Big Bend Brewing Co. brewmaster Steve Anderson dies

Victor R. Martinez | El Paso Times

Steve Anderson, the man responsible for creating flavor profiles for many Texas craft beers, died in his home in Alpine Nov. 25 after a long battle with cancer.

Anderson, the brewmaster at the Big Bend Brewing Co. in Alpine, Texas, is considered one of the pioneers of the craft beer scene in Texas.

"Big Bend Brewing Company lost our brewmaster and all of Texas lost a true craft beer pioneer and a friend," Robert Cevallos, the director of marketing for Big Bend wrote in an e-mail.

"Steve loved beer," Cevallos continued, "He was, in the words of one of his closest friends, 'the best man in the world to drink a beer with.' Steve’s entire career was a tribute to beer, friends, and having beers with friends."

Big Bend's craft beer has been available in El Paso since 2013.

Big Bend Brewing produced its first batch of beer in a 3,000-square-foot facility in Alpine in October 2012.

"Steve was one of those laid-back guys who always had a smile on his face," said Adrian Perez, the craft-import specialist manager for L&F Distributors. "One time I asked him why and he said, 'because I'm always thinking of something funny.' That's who he was."

Anderson, who was 53, died of prostate cancer.

"He was one of those guys who was a quick shooter," Perez said. "If you would say something, he would come back with a smart remark that would make everybody in the room crack up."

Anderson, who was born in Dallas in 1962, opened Waterloo Brewing in Austin with his close friend Billy Forrester in 1993.

When Waterloo closed in 2001, Anderson became the head brewer at Austin’s Live Oak Brewing Co. until 2012 when he moved to Alpine to open Big Bend Brewing with Chicago entrepreneur Matt Kruger.

"I knew of Steve right before he moved to Big Bend," Perez said. "Steve was right in the forefront of Texas craft beer. He always talked about Alpine and living in the country. That was him, that's what made him happy."

Perez said Anderson will be honored at the Rahr & Sons firkin tapping event at 6 p.m. Wednesday at at Hoppy Monk, 4141 N Mesa.

"It's a Rahr event but Texas breweries stick together so we'll toast to Steve and say thank you to him one last time," Perez said.

A firkin is a small barrel of beer that is one-fourth the size of a regular barrel of beer. Typically, the firkin is dedicated to housing Real Ale (i.e., cask-conditioned ale), or beer that has not been cold-filtered, pasteurized and carbonated by outside equipment.

Perez calls Anderson, a one-of-a-kind brewmaster.

"He revitalized the Texas craft beer market one keg at a time," he said. "We would see the Big Bend truck every where and we wondered, 'who are these people?' Once we meet them and began working with them, we realized they were the friendliest people you would ever want to meet."

Victor R. Martinez may be reached at 546-6128; vmartinez@elpasotimes.com; @vrmart on Twitter.

Final toast

What: A celebration of life party for Steve Anderson, brew master of Big Bend Brewing Company. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to Pints for Prostate, an organization created to encourage men to have regular prostate screenings.

When: 3 p.m. (CST) on Dec. 5.

Where: Big Bend Brewing Co., 3401 W. Highway 90, Alpine, Texas.

Information: 432-837-3700 or info@bigbendbrewing.com.