Frederick Brewing TrailBlazer
Phil Bowers '83: a founding father of the Frederick microbrew movement.
Phil Bowers '83 turned a home brewing hobby into a Frederick institution.
Graduation Year
1983
For Phil Bowers '83, getting a Hood education had a sense of inevitability about it, since his father, Pete Bowers, was on the Board of Trustees and his grandmother, Isabel Houck Bowers 1920, mother, Eleanor Gambrill Bowers '46 and sister, Jenny Bowers Stenger '83 were/are all Hood alumnae.
After graduation when he began his 15-year career in the defense division of Westinghouse (Baltimore), he couldn't have known that a home brewing obsession would eventually lead to opening what became a Frederick mainstay of the microbrewery trend and a culinary landmark downtown: Brewer's Alley (among other breweries and restaurants).
Tell us a bit about your family's history with Hood.
My mother, grandmother and sister are all graduates and my father was on the Board of Trustees.
Briefly, what was your professional journey between Hood graduation and opening Brewer's Alley in 1996? Was opening a brewery always part of your plan?
I graduated with a degree in computer science and worked 14 years for the Defense Division at Westinghouse in Baltimore. The idea for brewing came out of my hobby of home brewing.
What's a favorite memory from your years as a student? Did any professors or friends have a strong impact on your life after Hood?
It was great to graduate with my sister. And Ann C. (Ann Catalinotto Commito '83, M.S.'87) had a great impact when I took my first computer programming class from her.
How has the brewing industry changed?
When we opened Brewer's Alley in 1996, we were one of only a few breweries in the state. Now the landscape in MD is full of breweries and other craft beverage companies.
- Favorite Food
- Favorite Drink
- Burgers or Dogs?
- Pineapple Pizza: absolutely... or absolutely not?
a. I love Italian food but also have to include chicken wings haha
b. I think I need to lean on beer with this question
c. I'll have one of each please
d. negative on that one
Brewer's Alley
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