Great North Aleworks is a 20 barrel production brewery located in Manchester, NH. Founded by Rob and Lisa North, the brewery’s goal is simple – to craft flavorful, food friendly beers, while maintaining a fanatical devotion to quality.
Great North Aleworks has been a dream of Rob & Lisa’s for many years. Rob has been a long time home brewer and after rediscovering the craft back in 2007, he immersed himself in the hobby. Lisa was always extremely happy with the outcome, and even talked Rob into teaching her how to brew some creations of her own.
Around that same time both Rob & Lisa became active members of the New Hampshire homebrew club Brew Free or Die and began entering their beers in competitions. Rob did well in those competition, including being crowned four time Brewer of the Year at the New England Regional Homebrew Competition, taking a silver medal in the final round of the 2013 National Homebrew Competition, and twice making the semi-finals of the Sam Adams Long Shot Competition. In 2010 Rob won the Samuel Adams Patriot Homebrew Competition which gave him the opportunity to brew his beer at the Sam Adams brewery in Boston and have it served on tap at Gillette Stadium for the 2010 New England Patriots season.
Rob has also achieved a National rank in the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) and Lisa has earned the level of Certified Beer Server in the Cicerone Certification Program.
By 2011, it was time to make the dream a reality; Rob and Lisa decided that Rob would leave his day job in the IT world to pursue opening a brewery. Shortly after leaving the corporate world, Rob spent the majority of 2013 working as the first Assistant Brewer at Newburyport Brewing Company, all the while perfecting his recipes, searching for a location, and refining the business plan.
There IS a story behind the name. First is the dedication to brewing beers with great flavor and great quality. Second is the most obvious – Rob & Lisa’s last name is North. To tie that all together, Rob & Lisa were both born and raised in Canada, a.k.a “The Great White North”.
Brew day at Sam Adams
On tap at Gillette Stadium
