Brian Hunt Belongs on the Bay Area Beer Mt. Rushmore. Now He Needs a Kidney.
One of the people who built our beer culture needs our help.
In 1992, Brian Hunt founded Moonlight Brewing with a simple but powerful idea: make exceptional beer, do things your own way, and do it all with infectious passion and curiosity.
Over the past 34 years, Brian has become far more than a brewer. He’s a mentor, an iconoclast, a storyteller, a provocateur, a community supporter, and one of the most distinct figures in American craft beer. His influence reaches well beyond the pint glass. He helped shape how Bay Area drinkers think about beer; he shortened the game of telephone that existed between breweries and their customers, and he provided a stalwart example of what a brewery can mean to a local community.
Now, Brian has polycystic kidney disease (PKD) and needs a new kidney. He is currently on peritoneal dialysis, a treatment that helps but places significant demands on his daily life.
California Pacific Medical Center’s transplant program has determined that a living donor is Brian’s best option.
The Bay Area beer community has benefited from Brian’s work for decades. Now there’s an opportunity to show up for him.
The Godfather of Brewery-Fresh Beer in the Bay
Today, freshness has become a familiar selling point in craft beer. Brewers talk about packaging dates, can labels insist on cold storage, retailers are encouraged to move through inventory quickly, and drinkers have learned that fresh beer tastes better.
As American brewing emerged from decades of industrial consolidation and homogenization, these ideas had to be re-taught, and Brian Hunt was an exceptional educator. He understood that how beer was handled and how quickly it reached our glasses mattered. He helped people understand why freshness was worth paying attention to.
He also helped normalize another idea that now seems obvious: breweries selling their beer directly to the bars and restaurants that pour it.
Going back to the 1990s, Moonlight was one of very few breweries delivering its own kegs to Bay Area accounts. Brian helped make self-distribution not just familiar to retailers, but desirable, opening the door for the Bay Area breweries that followed.
As HenHouse Brewing Company co-founder Collin McDonnell recalled:
“when we started out we were self-distributed. I'd be out selling our beer to retailers and they would always ask, 'who is your distributor,' when I'd reply that they could buy from us directly, they said 'oh, like Brian,' that was a huge educational lift that companies like HenHouse didn't have to do ourselves, because people like Brian had already done it for us.”
And this is Brian’s influence. He not only embraced ideas that helped shape Bay Area beer culture, but he also ran his brewery in a manner that demonstrated the value of those ideas. People trusted him, and the quality and popularity of his beer gave them good reason to.
Death & Taxes Is Death & Taxes
Style categorization is a critical part of brewing. The "classic beer styles" form the basis for both amateur and commercial competitions and serve as useful benchmarks that let consumers know what to expect. Most beers fit fairly neatly into a style category. And then there are beers that make you question whether the categories are holding us back.
Moonlight Brewing's Death & Taxes is such a beer.
Over the years, it has been presented as Black Beer, Black Lager, and San Francisco-style Black Lager. Each label gets at some part of the experience, but none quite captures the whole thing. After 25 years of Bay Area drinkers knowing and loving this beer, perhaps the best description is simply its own iconic title: "Death & Taxes."
It pours jet-black, with the imposing appearance of an Irish stout. Its malt and hop character can recall aspects of an American porter. It is a lager, but its particular combination of roast, malt character, bitterness, and refreshment resists easy comparison with traditional German Schwarzbier or Czech Tmavé. It is dark and extremely flavorful without being heavy. It is dry and bright enough to make a terrific companion to fish tacos.
The beer's enduring popularity helped make room for a whole world of dark lagers in the Bay Area. The region’s appreciation for these beers owes a great deal to Brian’s singular creation. This weekend’s Dark Lager Festival at Pond Farm Brewing in San Rafael is a celebration of that culture, one that would not have been possible had Death & Taxes not been so defiantly unique and consistently excellent.
Let’s Show Up for Brian
It’s difficult to imagine the Bay Area’s relationship with dark lager without Moonlight. It’s even harder to imagine our beer culture without Brian and the many ways he’s broadened our conceptions of what beer can be, and served as a guru to so many.
Jay Brooks’s 2007 account of a hop-picking day at Moonlight offers a snapshot of Brian’s influence. The volunteers helping harvest hops for the brewery’s Fresh Hop Ale, then called “Homegrown Green Bud,” included Shaun O’Sullivan, co-founder of 21st Amendment Brewing; Adair Paterno and Tim Clifford, who would later co-found Sante Adairius Brewing; and Troy Casey, who went on to launch Casey Brewing in Colorado.
