About Us
In the summer of 2008 The Godfather was at the local packie looking at the beer selection when he thought: "Well, I know I've had some of these – and some were better than others. I can't remember which exactly were my favorites – and I really have no idea if I'd like any of these others beers! What I need is a way to track what I've had, what I think of them, and then have something tell me if I'm likely to enjoy all of these other beers."
At that moment, BrewGene was born.
The Godfather realized right away that while he thought this was a great idea, he realized it was something he would not be able to do on his own. So he called up his good friend The Business Brain and explained his vision.
For the next several months The Business Brain spent his time learning everything he could about the beer industry. He worked to familiarize himself with the industry, who are the big players (other than the obvious answers like "Anheuser-Busch"), what role has the internet played in the beer world, and most importantly – is there a place for BrewGene. While it seemed like there definitely was a gap that BrewGene could fill, he couldn't get past the feeling of "I need to know how we'll make money before I want to invest more resources in this project."
Because they weren't feeling ready to take on the investment needed to hire someone to build their dream, the two of them realized they needed to find someone who could take over and build this thing from the ground up – in came The Skipper. The Godfather had known The Skipper literally his entire life (he is in actuality his godfather) – and knew he had a business mind, understood databases, knew how to build websites, and of course – loved beer.
The Skipper was ready to come in and take over this project before he was officially asked to do so. He brought with him his long-time friend The Social Savant – the two of them were ramping off a previous venture and realized that together they could turn BrewGene into a true player in the digital world of Beer.
Together they started creating the BrewGene website, playing with different tools for interacting with the site, toying with how ratings would turn into recommendations, and overall brainstorming "what would make this the most fun and useful Beer site the world has ever seen".
...a year later...
The App Guy was at the store trying to decide which beer he should get, but was worried he wouldn't like some of the ones he'd never tried. That's when he said "there needs to be an app that can tell me which beers I'll like." When he got home he did some research and found and contacted BrewGene. He and The Skipper sat down to brainstorm and have a beer, and it quickly became evident that The App Guy needed to be involved.
Once BrewGene had its website in place and app along the way they realized they needed to start spreading the good beer word. Along came The Duffy Crew, there to help with PR, Marketing, and general brand growth (let alone redesigning the website change from The Beer Genome to BrewGene).
The Team (in order of appearance)
John "Mugg" Muggeridge graduated from MIT in 1980. Mugg always helps the team keep the big picture in mind – and makes sure everyone is pushing towards the joint big-picture goals they all share. He married his college sweetheart, Karen, and together they have raised two amazing daughters.
Mugg is an avid Red Sox fan, and always enjoys a good beer while watching the game. Some of Mugg's favorite beers are Newcastle, Sam Adams Honey Porter, and Murphy's Irish Stout.
Check out Mugg's profile to see what other beers he has been trying lately.
Mike Kelly got a couple of degrees from MIT in 1983, and an MBA from Harvard in 1990. Mike has worked with a variety of start-ups and smaller business ventures – spending the last 10 years running private equity owned businesses. Mike pulls on his past experiences to help the team always keep the business aspects of BrewGene at the front of everyone's minds, and help ensure these thoughts shape the actions they need to take. He and his wife, Sharon, have raised two wonderful daughters who are both away at college. Rah!
Mike is always looking for a new challenge, and has recently been enjoying the excitement of finding and trying new and sometimes interesting brews. A few of his favorites are Guinness, Chimay Première, and Berkshire Traditional.
Check out Mike's profile to see what other beers he has been trying lately.
Connor Tyrrell graduated from Babson College in 2008, and since then has been working for Accenture. For the past five years he has been doing the occasional freelance consulting work. However, lately this has been replaced by his work on BrewGene. Connor applies the organization, high quality standards, and goal-oriented-planning from his full-time-job to help shape the work he does with BrewGene. He oversees all of the day-to-day activities of BrewGene, in addition to having built and maintaining the website.
Connor looks for a new beer everywhere he goes – if he sees something on the menu he's never tried you can be darn sure that's what he's going to order. Some of his favorites are Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat, Blue Moon, and Sam Adams Cherry Wheat.
Check out Connor's profile to see what other beers he has been trying lately.
