In bolstering its brewing team, North Park-based hard-kombucha operation JuneShine tapped a familiar source. In August, the company brought on former Saint Archer Brewing director of brewing Greg Peters to be its chief brewing officer. Last month, JuneShine founders Greg Serrao and Forrest Dein reunited Peters with Molly Ross, who will fulfill the role of director of brewery operations. Ross’ most recently served as Saint Archer’s cellar manager, where she and Peters worked closely on that company’s Tusk and Grain line of barrel-aged beers.
“We are actively expanding via multiple production and distribution channels, which will continually require us to further build out the JuneShine team,” says Serrao, who reports product is currently distributed to more than 140 accounts throughout San Diego County. “We sought an additional brewer at the director level who had top-notch experience and ambition, and also an alignment with our company’s culture.”
Ross says she’s looking forward to working with a colleague she is familiar with and expanding her experience beyond a single brewery department. At JuneShine, she’ll be involved with product from conception to packaging. She’s also excited about working with a plethora of interesting ingredients.
“I’m enthused to be pairing ingredients other than fruit and spices with kombucha, such as activated charcoal, cacao nibs and hops,” says Ross. “Inventiveness is highly encouraged and seeing an array of ingredients work well leaves the possibilities endless.”