Ad Astra Brewing Company launched December 2020. It is spearheaded by the talented Master Brewer Williams Walthereson. All who come through the doors will be embraced by his passion, as well as the retro inspired space decor, the inviting ambient lighting, and the craft beer selection.

    

Growing up in Southern California and recognizing his passion for hand crafted beer, Williams spent his early career working for Orange County’s barrel aging powerhouse, The Bruery. During this time, he began to hone his skills & developing his palate, working as a Cellarman in their wild barrel cellar at Bruery Terreux. He was an instrumental member of the team in sensory evaluation of barrels and compiling large blends of barrel aged wild beers. The Bruery was amazed by his sophisticated palate, and his knack for picking up complex flavoring notes and subtleties. 

 

In 2017, “Train to Beersel” won a silver medal at the Great American Beer Festival for oak aged sour beer, one of the most competitive categories. It was Walthereson’s first major beer award. In 2018, the same blend won Gold at the world beer cup.  Later that year Williams relocated to Phoenix, Arizona to be closer to his terminally Ill mother.

 

Williams came to the Copper State with big ambitions, geared towards expanding the barrel program & stainless cellar as Head Cellarman with The Wren House Brewing Company. He worked to increase the cellar and packaging efficiency, while learning hot-side recipe formulation. He put an emphasis on barrel aging strong beers for their bottle club and created a new fruited beer line that used copious amounts of exotic fruits and spices to create culinary flavors. “Devil’s Claw”, blended stout won Ratebeer’s highest rated beer in the state of Arizona. 

 

He soon found a new opportunity at Tempe’s, The Shop Beer Co., where he was Head Cellarman of a facility with a 560BBL fermentation capacity. With this equipment he was able to expand the production of “Church Music”, helped formulate a production rice lager, “Crispy”, and revamped the Neonic series. His most famous beer from his time in Tempe was the infamous imperial pastry stout “Dream Crusher”. Shortly thereafter, Williams decided it was time to go into business for himself. This is when Ad Astra Brewing Company became a reality. It is the culmination of years of hard work, dedication, passion and vision for craft beer. 

 

It’s only Ad Astra (to the stars) from here!