unique SKUs including draft, bottles and cans, and employing over 30 production personnel. Over the course of his seven-year tenure, pFriem became known for an unrelenting commitment to quality, earning the coveted Mid-sized Brewery of the year award from the Great American Beer Festival, Large Brewery of the year at the Oregon Beer Awards and Best Brewery of all time by Beer Connoisseur Magazine, among hundreds of individual beer honors. In 2021 Lord left pFriem to bring his vision and expertise to Hetty Alice Beer.