{"id":7076448,"date":"2026-10-05T03:59:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T03:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7076448"},"modified":"2026-10-05T03:59:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T03:59:19","slug":"beer-birthday-charles-finkel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7076448","title":{"rendered":"Beer Birthday: Charles Finkel"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Today is the 83rd birthday of Charles Finkel, one of the pioneers of the better beer movement. He founded Merchant du Vin<\/a> in 1978, the company responsible for importing a number of word-class beers to the U.S., including a few favorites of mind: Traquair, Ayinger, Westmalle, Rochefort and Orval. He also started the Seattle brewpub, Pike Brewing <\/a>, in 1989, where Fal Allen was head brewer there from 1990-96. I first met Charlie around 1996 during a visit to Seattle. The following year, the Finkels sold both Pike Brewing and Merchant du Vin. In 2006, they bought back Pike Brewing. In Chicago for CBC a couple of years ago, I was fortunate enough to spend an evening out and about town with the Finkels, and I wrote a profile of them for Beer Connoisseur<\/a> a few years back. Charlie and his late wife Rose Ann are some of my favorite people in the industry. Join me in wishing Charlie a very happy birthday.<\/p>\n

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Charlie at CBC in Chicago a few years ago, with Mark Blasingame, owner of the Map Room<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Charlie at Pints for Prostates\u2019 Rare Beer Tasting at Wynkoop during GABF.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Charlie and Rose Ann Finkel behind their Pike Brewing booth at GABF a few years ago.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Charlie and Rose Ann Finkel with past and present Pike brewers during the 2006 CBC in Seattle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Charles with Rose Ann, Daniel Bradford, Rick Lyke, Jim Cline then with Rogue, and Ron Jeffries from Jolly Pumpkin at GABF in 2009.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is the 83rd birthday of Charles Finkel, one of the pioneers of the better beer movement. He founded Merchant du Vin in 1978, the company responsible for importing a number of word-class beers to the U.S., including a few favorites of mind: Traquair, Ayinger, Westmalle, Rochefort and Orval. He also started the Seattle brewpub, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7076449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136651,98635,12432,100856],"tags":[3171,770,4302,147506],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7076448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-birthdays","category-just-for-fun","category-seattle","category-washington","tag-beer","tag-birthday","tag-charles","tag-finkel"],"yoast_head":"\nBeer Birthday: Charles Finkel - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7076448\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beer Birthday: Charles Finkel - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today is the 83rd birthday of Charles Finkel, one of the pioneers of the better beer movement. 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