Chris Cramer has been making beer in paradise for a living since 1989 when he and his business partner, Matt Rattner, co-founded Karl Strauss Brewing Company, the first new brewery to open in the city of San Diego in more than 50 years. Since then Chris has enjoyed continuously pioneering in San Diego’s craft brewing industry, opening the city’s first distributing brewery in 1991 and over the years adding nine more brewpubs. While the brewery’s distributed beer operations have remained focused on its one-state home market (“Karlifornia”), Karl Strauss has grown to become one of the top 50 craft brewers in the United States. Chris takes particular pride in having introduced many Southern Californians to their first craft beer and in knowing the DNA of Karl Strauss Brewing Company runs throughout the San Diego brewing industry; he has helped numerous friends and former teammates branch-off to follow their own brewing dreams, making San Diego’s thriving craft beer scene a much more fun and interesting place to work and play.
