Keynote Speaker; Lunch & Legislate

Floyd was first elected to the Oregon Legislature in 1994. He served in the House of Representatives between 1995 – 2000 and 2003. Floyd was appointed to represent Oregon Senate District 4 in 2003. He was elected in 2004 to complete the current term and has been reelected since 2006.

Floyd graduated from Texas A&M University and later earned a law degree from the South Texas College of Law. An avid cyclist and home-brewer, he lives in Eugene with his wife. During the interim, Floyd works as a municipal prosecutor and serves on various legislative committees, workgroups and commissions.

Session: Innovation in a Challenging Market

Jason Hansen is the Director of Sensory and Innovation at Von Ebert Brewing in Portland, OR, where he has worked in various roles since 2018. Since taking on his current role, he has built a nascent sensory program from the ground up and guided an innovation pipeline for new products and processes. He is continually fascinated by all things relating to flavor, especially how humans perceive and communicate about it.

Session: Innovation in a Challenging Market

My name is Vern Johnson; I am a brewer for Deschutes Brewery and have been working for Deschutes for a little over 11 years.  During my time at Deschutes, I have been a tour guide, a production brewer, our barrel brewer, our pilot brewer, and a lead brewer.  I am currently the head brewer for our pilot brewery and contribute to the development and innovation of all of our new products.

Session: Innovation in a Challenging Market

Natalie Rose Baldwin (she/her), is Brewmaster at lager-focused brewery Wayfinder Beer in Portland, Oregon, and previously worked as a Research and Development Brewer at Breakside Brewery. Natalie's brewing interests vary with a predominant focus on esoteric lagers, hop and malt innovation as well as specialty beers using flowers, tea, spices, and fruit. She works with the Oregon Brewers Guild Diversity Committee, Pink Boots Society, and judges beer competitions around the world. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling and frolicking in the forever fields of flowers with her dog Beef.

Session: Best of the West Winners Panel

I’m Hispanic (first generation immigrant). I was born in Tijuana, Mexico in 1984. Moved to CA at the age of 8 not knowing more than a few English words. 

I started homebrewing in 2014 in Lake Elsinore, CA. My first brewing gig was at Black Market Brewing in Temecula, CA in 2016. My family and I moved to Oregon at the end of 2018. Since then, I’ve worked for Newport Brewing in Newport, OR (2019), Great Notion  (2020-2023) and Living Haüs (2023). In 2017, I created a homebrew membership called “The Order of the Magus” so that I could raise funds to brew more beers at home and upgrade my brewing equipment. Only the members of that club had access to my homebrews and that created an underground buzz for my beers. Running that homebrew membership for a few years while simultaneously brewing for a living and moving all over, took a lot out of me. I stopped homebrewing in 2023 to pursue Brujos on a professional level. 

I chose the name Brujos to reflect my hispanic heritage and my love of the occult (music, art, literature, etc).

We acquired the space we’re in now (Ex Hammer & Stitch) in 2023. We officially opened our doors to the public on March 2nd of 2024. Brujos specializes in Hazy IPA’s, West Coast IPA’s, Big Stouts, Hoppy Lagers and the occasional traditional lager. 

Session: Best of the West Winners Panel

Michal Frankowicz started his career in brewing over 15yrs ago at Fort George Brewery when it was a little ole brewpub running on a 10hL Saaz system.  Over time, he maneuvered his way into Head Brewer of Fort George and now operates three breweries, all in Astoria, OR.  With a passion for Brown Ale, and other styles like IPA, Michal has been testing the limits of how much flavor can go into beer using traditional and non traditional ingredients.

Session: Best of the West Winners Panel

After graduating from Johnson & Wales University in 2008 with a degree in Culinary Arts, Whitney began making artisan cheese at the Herbfarm Restaurant, a farm-to-table restaurant in wine-centric Woodinville, Washington. Whitney’s growing love of and interest in fermentation soon led to her home brewing and bread baking. Her passion for watching the fermentation process create beautiful new products over time grew into a desire to brew beer for a living. In 2009, after knocking on door after door and being turned down by every brewery in Seattle, she finally managed to convince Laurelwood Brewing Company in Portland, Oregon to let her work for free. From there she climbed the ropes and worked at some of the Northwest’s best breweries: first at Upright Brewing in Portland, then at Elysian in Seattle, then becoming the Head Brewer at Pelican in Pacific City, and finally in 2015 she opened the Pearl District location of 10 Barrel Brewing Company as Brewmaster. Whitney was Brewmaster for 10 Barrel Portland for almost 8 years making many award winning beers