John Folinsbee isn't one to take up a hobby lightly.
"When I start something new, I tend to get a bit obsessive," he said.
Originally from North Carolina, Folinsbee moved to Squamish seven years ago after spending time skiing in Whistler. Not long after arriving in the Sea to Sky Corridor, he started playing online poker as a hobby.
"I played online poker for four or five years," he said. "It eventually became how I made a living."
But it also became increasingly difficult to make that living once the United States made it illegal for its citizens to gamble through online poker sites.
"Things really changed when the U.S. essentially made it illegal to play," he said. "It took away more than half of the poker playing pool, so that is like cutting your earnings in half."
Luckily, Folinsbee was already starting to obsess over a new hobby.
"I had started home brewing beer," he said. "Some old roommates in college had brewed beer and I liked the idea, although the first batch I ever brewed was god-awful."
But Folinsbee was hooked, and found himself pouring over every book on brewing he could find, and investing both time and money into a complex system of home brewing equipment.
"I must have spent hundreds if not thousands of hours researching and learning about brewing," he said.
After about eight months of brewing, Folinsbee decided to join a Vancouver home brewing club in 2012, and that's when all his obsessive hard work paid off.
"When I went to check out this club, they were taking entries for the B.C. Beer Awards competition," he said. "So, I entered a fresh-hopped American amber ale I had brewed."
That ale earned Folinsbee first place in the 2012 awards (Dan Small Homebrew Award) and a new job.
"That beer and award kind of got me my job at Steamworks," said.
Steamworks is an acclaimed brew pub located in Vancouver's Gastown.
Last year Steamworks also took home the B.C. Beer Awards' Best in Show award for its pilsner. The company has also started packaging its beers for out sales at its brewery in Burnaby.
"I'm going to be moving from the brew pub in Gastown to the brewery," Folinsbee said. "Brewing at the pub was like home brewing, but on a slightly larger scale. At the brewery it will be different equipment - keg lines, bottle lines - and on a much larger scale."
However, Folinsbee hasn't forgotten the joys of brewing right at his Squamish home, and this month he earned first place again for home brewing at the B.C. Beer Awards.
"This time I entered an Oktoberfest beer," he said. "It is a European lager that's richer and maltier than the lagers we drink here. It's great to win the award two years in a row, because unless you are a 'brewmaster,' it is hard to gain recognition in this industry."
Folinsbee said now his ultimate goal is to open a brewery in Squamish.
"It's my dream," he said. "I'm hoping it is viable, but I would love to open a brewery here in town. I'd also love to start a Squamish home brewing club and connect with other brewers in the community."
For more on the awards, go to bcbeerawards.com.
