The fact that you’re here means that we probably have two things in common: we are passionate about great beer, and we wonder what Alchemy & Science is.

In our case “we” refers to two people, Alan Newman and Stacey Steinmetz, two happy ex-pats of the Magic Hat Brewing Company. Alan co-founded Magic Hat (with brewer/partner Bob Johnson) in 1994 and Stacey joined as the first employee. We are proud to say we grew it to be #9 – the ninth largest craft brewery in America. We are proud of our growth and the beers we brewed. We had a great ride until the company was sold in 2010.

We came up with the name Alchemy & Science, registered it, and then started wondering what would we do next.

At first, we were committed to trying our hand in a different industry; we looked at everything from potato chips to wood stoves, but we kept a distant eye on the opportunities bubbling up in craft brewing. We were certain in that moment that our next act would NOT be in brewing.

That all changed when Alan had a beer with his old friend Jim Koch, brewer of Samuel Adams.

While life goes on, it is funny how beer can stay hidden in your veins.

We talked about the opportunities that existed in the craft industry, and how we might work together. We started getting excited about being back in the beer world.

Jim offered us a blank sheet of paper.

He offered us the freedom to run our company as we see best, finding, creating and managing craft beer opportunities. This was the proverbial “offer that is too good to pass up.”

We decided that Alchemy & Science would become an “independently operating” subsidiary of The Boston Beer Company. We would run it from offices in Burlington, Vermont. Best of all, we would have Jim Koch and the brewers and resources at Boston Beer to call on.

We now have the enviable mandate to make craft brewing in America an even better place. As things progress, we’ll expand this website to keep you informed. Stay in touch but please don’t send us any secret family recipes or other proprietary stuff.

Thank you for your interest and for tracking us down.

Cheers!
Alan & Stacey