{"id":7078043,"date":"2026-10-06T11:20:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T11:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7078043"},"modified":"2026-10-06T11:20:21","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T11:20:21","slug":"beer-birthday-bill-owens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7078043","title":{"rendered":"Beer Birthday: Bill Owens"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

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\"buffalo-bills-new\"\/
Today is the 88th birthday of Bill Owens<\/a>, who founded one of California (and America\u2019s) earliest brewpubs, Buffalo Bill\u2019s<\/a>, in Hayward, California. The brewpub opened in 1983, but in 1994 he sold it to his then-brewer, Geoff Harries, who still owns and operates it today. Bill also founded American Brewer<\/a> magazine, which today is owned by Jamie Magee. Bill\u2019s also an accomplished photographer, and has published several volumes of his photos, the most famous of which is Suburbia<\/a>. More recently, he\u2019s been involved in micro-distilling, in 2003 founding the American Distilling Institute<\/a>. Please join me in wishing Bill a very happy birthday.<\/p>\n

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Bill and me at the Anchor Xmas Party in 2009.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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\"ambrew-anchor-1\"
Bill and Fritz Maytag at an event for Maureen Ogle\u2019s book \u201cAmbitious Brew\u201d in 2006.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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\"bill-owens-1985\"
Bill at Buffalo Bill\u2019s in 1985.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Bill-Owens\"
A press shot from the 1980s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Bill-Owens-paddle\"
Manning the mash paddle around 1985, the year he made his first batch of Pumpkin Ale, probably the first pumpkin beer in modern times.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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\"how-to-build-a-small-brewery\"
Bill Owens\u2019 early book \u2014 more of a pamphlet really \u2014 on How to Build a Small Brewery.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is the 88th birthday of Bill Owens, who founded one of California (and America\u2019s) earliest brewpubs, Buffalo Bill\u2019s, in Hayward, California. The brewpub opened in 1983, but in 1994 he sold it to his then-brewer, Geoff Harries, who still owns and operates it today. Bill also founded American Brewer magazine, which today is owned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7078044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137],"tags":[3171,6795,770,8044],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7078043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beer","tag-beer","tag-bill","tag-birthday","tag-owens"],"yoast_head":"\nBeer Birthday: Bill Owens - 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=7078043\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beer Birthday: Bill Owens - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today is the 88th birthday of Bill Owens, who founded one of California (and America\u2019s) earliest brewpubs, Buffalo Bill\u2019s, in Hayward, California. The brewpub opened in 1983, but in 1994 he sold it to his then-brewer, Geoff Harries, who still owns and operates it today. 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