Justin Unger graduated from Babson College in 2008. He's now working at Digitas in the Strategy and Analysis department. Justin is an entrepreneur at heart with a passion for mobile, social and all things digital. As a result he's always brainstorming new ways to improve your experience here at BrewGene. If you see a "fun" feature on BrewGene, it likely spawned from Justin's creative mind.
Justin is as curious about beer as anyone can be, and enjoys the hunt of finding that special little something he hasn't yet tried. Some of his favorites are Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale, and Long Trail Double Bag.
Check out Justin's profile to see what other beers he has been trying lately.
Erik Asmussen graduated from Colgate University in 2004 with a degree in neuroscience and digital music, so naturally he pursued a career in programming as soon as he got his degree. After a stint in the corporate world, he decided to stake it out on his own as an independent software developer. He runs his own development studio 82 Apps and self-publishes games and utilities for iOS and OSX. He is the sole author of the iPad game New World Colony.
Erik's beer preferences tend to straddle the beer distribution as he enjoys wheat and belgian beers as well as dark stouts and porters, but tends to avoid lagers and hoppy beers. He became interested in BrewGene after being disappointed one too many times with random beers he was trying, and knew there could be a better way.
Check out Erik's profile to see what beers he has been trying lately.
Duffy & Shanley is BrewGene's partner, assisting in design, marketing and PR. They love working on great brands particularly in beer, helping launch New England's own Narragansett Lager and a first-of-its-kind import from the Cape Verdean Islands, Strela. Now their focus is on the beer site and app called BrewGene.
Jeremy Duffy leads the Duffy team with focus on marketing initiatives, partnerships and additional growth strategies. His current favorites are Sam Adams Boston Lager (staple), Narragansett Summer Ale, Heavy Seas Loose Cannon, Sankaty Light and Whale’s Tale Pale Ale.
Katie Goudey is the PR voice of BrewGene who makes sure everyone knows all the great stuff that is being developed to make the best beer site/app out there. Her current favorites are: Leinenkugel Summer Shandy, Harpoon UFO White, and 21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon.
Josh Wood is the design mind behind BrewGene. He likes his design and he likes his beer. His current favorites are Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, Franziskaner Weissbier and Long Trail IPA.
Michael Silvia is the other creative half. Can you say Mortimer P. Bently? He's a rebel in the BrewGene community, and favorite beer is Budweiser.
At that moment, BrewGene was born.
The Godfather realized right away that while he thought this was a great idea, he realized it was something he would not be able to do on his own. So he called up his good friend The Business Brain and explained his vision.
For the next several months The Business Brain spent his time learning everything he could about the beer industry. He worked to familiarize himself with the industry, who are the big players (other than the obvious answers like "Anheuser-Busch"), what role has the internet played in the beer world, and most importantly – is there a place for BrewGene. While it seemed like there definitely was a gap that BrewGene could fill, he couldn't get past the feeling of "I need to know how we'll make money before I want to invest more resources in this project."
Because they weren't feeling ready to take on the investment needed to hire someone to build their dream, the two of them realized they needed to find someone who could take over and build this thing from the ground up – in came The Skipper. The Godfather had known The Skipper literally his entire life (he is in actuality his godfather) – and knew he had a business mind, understood databases, knew how to build websites, and of course – loved beer.
The Skipper was ready to come in and take over this project before he was officially asked to do so. He brought with him his long-time friend The Social Savant – the two of them were ramping off a previous venture and realized that together they could turn BrewGene into a true player in the digital world of Beer.
Together they started creating the BrewGene website, playing with different tools for interacting with the site, toying with how ratings would turn into recommendations, and overall brainstorming "what would make this the most fun and useful Beer site the world has ever seen".
...a year later...
The App Guy was at the store trying to decide which beer he should get, but was worried he wouldn't like some of the ones he'd never tried. That's when he said "there needs to be an app that can tell me which beers I'll like." When he got home he did some research and found and contacted BrewGene. He and The Skipper sat down to brainstorm and have a beer, and it quickly became evident that The App Guy needed to be involved.
Once BrewGene had its website in place and app along the way they realized they needed to start spreading the good beer word. Along came The Duffy Crew, there to help with PR, Marketing, and general brand growth (let alone redesigning the website change from The Beer Genome to BrewGene).
