The story of Brooklyn’s Other Half started on the other coast. Sam Richardson, the more bearded/less talkative of the two, studied Fermentation Science at Oregon State University. After college, he got his start in craft beer at places like The Ram in Seattle and Pyramid in Portland. While visiting his wife’s family on the east coast, he happened to come across a job posting looking for a brewer and decided to go for it. They soon found themselves moving some 3000 miles to New York so he could take on the role of head brewer at Greenpoint Beerworks. It was there that he met Other Half co-founder Matt Monahan, the more tattooed/less bearded of the duo. Initially starting in the food industry, Monahan was looking to make a switch due to the birth of his daughter.

“I didn’t want that lifestyle, those hours, for the rest of my life....I figured I’d be a much better dad on a brewer’s schedule.” Which, of course, has a downside. “I went from a chef’s salary to making nothing.” He took a job at Greenpoint as well, and it was there that he and Richardson hatched the idea of Other Half.