Meet David Gonzalez, our New Director of Brewing
See Editor’s note at the end of this story for an update.
David Gonzalez’s passion for craft beer was ignited in the mid- 1990s while working a summer job at a bottle shop on Long Island, where he was raised.
Gonzalez would sample and evaluate all the different styles of beer among the few hundred or so varieties sold in the shop. You could say it was this initial exposure to the growing craft industry that launched his career. Well, maybe that… and a sweatshirt.
“I was in a coffee shop in Port Jefferson, teaching high school social studies at the time, when a guy came over to ask me about the James Bay Brewing sweatshirt I was wearing,” says Gonzalez. It turned out that guy was the owner and Head Brewer, who invited Gonzalez to spend a day there. “From then on, I was hooked.”
David’s (aka, DG’s) extensive brewing knowledge stems from his education at Siebel Institute of Technology’s Short Course in Brewing Technology, where he learned the technical side of craft brewing. From there, his knowledge was gained in the field — working in small brew pubs and breweries in the northeast before spending more than a decade as a Head Brewer at the corporate brewpub chain, Rock Bottom in Charlotte.
He continued to develop his taste and techniques in a variety of positions at local breweries in North Carolina and in operations for growing breweries rapidly expanding their brewing capacity.
With his vast experience, DG caught the attention of Dave Hamme of Lost Worlds Brewing. Lost Worlds is a craft brewery in Cornelius aiming to open in January 2020. Hamme, a passionate home brewer and business consultant, was looking for the right person to lead the planned 10-barrel brewing operation. “Our paths crossed at just the right time, DG brings critical insight and a wealth of experience to our planning,” said Hamme. “We share the same overall philosophy on brewing and in collaborating with partners across the craft beer industry. DG is widely known throughout North Carolina as a seasoned veteran and a lifeline for troubleshooting when other breweries run into problems.”
In the years prior to joining Lost Worlds Brewing, DG has been an active advocate for the North Carolina craft industry:
Gonzalez spent two tours on the Board of Directors for the North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild (serving as the first vice president in its history)
He’s judged numerous beer competitions including the Carolinas Championship of Beers, North Carolina Brewer’s Cup, and The American Brewers Palate.
He’s the humble owner of many medals, winning dozens of Gold, Silver, and Bronze at the Carolinas Championships of Beers during a 5 year span at Rock Bottom Brewery in Charlotte (around 26, but who’s counting), was part of the NoDa Brewing team that brought home a Gold Medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2016, as well as other hardware during his stints at Foothills Brewing and Rivermen Brewing.
Fun Fact: His youngest son’s name is Porter. Coincidence? We think not..
When DG’s not developing new recipes and perfecting classics, he spends his time with his wife and 4 boys, hiking and visiting other breweries, of course.
Lost Worlds, set to open Spring, 2020, was founded to create a basecamp for likeminded adventure-seekers to craft their next adventure while enjoying quality beer brewed in their community. Simply put, we brew beer that we’re proud to pour and that’ll satisfy your thirst in the purist sense. From the taproom, you can peer directly into our 10BBL brewing system where there is always something new being crafted. In our outdoor biergarten, you (and your pet) can enjoy the Carolina weather, music, and food trucks.
EDITOR NOTE: This article was published on September 18, 2019. Never would we have imagined opening under an unprecedented global pandemic. That said, we did, to the credit of the brewery’s leadership. Shifting from a taproom model, to a distribution and to-go model, this shift meant that DG and his assistant, Harrison, were brewing often - long days, into the weekend. Todd Bowman, editor of BeerCharlotte.com captured this point in time best. You can read it here…