May 2006, Stay tuned an update is brewing.

The story of Clay Pipe Brewing Company is really the story of one man's desire to turn 16 years of hard work in the brewing industry into a dream fulfilled. That man is Gregg Norris and that dream is to make craft-brewed beer with a rare drinkability like no other.

It all started back in 1986 when Gregg landed a job with Anheuser-Busch as an experimental brewer in their state-of-the-art research pilot brewery in St. Louis. From there he became a manager in the brewing department at the company's Los Angeles plant and then at the Merrimack, NH plant. All in all, seven years were spent at the brewing giant, where an unbeatable foundation in brewing knowledge and hands-on experience was established.

However, by 1993 watching the beer go by in corporate America gave way to a yearning to be involved with a new wave of domestic brewing -- the craft brewing craze was in full swing. Gregg decided to walk away from the 400-pound gorilla, and joined the Pub Brewing Company. PBC was a young equipment manufacturer that was building turnkey brewing systems to enable entrepreneurs of all kinds to enter the hot microbrewery market.

At PBC, Gregg designed custom breweries, oversaw their installation, and started them up. On many occasions providing the recipes and brewing expertise that would shape that brewer's beers for years to follow. Though most of the work was on the east coast, some jobs brought Gregg to California, Utah, and even Italy and Brazil! It was a very exciting time in the brewing world.

As the 1990's wore on, so did the need for new brewing systems in America. The microbrewery industry had grown shamelessly too fast and as a result, many undercapitalized, unqualified, and get-rich-quick hopefuls found themselves out of business. This rapid increase in the brewery failure rate left a lot of slightly used brewing equipment on the market, and the manufacturers of the new ones were beginning to have a tough time finding new customers.

It was at this time that Gregg met some people at Tuchenhagen North America, a German brewery engineering firm with an office in Columbia, MD. They were looking for a technically sound brewer, who could liase with the brewers at AB, Coors, and Miller in order to sell very high-end brewery systems. Gregg saw this as a new and interesting challenge and joined Tuchenhagen in February of 1999.

The job was exciting. After two years of managing some very high-tech projects for the big guys with much success, the boys back in Germany made a decision to close its Maryland office, and Gregg was ready to take his destiny into his own hands.

IT IS TIME....

After a six-month stint consulting for Tuhenhagen, Gregg began planning Clay Pipe Brewing Company. In October 2001 he signed a lease in an industrial space on the west side of Westminster and in March of 2002 Clay Pipe was brewing beer.

Clay Pipe Brewing is a proud craft brewery located in Westminster, Carroll County, Maryland