
Matt’s Journey
Owner Matt Sampson’s interest in craft beer ran parallel with his graduate work at the University of California, San Diego, where he studied inorganic chemistry and earned his PhD in 2015. This foundation in the scientific method and his skill in the laboratory provided the groundwork for his brewing work to come. Matt started homebrewing with fellow graduate students in San Diego, and spent his time off traveling to local breweries and immersing himself in the local craft beer culture.
After his time in San Diego, Matt spent a couple years developing relationships within the Midwest craft beer industry, while working at Argonne National Laboratory. After moving to Door County, WI, with the hopes of opening his own business some day, he connected with the founders of Door County Brewing, who brought on Matt at the start of 2018 to help launch Hacienda Beer Co., where he initially managed Hacienda’s branding/marketing and quality/fermentation programs, before spending time in nearly every area of the brewery since then.
Matt helped grow Hacienda’s wild barrel program from just a few barrels at Hacienda’s inception to well over 75 barrels and other oak vessels. while Also leading Hacienda’s branding and marketing, Matt served as the voice of the brewery on their social media accounts and website and shaped the brand through his photography and the label art that he curated through relationships with artists around the world.
Matt helped Hacienda be named one of the 12 Best New Breweries of 2018 by Hop Culture Magazine, be nominated as one of the Best New Breweries in the Country by USA Today in 2020, and win a Silver Medal at the 2019 Festival of Wood and Barrel-Aged Beer in Chicago.
In the second half of 2020, Matt stepped into the role of Director of Brewing Operations for both Hacienda and Door County Brewing. In this role, Matt gained intricate knowledge of craft beer business, management, and strategy, providing him confidence to venture out to start his own project.