Garrett Oliver, brewmaster of The Brooklyn Brewery, has won the 2014 James Beard Foundation Award for Excellence in the category of “Outstanding Wine, Beer, or Spirits Professional.”
This is the first time a beer professional has won the award since the James Beard Awards were established in 1990.
“This is my 20th year at Brooklyn Brewery, and I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate a banner year,” Oliver said. “Chefs are the closest peers of the modern craft brewer, so the culinary side of brewing has always been very important to me. I have a lot of friends in this room. This is a great honor, and I think it signals the fact that real beer is back where it belongs – at the table.”
Oliver began brewing professionally at Manhattan Brewing Company in 1989, then went to work at Brooklyn Brewery in 1994.
His first book, “Brewmaster’s Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food,” won the 2004 International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Book Award and was a finalist for the 2004 James Beard Foundation Book Awards. His most recent book is “The Oxford Companion to Beer.”