Evan Price Of Green Cheek Beer Co. Turns His Attention To Food

Evan Price was a terrible home brewer. Like, really bad. But whereas another person might have cut their losses and found a new hobby, the affable Price only doubled his resolve. Something about brewing entranced him. So why not get a brewing job and learn from the best?

Today, Price is the co-founder and head brewer of Green Cheek Beer Company, a beer producer just outside of Los Angeles in Orange, California. Along with his partner, Brain Rauso, Price is making some of the most awarded beer in the country, with multiple medals from both the Great American Beer Festival and the World Beer Cup. But for Green Cheek, award-winning beer is just the beginning. In 2020, Green Cheek will open a brewpub in Costa Mesa, adding food and more fresh beer to an already successful equation.

Kenny Gould: How’d you get into beer? 

Evan Price: I started off as a homebrewer. We’re coming up on 14 years. I was awful at it. I kept dumping batch after batch. I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. But I decided, “This is something I’m into, so I should work at a brewery and figure this out.”

KG: What were you doing at the time? 

EP: Well, I was working at the House of Blues in Anaheim, but I got fired for calling a customer a dick.

KG: What?

EP: Yeah, this guy had an awful day at Disneyland with his kids. He was so upset. He gets delivered this burger and I said, “How’s the food?” And he said, “Look at this.” I was looking at this picture perfect burger and I’m just like, “Uh huh.” He’s like, “Look at this onion.” And I’m like, “Did you not want onion?” And he said, “That’s not the point! I paid for this burger. I shouldn’t have to tell you whether or not I need more onion.” Then he went on this monologue about how expensive everything was. I started laughing. He said, “What are you laughing about?” And I was like, “Man, you’re kind of being a dick.” I got taken to the manager’s office and they were like, “Hey Evan, we have to fire you.”

KG: So you had some time on your hands.

EP: I was in a neat situation where I could go work at a place that I was maybe more interested in. I started serving tables at BJ’s Brewhouse and continued to talk to guys in the brewery to try and get in. I got myself into the brewery with BJ’s. I started as a keg washer. I worked there for 2 years, just working up but not really getting into a considerable spot. I mean, I wasn’t brewing full time. From there, I became the first brewer at Hangar 24. I was their first real employee, too. It was a crazy year and a half of those guys blowing up with insane success.

KG: In just a couple years, you went from server at the House of Blues to head brewer at an extremely successful brewery.

EP: It was the first time in my working life where I was legitimately stressed. I was overworked and it was a good thing to experience. I was pissed off about it then, but it led to the work ethic I have now. From there, I left to work at TAPS Fish House & Brewery. At the time, they had two locations. I worked under Victor Novak who is now the brewmaster for Golden Road. I was there for about 2.5 years. During that time, we were brewpub group of the year two years in a row. I made a lot of lager which was something I was really excited about. I picked up a good sensibility from Victor. A lot of people talk about using the best quality ingredients, but no one really does it. They just kind of market it that way. Working with Victor was neat because he had a chef’s mentality. Taste as you go, make tweaks, always perfect and dial in. I think that’s the most valuable lesson I learned from Victor. When I left, I didn’t take any recipes. I wanted to start brand new and taste my way through what I was going to make as a brewer. 

KG: And from there you went to Noble Ale Works?

EP: The brewer before me had left and it was this weird situation where they needed someone. I made a jump to this place that was very broke at the time. Of course, when I was getting hired, I didn’t realize it. I basically just swept everything they were doing under the rug, started out with brand new beers, and moved forward. For five years, I was head brewer. I led the beer program, constantly striving for perfection. I changed everything every time in order to make the best beers possible. It was crazy. When I was there, we got World Beer Cup Small Brewery of the Year for 2016. We got a gold for American IPA, a bronze for American Double IPA. Picture this: I’m standing in the crowd. The first thing that hit was a Gose. I think we got a silver. But the bronze went to a brewery in Liepzig, Germany, which is where the Gose style comes from. So we beat the people who invented it. Then we got gold for American IPA. As we’re walking up to accept, they announce our bronze for Double IPA. It was one of the crazier moments I’ve ever expereinced. I’m jumping in the air and there were actually a couple videos where I’m just jumping and flailing. I went nuts. 

KG: How did you make the jump to your own spot?

EP: My business partner Brian Rauso was the CEO at Noble. He had quit and was looking at options for what he wanted to do next. Then my wife and I had twin boys and I decided to get out. Brian and I decided we’d open a brewery together. We stumbled upon this brewery, Valiant, that was going out of business. We negotiated a purchase for all of their equipment. We got an small business loan from a local bank and Green Cheek was started. We moved into that space in April 2017 and opened in June. It was a quick, hectic turnaround time of trying to get open as soon as we could. 

KG: What’s next for you?

EP: We’re in the midst of opening our second location. Once again, we bought a brewery that was going out of business. Barley Forge. They have a kitchen so it’s a legitimate brewpub that were really excited to turn into our own thing. We won this auction on December 13th. We paid for it on December 20th. And we’re hoping to open any day now. We’ve been working hard to get this open as soon as I can. We’re waiting for our ABC license. 

KG: What will the environment be like at your new spot?

EP: We want to create an everyday location. We’ve already done that with Green Cheek Orange, where the price point of the beers and everything is affordable. We want it to be a fun and inviting. Our new spot won’t officially be called Green Cheek Beer and Food, but that’s what we’ve been calling it. We’re doing a smash burger as one of our main items, and that’s with house ground meat. We have a fried chicken sandwich that we serve hot, or not. We have a pastrami sandwich. We have our own smoker and so we do our own bacon in house. And about a third of our menu is vegetarian, or can be made vegan. 

KG: And the beer? Are you doing anything differently there?

EP: Now we have a whole other brewery. The goal is to create more variety and have fresher beer even more often. We already have a program where IPA usually isn’t served more than 3 weeks after it’s brewed. But our goal is to have an even better rotation so 2 weeks is the max. We want fresh beer constantly.

-Interview edited for clarity and brevity.