Like many new brewery founders, Ryan Anglen homebrewed as a hobby and spent the last decade in high tech. He always longed to start his own business, "I had one chance to turn a hobby into a career, despite the risks". However, Ryan knew that he couldn't do it alone and understood the difficulty in going from homebrewing to production brewing. He decided to search for a partner with production brewery experience and found Kris Gray.
Kris started homebrewing in college and quickly caught the bug. He decided to move to New Zealand after college to get a job in the burgeoning beer market there. He started brewing at a small English style brew pub that focused on traditional open fermentation brewing and only served beer from casks. After a year of brewing in New Zealand, Kris landed a job with Stone Brewing Company in San Diego as an Assistant Brewer. Kris attended brewing school and worked his way up to Brewing Supervisor within a few years, but longed to get back to his roots in Texas.
Ryan brought Kris on very early in the build out process so he would have full say in the layout and style of the brewhouse, "I wanted Kris's personality in the business too, especially in the brewhouse", says Ryan. Kris has a regimented background coming from Stone. With the opportunity to have creative freedom, Kris was drawn to Whitestone Brewery.