The Team (in order of appearance)
The Godfather
John "Mugg" Muggeridge graduated from MIT in 1980. Mugg always helps the team keep the big picture in mind – and makes sure everyone is pushing towards the joint big-picture goals they all share. He married his college sweetheart, Karen, and together they have raised two amazing daughters.
Mugg is an avid Red Sox fan, and always enjoys a good beer while watching the game. Some of Mugg's favorite beers are Newcastle, Sam Adams Honey Porter, and Murphy's Irish Stout.
Check out Mugg's profile to see what other beers he has been trying lately.
The Business Brain
Mike Kelly got a couple of degrees from MIT in 1983, and an MBA from Harvard in 1990. Mike has worked with a variety of start-ups and smaller business ventures – spending the last 10 years running private equity owned businesses. Mike pulls on his past experiences to help the team always keep the business aspects of BrewGene at the front of everyone's minds, and help ensure these thoughts shape the actions they need to take. He and his wife, Sharon, have raised two wonderful daughters who are both away at college. Rah!
Mike is always looking for a new challenge, and has recently been enjoying the excitement of finding and trying new and sometimes interesting brews. A few of his favorites are Guinness, Chimay Première, and Berkshire Traditional.
Check out Mike's profile to see what other beers he has been trying lately.
The Skipper
Connor Tyrrell graduated from Babson College in 2008, and since then has been working for Accenture. For the past five years he has been doing the occasional freelance consulting work. However, lately this has been replaced by his work on BrewGene. Connor applies the organization, high quality standards, and goal-oriented-planning from his full-time-job to help shape the work he does with BrewGene. He oversees all of the day-to-day activities of BrewGene, in addition to having built and maintaining the website.
Connor looks for a new beer everywhere he goes – if he sees something on the menu he's never tried you can be darn sure that's what he's going to order. Some of his favorites are Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat, Blue Moon, and Sam Adams Cherry Wheat.
Check out Connor's profile to see what other beers he has been trying lately.
The Social Savant
Justin Unger graduated from Babson College in 2008. He's now working at Digitas in the Strategy and Analysis department. Justin is an entrepreneur at heart with a passion for mobile, social and all things digital. As a result he's always brainstorming new ways to improve your experience here at BrewGene. If you see a "fun" feature on BrewGene, it likely spawned from Justin's creative mind.
Justin is as curious about beer as anyone can be, and enjoys the hunt of finding that special little something he hasn't yet tried. Some of his favorites are Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale, and Long Trail Double Bag.
Check out Justin's profile to see what other beers he has been trying lately.
The App Guy
Erik Asmussen graduated from Colgate University in 2004 with a degree in neuroscience and digital music, so naturally he pursued a career in programming as soon as he got his degree. After a stint in the corporate world, he decided to stake it out on his own as an independent software developer. He runs his own development studio 82 Apps and self-publishes games and utilities for iOS and OSX. He is the sole author of the iPad game New World Colony.
Erik's beer preferences tend to straddle the beer distribution as he enjoys wheat and belgian beers as well as dark stouts and porters, but tends to avoid lagers and hoppy beers. He became interested in BrewGene after being disappointed one too many times with random beers he was trying, and knew there could be a better way.
Check out Erik's profile to see what beers he has been trying lately.
The Duffy Crew
Duffy & Shanley is BrewGene's partner, assisting in design, marketing and PR. They love working on great brands particularly in beer, helping launch New England's own Narragansett Lager and a first-of-its-kind import from the Cape Verdean Islands, Strela. Now their focus is on the beer site and app called BrewGene.
Jeremy Duffy leads the Duffy team with focus on marketing initiatives, partnerships and additional growth strategies. His current favorites are Sam Adams Boston Lager (staple), Narragansett Summer Ale, Heavy Seas Loose Cannon, Sankaty Light and Whale’s Tale Pale Ale.
Katie Goudey is the PR voice of BrewGene who makes sure everyone knows all the great stuff that is being developed to make the best beer site/app out there. Her current favorites are: Leinenkugel Summer Shandy, Harpoon UFO White, and 21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon.
Josh Wood is the design mind behind BrewGene. He likes his design and he likes his beer. His current favorites are Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, Franziskaner Weissbier and Long Trail IPA.
Michael Silvia is the other creative half. Can you say Mortimer P. Bently? He's a rebel in the BrewGene community, and favorite beer is Budweiser.
