Inside the brewery

This year we’re spending some time with our brew team and other folks at Sebago who get the goods — whether it’s a small batch beer on draft or a case of Haze Forward — from our brewery to you. We’re starting with three key members of the team: Peter Dahlen, Directory of Brewery Operations; Rusty Packer, Head Brewer; and Tim Bissell, Packaging Manager.

Peter Dahlen, Director of Brewery Operations

How would you describe your job? 

My day-to-day is very dynamic. I spend a lot of time working on production planning, scheduling, ingredient inventories, and troubleshooting equipment. There’s also quality assurance, R&D discussions, sales support, and in between all of those tasks, forklift driving.

Every once and a while, I get to put my brewers’ boots and gloves back on and help with the real brewing, cellaring, and packaging roles of being an actual brewer — which is what I love and initially got me into the industry.

Why did you get into the brewing business in the first place?  

Back in 2005, I spent a fall in Tuscany harvesting grapes for a small vineyard’s annual production. I really enjoyed being a part of the process and after returning home I turned that experience towards home brewing beer and began exploring all the craft beers I could come across.

After a couple years, I aimed my brewing passions towards seeing if I could make a career out of it. I began looking for job postings at breweries in the area and found an entry-level position that worked with my “avid home-brewer” level of experience at Sebago Brewing in 2008. I’ve grown with the brewery since.

What’s your favorite beer brewed by Sebago?

Milestone has been one of my favorite beers to make, and we’ve only made it twice, in 2010 and 2023. The most recent time was great because we brought back in our former Brewmaster, Tom Abercrombie, to participate in the brew day. Having another friendly face back in the brewery always makes for a great day, and the process that we used for the beer made for an exciting experience.

For this one we used several batches of granite that were heated up to 1000°F in our pizza oven before adding it to the collected wort. We sourced four different variations on Citra hops to bring even more intensity to the citrus character to this unique beer. The experience of dropping hot rocks into wort is extremely impractical, but it has something for all the senses that only brewers there in that moment get to experience.

Rusty Packer, Head Brewer

How would you describe your job?

I have described my job as the one that gets to do all the fun stuff in the brewery — and it’s a bit all over the place. You will find me bopping between the lab, brewhouse, mill room, office computer and then back to the lab again. Honestly, pinning any of us down can be a task on its own.

There’s so much walking time from spot to spot, but that’s how I get a lot of my thinking done. I’m the guy that always has to have something up his sleeve to make something new and exciting… the idea guy. I’m also the dude scratching his head trying to figure out why something changed on the brewhouse or cellar. And then figuring out how we get back on track. My motto: Everything is figureoutable. I actually have a thing on my desk that says that. 

Why did you get into the brewing business in the first place?  

The year was 2007 and my girlfriend at the time bought me a homebrew set as a gift, so we started making beer in our in-law apartment in Berkeley. No one told us to make sure the worm clamps were tightened before we ran the chiller either. We drenched our kitchen that day and our beers were pretty bad, so I started helping out in a brewery in San Francisco. I wanted to get free yeast and gain some knowledge. I wound up with a part time job there, but the homebrew didn’t get better. My girlfriend and I got married, moved East, and I never stopped making beer. I think it’s starting to taste better.

What’s your favorite beer brewed by Sebago?

I have two. Milestone 2023 because that day was nuts. We had a crazy set up and really went for it that day!  Everyone go into lugging granite and nuking the wort over and over again. I like to believe it had an influence in the final project.

Club NUVO is right up there right as well, because we hosted the collab and had a great turn out.  It was a proud moment for myself and the brewers really nailed it too that day.  The beer turned out to be pretty killer too!

Tim Bissell, Packaging Manager

How would you describe your job?

Put simply, I manage the crew that takes the delicious beer and beverages that are created by the brew team and transfer those products from large (40-160bbl) tanks into either draft kegs or aluminum beverage cans. Where Peter oversees the whole production operation and Rusty manages the input stage, or the front end of the production cycle, I manage the back end of that cycle. I make sure we have the staff, materials, and equipment we need to package the finished liquid into the appropriate containers, for both our restaurants and distributors.

On average, we produce around 2,500 to 3,000 cases of beer per week, while also filling anywhere from 50-200 kegs depending on current needs. 

Why did you get into the brewing business in the first place?  

I consider myself part of the “avid home brewer” generation of brewery staff. I got into drinking beer in college, and since I tend to be on the curious side, I decided to learn as much as I could about beer and how it’s made. That started an almost two-decade passion that hasn’t waned a bit!

I began as a co-brewer/co-owner as a very small, now closed brewery in Western Maine in 2013, but after some time there I wanted a different look at the industry, as it was a time of great growth and excitement for craft beer. In 2019, I hung up my brewing boots, then quickly took them off the hook and started calling them my packaging boots when I joined the packaging team at Banded Brewing in Biddeford. I started as a Packaging Technician, eventually becoming a Packaging Lead and taking over the Packaging Manager/Warehouse Manager role before the opportunity at Sebago opened up.

From working countless brew festivals over my years in the industry, I had met Kai Adams multiple times and was always impressed with not only how Sebago had progressed as a company over the years, but also with how much fun they always seemed to be having. It was the spring of 2021 that I saw the Packaging Manager position listed and decided to throw my hat in the ring. Almost five years later, I’m still pretty happy with myself for taking that chance!

What’s your favorite beer brewed by Sebago?

While I have a certain fondness for BoddingTim’s Pub Ale — our very thinly disguised Boddinton’s Pub Ale homage — I would have to say my favorite beer that we brew here at Sebago is the Oktoberfest. I love lagers, and Streets of Rome is definitely my “daily driver,” but I always look forward to Oktoberfest season. I love how crisp and clean our version is, while still presenting with some lovely darker malt flavors. It’s a great hybrid of the traditional Marzen and the more modern Festbier style. I get a little sad as I drink my last pint every year. Can’t wait for next year’s batch!