Officers
Kari Vaughn
President
Kari grew up in North Carolina, lived in Chicago after college, and moved to New York during the pandemic — all incredible places for beer. Her love of cooking, desire to know how things work, and stubborn proclivity to make things herself contributed to her interest in homebrewing. She officially started brewing in 2019 after receiving a membership to the local homebrew club as a gift (shoutout CHAOS). She loves saisons, porters, and witbiers. Aside from brewing, she enjoys eating ice cream, photography, and devising new beer and cheese pairings.
Rob Jenkins
Vice President
Rob moved to New York in 2014 after growing up in a small town in North Carolina. He always liked beer, but never fell in love with it until a friend invited him to "check out some new brewery in Red Hook called Other Half" in early 2014. A year later Rob started brewing after being given a homebrew kit for Christmas. Rob's brewing these days tends to focus on NEIPAs, saisons, British bitters, and pale ales. Outside of brewing, Rob loves hanging out with his daughter Amelia, supporting his beloved Arsenal, playing guitar, and pondering how to bring about worldwide revolution.
Joey Burke
Events Officer
Hailing from the Bay Area, Joey has been in NYC a little over four years now. He started homebrewing around two years ago after happening upon Bitter & Esters. He bought a starter kit and hasn’t stopped brewing since. Joey really appreciates the community he is a part of in the Brewmies, and the friends he’s made as a result of joining the club. Joey enjoys brewing classic styles and always likes to have a West Coast IPA on tap. Other than brewing, Joey enjoys hanging with his wife and cat, watching football (or thinking about football) and exploring new neigborhoods and restaurants. This is his first year as an officer and he’s excited to help plan lots of exciting events for the club this year. Sláinte!
Ben Kainz
Treasurer
Coming from Milwaukee, Wisconsin was enough of a reason to have an interest in beer, but Ben officially got started in home brewing after receiving a Brooklyn Brew Shop starter kit for the holidays 7 years ago. From there he joined the Brewminaries and it’s been a fun hobby bordering on obsession ever since. Ben loves to brew anything and everything (except brewing the same beer twice) and has dabbled in other fermentables like mead, cider, sake, and more. A pilsner, west coast IPA, or dry Irish stout is his go-to order at the pub but he’s not picky.
Ben is a Film Producer by trade, working on feature documentaries and commercials.
Colleen Davy
Science Officer
Colleen was born and raised in Dublin, Ohio (home of Wendy's and the Field of Corn) and has been slowly moving her way east ever since, spending 11 years in Pittsburgh (home of the Steelers and putting fries on everything) and a few years in New Jersey (home of... pork roll?) before heading on up to Brooklyn in 2016. Her love of brewing started on her 24th birthday, when she received a one-gallon Mr Beer homebrewing kit and her cat, Thor. The Mr. Beer kit is long gone, but her cat and love of brewing live on. She has also expanded out to meads, kombuchas, sourdough bread, and just about anything else fermentable. She brews anything that does well in an NYC apartment with too many radiators (e.g., saisons) and has been known to make wheat beers just because they make your apartment smell amazing. Outside of fermenting things, she does data and assessment things in higher education and teaches college students about data analytics and psychology.
Josh Vickery
Dean of Brewminaries
Josh grew up around homebrew, helping his father brew and bottle batches in Queens as a kid in the 80s. He brewed on and off after that, until Bitter & Esters lured him back in 2017. At B&E’s annual brewery bike ride, Rachel Zeiss effectively recruited him to the Brewminaries, and he’s been brewing regularly ever since.His first love in beer was Bell’s Two Hearted Ale, and he’s leans towards more malt forward styles these days, though he’s also made a fish sauce beer with Joseph Zhong.When he’s not brewing you might find him on a bike, working on a project (3d printers, espresso machines, or something new), or making dinner.
Darren Price
Secretary
Darren’s from the teetotaling part of Virginia but moved to New York after spending a beer-loving decade in South Carolina (go Gamecocks.) He picked up homebrwing after getting the same kit you probably got back when he was 23, and gave it up after about 7 mediocre batches and one truly horrible pineapple IPA. But - he picked it back up in 2020 and hasn’t stopped crowding the one-bedroom he shares with his wife, dog and two cats with kegs and tubing since! He loves to brew Belgian beers and sip hazy IPAs, but his first true love is Miller High Life. Outside brewing, Darren is an avid runner, cook and loves taking trips with his wife. He also spends a good deal of time talking about coffee with Josh.
Former Officers
2023
President - Laney Vela
Vice President - Kari Vaughn
Events Officers - Alex Kalaf
Treasurer - John Scott
Science Officer - Tim O’neal
Dean - J Francisco Balderas Woolrich
Secretary - Brett Vanderbrook
2022
President - Roman Goyenko
Vice President - Brett Vanderbrook
Events Officers - Josh Vickery and Dustin Wheeler
Treasurer - John Scott
Science Officer - Tim O’Neal
Dean - Geoff Walano
Secretary - Rob Jenkins
2021
President - Pia Sen
Vice President - Alex Kalaf
Events Officer - Brett Vanderbrook
Treasurer - Joseph Zhong
Science Officer - Tyler Cannon
Dean - Dustin Wheeler
Secretary - Josh Vickery
2020
President - Theresa Ten Eyck
Vice President - Pia Sen
Events Officers - Rachel Zeiss and Brett Vanderbrook
Treasurer - Joseph Zhong and Calista Nasser
Science Officer - Alex Kalaf
Dean - Claudia Jones-Bourne
Secretary - Carrie Soom
2019
Dictator - Carrie Soom
Vice Dictator - Ben Kainz
Events Officer - Rachel Zeiss
Treasurer - Theresa Ten Eyck
Science Officer - Colleen Davy
Dean - Alex Neubauer
Secretary - Renee Jonas
2018
Dictator - Rachel Zeiss
Vice Dictator - Ariel Schwarz
Events Officer - Tara Hankinson
Treasurer - Greg Badavas
Science Officer - Ben Kainz
Dean - Leo Gil
Secretary - Carrie Soom
2017
Dictator - Rachel Zeiss
Vice Dictator - Ariel Schwarz
Events Officer - Sheri Jewhurst
Treasurer - Merlin Ward
Science Officer - Alex Biedermann
Dean - Otto Berkes Jr.
Secretary - Dustin Pope
2016
Dictator - Sheri Jewhurst
Vice Dictator - Merlin Ward
Events Officer - Alex Kalaf
Treasurer - Robert Sherrill
Science Officer - Xavier Serrano
Dean - Katarina Martinez
Secretary - Alex Biedermann
2015
Dictator - Sheri Jewhurst
Vice Dictator - Merlin Ward
Events Officers - Alex Kalaf and Robert Sherrill
Treasurer - Barry Wasser
Science Officer - Xavier Serrano
Secretary - Ive Rodriguez