My name is Thomas 'Tom' Cizauskas.
Among my interests, one which holds my profound attention is beer. I might say that I have a love affair with beer: not simply its tastes - as delicious, complex, and varied as they may be - but its history, science, lore, and evolving creation. In the good beer trade since the early 1990s, I have been a brewer; a brewery manager; a brewpub owner; a brewery consultant; a restaurant manager; a beer writer, blogger and speaker; and a beer and wine salesman. Beer may be my profession, but cask ale —the beauty of beer at its freshest— is my mission.
2016 - present
Freelance consulting in beer and brewery brand development, particularly for the industry in the southeast United States.
2008 - 2015: Select Wines, Inc.
A salesman for Select Wines, Inc., a northern Virginia wholesaler of wine and craft and imported beer.
2008 and Prior
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From 2004 through July 2008, I was southeastern U.S. Territory Manager for the Clipper City Brewing Company of Baltimore, Maryland [as of 2010, known as Heavy Seas Brewing Company]
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From 2001 through 2004, I was a representative for Legends, Limited, an importer of Scottish and British ales, and a distributor of beer and wine in Maryland.
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In early November 2000, I purchased and operated Sisson's, a venerable brewpub in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of a quartet of investors.
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I was the brewmaster (that is, the lead brewer and plant foreman) for Local Brewing Company, a brewing and bottling beer production facility in Westlake, OH, from its planning stages and construction in 1996/7, through operations into late 1998.
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In 1996/1997, I was the original head brewer for the Manayunk Brewing Company, a brewpub still thriving in Philadelphia, PA.
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In November 1995, I lectured at the Smithsonian Institution on American beer styles. I continue to offer lectures on beer to numerous organizations [and am available to speak to yours].
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From 1993 through November 1995, I was a brewer and then brewery manager at the Oxford Brewing Company. Founded in 1988 - then the British Brewing Company - it was the first post-Prohibition micro-brewery in Maryland.
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Enjoying my once-a-year smoke,with a stein of Bitburger: Washington D.C., 1999.
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I learned my craft in the early 1990s by taking extensive coursework at the Siebel Institute of Brewing Technology. In the summer of 2001, I brushed up via an online course, Intensive Brewing Science and Engineering, offered by the American Brewers Guild, then of Woodland CA.
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Also:
- Brewer at Wallaby's Brewpub in Westlake, OH.
- Brewer at Liberty Street Brewpub in Akron, OH.
- Restaurant manager at Two Quail Restaurant in Washington, DC: 1985-1992, 1999-2000.
- Radio deejay.
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Curriculum vitae
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