For more than three decades, Brian has given his beer, time, and wisdom to building our Bay Area beer community. Now that community has a chance to show up for him. Not everyone will be in a position to consider becoming a donor. But anyone can help this message reach more people.
The most important thing you can do right now is help spread the word.
- Share Moonlight Brewing’s original Instagram post. Share it with your friends, your brewery, your coworkers, your favorite neighborhood pub, and anyone who might be willing to learn more.
- Visit CPMC’s Living Kidney Donor Program to learn more about becoming a living donor.
You do not need to know Brian personally to help. And you do not necessarily have to be a compatible match to make a difference; paired kidney exchange programs allow donations on Brian’s behalf even when they aren’t a direct match.
Exploring the possibility of donation is a private process, and learning more does not commit one to becoming a donor.
Let’s rally around Brian. Share the appeal, help it reach the right person, and give one of Bay Area beer’s great originals a chance at many more years and many more pints.
🍻 Upcoming Events Featuring Our Member Breweries
Friday - 11/6 —Día de los Muertos Drag Show at Del Cielo
(Martinez, CA | 6 PM-9 PM)
This Día de los Muertos, the Catrinas are serving LOOKS and Del Cielo is hosting a celebration of culture, color, and fierce drag performances at their Martinez Taproom!
More Info –> Drag Show in Martinez!
Saturday - 11/7 —GRAND OPENING & RIBBON CUTTING at Alvarado Street Brewing's "The Plant"
(Castroville, CA | 1 PM-9 PM)
THIS SATURDAY, Alvarado Street Brewery will celebrate the grand opening of The Plant, its new production brewery and tasting room in Castroville, with two super-sought-after beer releases, DJs and delicious grub!
More Info –> Grand Opening Celebration in Castroville!
Saturday - 11/7 —Dark Times Dark Lager Festival at Pond Farm Brewing
(San Rafael, CA | Noon-10 PM)
20 extraordinary dark lagers, ranging from local, up and down CA, out of state, and international, on tap. Plus Tarot card reading and DJs! Pay-as-you-go, or buy a wristband for unlimited tastes!
BREW DECK SUBSCRIBERS: CHECK YOUR INBOXES FOR AN EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNT!!
More Info –> Dark Lager Celebration in San Rafael!
Saturday - 11/7 —Socks & Sandals Day at Humble Sea
(Santa Cruz, Pacifica, and Alameda, CA)
THIS SATURDAY, several Humble Sea locations will be celebrating the brewery's award-winning flagship "foggy IPA" with small batch variations, exclusive, limited edition merchandise and case discounts!
More Info --> Socks & Sandals Day!
📅 Save the Dates
Wednesday - 11/11 —Veterans Day IPA Release at Epidemic Ales
(Concord, CA | 3 PM-9 PM)
"DD-214" IPA has become a Veterans Day tradition at Epidemic Ales. Brewed with and for US military veterans for the past eight years, "DD-214" IPA debuts every Veterans Day at the Epidemic taproom along with discounts for Veterans and Active Duty Military!
More Info –> Veterans Day Celebration in Concord!
Friday - 11/13 —Red Ale Release & Live Comedy at Epidemic Ales
(Concord, CA | 8 PM)
"Sunny With A Chance of Chainsaws" Red Ale releases Friday the 13th, followed by a free comedy show. 13% OFF ALL TO GO BEER all day, plus limited edition Friday the 13th shirts, pins, stickers, and magnets.
More Info –> Friday the 13th Comedy Show in Concord!
Friday - 11/27 —Brewery Of The Year Celebration at Morgan Territory
(Tracy, CA | 8 PM)
As you know, Morgan Territory Brewing is one of two BABG members to be named "Brewery Of The Year" at this year's Great American Beer Festival. MTB will celebrate this extraordinary honor on Black Friday with $6 pints, limited-edition merch, and DJs!
More Info –> Brewery of the Year Celebration in Tracy!
Saturday, 12/12—3rd Annual Holiday Market at CUVER Brewing!
(Windsor, CA | 3 - 7 PM)
Free, family-friendly, and outdoor, explore this showcase of local craftsmen, artists, makers, and non-profits from across Sonoma County! Featuring a live brewing demo, fresh flowers, hot & cold foods, activities for all ages, local gift shopping, CUVER beers for Adults 21+, and more.
Friday - 2/19/27 —THE RETURN OF THE SF BEER WEEK OPENING GALA
(Oakland, CA)
More details soon...