Stuff-New Hampshire

16 S T U F F • N e w H a m p s h i r e , 2 0 1 8 Food & drinks From working for a yogurt giant to making their own booze, these manufacturers are in your fridge and pantry BY RYAN LESSARD S ometimes, when you want to break into a new industry or start your own company, you have to put in some sweat equity first. That's never easy, especially when you have a young family, but Brandon Olivier of Raymond says it's the best way to learn. Olivier actually works full-time at Walmart in sup- ply chain management, but on his days off, he clocks in at Great North Aleworks in Manchester. He says it's a perfect fit. "They knew exactly what I was interested in, they were willing to teach me and train me, and it's been awesome ever since," Olivier said. Learning how to make beer What he was interested in was learning how to run a small or large-scale brewery, either to work professionally as a brewer or start his own brewery someday. He first caught the brewing bug about five years ago after touring Allagash Brewing Co. in Portland, Maine – a fairly big brewery – and then visiting Bissell Brothers Brewing Co., also in Portland, which was pretty small. "This is awesome," he remembers thinking to him- self. "I can do this." He got a homebrew kit for Christmas from his brother-in-law Connor Mele, and his wife Marissa pushed him to pursue it as a career, even while nurs- ing a newborn infant. He's been at Great North for about one year. His daughter is now 17 months old. And in that time, he's already learned a lot, just by brewing, canning, kegging, cleaning and organizing the brewery space and constantly checking the fer- mentation process. Mainly, it helps him to bridge the gap between the tiny homebrew scale he first dabbled with to the real production scale of a brewery like Great North. "Everybody wants to make good beer," Olivier said. Brandon Olivier wants to open his own brewery and took a part-time job to learn the tricks of the trade. P H O T O / J E S S I C A A R N O L D

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