Welcome to my website!

On March 2nd I retired from Beer Employment, but I remain committed to the Beer Industry.

Maybe you've visited my website before, or maybe this is your first time. Let me introduce myself briefly. I was a computer programmer in the 1980's, then attended the esteemed Siebel Institute of Brewing Technology in 1988 and henceforth my career was all about beer. I spent 33.5 years as a beer professional (mostly a craft brewmaster) before retiring in 2022 to focus on my own art business, while staying involved in the fermented beverages industry as a beer judge and Pink Boots Society volunteer.

This website has a warren of branching paths and is surprisingly deep. Sorry it looks antiquated, but I keep it up-to-date myself with Dreamweaver 4.0. If you poke around, it may reward you with hidden gems and funny stories.

You're retired?

Yup, and busier than ever. I love working, it's just that now I get to work at what I really want to work at. I'm an artist at heart. I loved the creativity of being a brewpub Brewmaster (1989-2007), and I have missed working my booth at beer festivals, speaking at beer events, and judging beer with my peers. I am decent at science, but my heart lies with art. And I always wanted to own, and work exclusively on, my own business.

Now I have rolled all my life experiences together: I can be a full-time artist, with a bit of science thrown in. I can utilize the business experience I've gained. And I can connect with art fans and my new tribe of fellow artists, while staying engaged in my beloved beer industry.

You're leaving beer?

Not at all! My plans to build my own small brewery in retirement went right out the window during the pandemic. The business model of "all fresh draft beer" and "if you build it they will come" failed miserably, and there's no way I wanted to take on packaging. So I sold my 2-barrel brewery (known to some as the "Lease A Nano" brewery system) to my friend John Harris at Ecliptic Brewing. The equipment that was going to be my tiny retirement nano brewery and taproom is now churning out experimental test batches as Ecliptic's pilot brewery, and I think that's just wonderful!

What will you do now?

Part of what I love about beer is the long tradition it holds within human culture, going back at least 6,000 years. Yet, before there could be fermentation, there had to be leak-proof vessels to ferment in. My plans are to build and grow my pottery business. Compared to running even a nano brewery taproom, this will be easy as I'll be the only employee. Pottery engages my interest in being part of a long tradition: Before there could be fermentation, there were humans who learned to work with clay and vitrify it with heat so that it could hold liquid. Once humans had clay vessels, it was just a short hop (pun intended) to fermented beverages, and thus beer was born. I feel like I get to remain part of that long history of human culture, and that makes me happy.

You have a pottery business?

Rain Dragon Studio was born during the pandemic. With no place to go and nothing to do on weekends, I had to create fun at home before I went nuts. So I built a pottery studio in my backyard, and became a "regular" at Georgies Ceramic & Clay in Portland, Oregon where I live. That's where I buy my clay, glazes and tools, and where I schlepped my finished work for firing (twice each piece) for two years until I bought my own kiln. Since I couldn't go anywhere on vacation because of Covid, I took "staycations" at home and worked on pottery.

Where can we see your pottery?

I'm glad you asked! Click here for my Rain Dragon Studio website. There's a whole rabbit hole for you to fall down into there, if you want to.

Where can we buy your pottery?

Thank youfor asking! I show at local art festivals, and I plan to grow that part of my business over time. These are the shows I have coming up in 2022:

Ceramic Showcase (annual)
May 6-7-8, 2022 (always Mother's Day weekend)
150 Potters, including me, plus five more Artist's Guilds
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon

Artists on Amherst (annual)
July 16-17, 2022 (always Cathedral Park Jazz Fest weekend)
Artists open their art studios on my block, including me.
6600-6900 block of N Amherst Street (look for yellow signs)
Portland, Oregon

Portland Open Studios (annual)
October 8-9 and 15-16, 2022 (always 2nd & 3rd weekends in Oct)
100+ artists open their studios all over Portland, including me.
6600 block of N Amherst Street (look for yellow signs)
Portland, Oregon

Rain Dragon Studio Holiday Pop-Up Online Store (annual)
November 20-December 4 (Sunday before Thanksgiving, for 2 weeks)
Preview starts a week earlier on November 13
I can only ship to USA addresses at this time

How can we contact you?

For beer-related business: teri @ roadbrewer . com.
For pottery-related business: potter @ raindragonstudio . com

Thanks for joining me on this journey. I hope you find interesting things to read here!

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