THE WOMAN BEHIND
THE BENCH A CHAT WITH HEAD BREWER, SARAH CASORSO OF BENCH BREWING COMPANY By Jill Tham
After a successful professional hockey career playing with the Buffalo Beauts, Sarah Casorso followed her instincts and started a new journey in beer. Cheerful, motivated, and down to earth, Casorso has found a home and vocation she enjoys as the Head Brewer at Bench Brewing Company. With two years of brewing in Ontario under her belt, Casorso is paving the way for women in the beer industry. When did you know you wanted a career in beer? For me it started after I moved back from Austria, having played hockey there for a season after university. I moved out to Niagara in September of 2016 where I started my professional hockey career in Buffalo. Given my family’s farming and grape growing background and where I was living in Ontario’s wine country, a job in the wine industry was still on my mind. But given the rise of craft beer, I thought that growing hops might also be a good idea, so when I was applying for jobs I also considered roles that might help me learn more about beer. During my search, I was actually offered two jobs at the same time. One was at a big wine company and the other was at a small start-up brewery as the Head Brewer – only two weeks after I had moved to Ontario! At this point, I didn’t even know what all the ingredients were in beer! I chose the beer opportunity because I love how accessible it is and I love the challenge that comes with learning something new. And was there ever a lot to learn! Once I tasted that first beer that I had made with my own two hands, I was hooked. It was right then that I knew I wanted to make a career in beer.
