about

  • One hot morning in the summer of 1999, Mark Thompson found himself scraping paint off the windows of an abandoned brewery on Main Street in Charlottesville, Virginia. By September, the paint was gone, the brewery was restored, and Mark had launched Starr Hill. Brewing Company with the mission of bringing the gift of great beer to the world.

    A roundabout path brought Mark to that Main Street storefront on that June morning. Raised just outside of Charlottesville, Mark moved to Portland, Oregon after college to work for the Fish and Wildlife Service. He then began pursuing a master’s degree in biology. To make ends meet, he took a part-time job at Nor’Wester, a Portland microbrewery.

    In the early 90s, artisanal beer was still unknown on the East Coast. But in the dry summers and long, wet winters of the Pacific Northwest, microbrews thrived. It was in Portland that Mark learned two things: first, that the craft of artisanal brewing was one part science and one part art; second, that it was a lot cooler than anything he’d ever done as a biology student.

    Mark brought his family back to Charlottesville that spring of 1999 hoping to bring what he’d learned about beer in the Northwest—that beer is best when it’s crafted carefully and consumed locally—back to Virginia.

    Since then, Starr Hill has become the most award-winning brewery on the East Coast and among the most celebrated in the country. Our four ‘house’ beers—Amber Ale, Pale Ale, Jomo Lager, and Dark Starr Stout—have won 12 medals in the six years we’ve been around.

    Sure, the awards are great. Yes, the experts agree that we do great work, and that makes us proud. But at the end of the day, what matters most is giving people the gift of great beer.

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