The first beer Courtney ever brewed was a partial-mash porter with her friend, Angelo (now head brewer at Yankee Tank Brewing). She can’t remember if she hit her gravity. She can’t remember how it tasted. But it sparked a curiosity about beer and brewing in her that has done nothing but grow.
Courtney joined the Lawrence Brewers Guild in 2012 and currently serves as the club’s vice president. She has brewed hundreds of different beers, challenging herself to try new things, learn new styles and explore new and inventive flavor profiles. She has had the opportunity to participate in a few scale-ups at professional breweries and has won several awards for her homebrew.
Before beer, Courtney’s passion was writing. She worked for several years at a small town newspaper covering a variety of beats — her favorite was the crime and courts beat, followed closely by feature writing. After her newspaper gig, she started an almost decade long career in higher education marketing. She currently works as a digital marketing strategist for The University of Kansas.
Courtney’s biggest passion, though, is her family. Courtney and Brandi got married in 2015. Together, they have a 12-year-old son, Aaron, who has a passion for Transformers, fedoras and craft soda. Their youngest son, Dylan, soon will turn 10 months old and is over the moon about his newfound ability to walk. When Courtney is not brewing, you can expect she’s spending time with them. She also is a LEGO collector, Food Network junkie, avid fan of all things Marvel and DC, has the best lawn on the block, can create a mean homemade wreath and is obsessed with chips and salsa (to the point where one time it gave her an ulcer).