When you talk to Adam Mills, director of Brewing Operations at Sonder Brewing, his passion and sincerity are overwhelmingly evident. A man with a carefree smile and a story for every occasion, he’s a wealth of brewing knowledge—and unlike you might think, he’s willing to share that craft with the world, and does so frequently through his YouTube channel “Adam Makes Beer.” Right away, it’s easy to see that Adam doesn’t do any of this because he has to, but because he wants to. Maybe even needs to?
Adam’s journey to this point is engaging (no surprise). “I taught social studies at alternative schools back in Michigan, and while I enjoyed that, it was pretty intense,” Adam explains of his time before—before the move to Ohio, before the beer world even entered his life. You may be wondering: how did he get into brewing, let alone become a YouTube creator with 6K+ subscribers? “A very long time ago, my wife and I started throwing an Oktoberfest party to bring our family and friends together. One year, a friend of mine says, ‘Next year, you’re making the beer for Oktoberfest.’ And I was like, yeah, I’ll give it a shot—that was kind of my jumping-off point.” Adam started listening to podcasts (shout out to “The Brewing Network”) and entering home-brewing contests before completely diving in headfirst.
And while Adam now directs brewing operations by day at Sonder, in his “downtime,” he also makes content to share his wealth of knowledge. “Since leaving the education world, I’ve missed the teaching and mentoring part.” There isn’t a ton of brewing content out in the world, so Adam went about changing that one YouTube video at a time. Tips. Tricks. Recipes. Industry gurus. Fellow brewers. He covers—and shares—it all. Something many in the industry don’t. Not to mention Adam’s commitment to helping the next generation of brewers. “I try to approach the whole thing as ‘I don’t know everything.’ I’ve been doing this for 13 years, and this is what I’ve learned so far. I want to show people my path as I continue to grow as a brewer.”
But to Adam, brewing is more than beer. “My grandmothers are Polish and Italian, and they love you with food. Brewing beer started because I can share it with people. It’s a very comfortable thing for me to think about—you show someone you love them by feeding them, right? Drink fits right in with that,” Adam smiles, his passion (again) shining through. “I love the idea of hospitality. And I like the history of beer,” the ex-history teacher states. “I like the culture. I think when a pub is doing it right, it’s a place for community.”
So what is Adam digging in the brewing world right now? “I really like a style called Italian Pils, which is like a mash-up of a couple of historical styles. It’s a nice pale, crisp beer, firmly bitter with a little pop of New World character and dry hop. It has a little bit more robust flavor and aroma profile as far as hops go.” A reco we’ll take any day of the week.
Interested in learning more about beer? This local expert (and brewer-mentor-teacher-YouTuber) can’t wait to share it with you.
YouTube.com/@AdamMakesBeer | @adam_makes_beer
“I like the challenge of it, I like to push my boundaries. There’s so many elements to making beer, from the range of raw materials to processes and techniques. That’s what I find so exciting.”