Brewmaster Matthew Schumacher and Crystal, his wife, were part of Goat Island Brewing’s fifth anniversary celebration on April 10. Appropriately, he says, it was the largest taproom crowd in the brewery’s history ... well, so far, anyway. People move to Cullman for many different reasons. Matthew Schumacher moved all the way from Seattle for the beer. More specifically, to become ...
The new brewmaster at Goat Island
Story and photos By David Moore
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hat first batch of homebrew 22-year-old Matthew Schumacher cooked up in January 1996 wasn’t made to celebrate the new year. Nor was it intended to launch a career as a brewmaster – an eventuality that earned him the distinction as probably the only person to ever move to Cullman because of the beer. Nope. It was done simply to make and enjoy – he hoped – a good brew. At the time, Matthew’s career path was teaching, so he studied secondary social science education at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. But he liked beer, and jumped into his new hobby with both feet, buying equipment and brewing and bottling a tricky five-gallon batch of Australian lager. “You had to control the temperature a lot more than other beers require,” he says. He still thinks it’s the best beer he ever drank. “It was one of those eureka moments,” he laughs. “It tasted good to an extent it was shocking. It was fairly complicated, and I got it right the first time I did it. It was a unique experience.” A roommate offered his own critique after a tentative sip. “I haven’t gone blind yet,” he proclaimed. Matthew returned to the homebrew store and bought ingredients for a stout he AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2021
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