MEET OUR TEAM
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Drew Schmidt began his brewing career early on in the Craft Brewing revolution. In 1992 he started as an assistant brewer at Zip City Brewing Company, New York’s second brewpub. In 1993 he left Zip City to attend the Siebel Institute and graduated with a diploma in Brewing Technology.
Upon graduation, Drew moved to the Baltimore area and became the Head Brewer at the Oxford Brewing Company. During this time the brewery shifted its focus from traditional English style ales to American style beers and quickly expanded to Maryland’s largest microbrewery.
In 1996, Drew settled in Albany where he worked alongside Rich Michaels at the Big House Brewing Company. At the time, the Big House was the largest brewpub in the nation, producing 2,000 barrels of beer in a single location. Drew became known for his IPA at the Big House, and his raspberry wheat beer. After a brief hiatus, Drew returned to brewing as a Shift Supervisor at Olde Saratoga as well as the lead brewer at Mad Jack Brewing Company.
Most recently, you could find Mr. Schmidt at Shmaltz Brewing Company in Clifton Park where he acted as the Production Manager. Drew left Shmaltz in 2017 to focus all of his energy to the construction and planning of Frog Alley Brewing Company.
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JT Pollard (AIA and NCARB) is President and Founder of Frog Alley Brewing. Pollard’s background, however, is in architecture, where he serves as Principal for Re4orm Architecture and Development. Pollard attended the University of Kentucky & studied abroad in Venice, Italy under the tutelage of renowned architect Leonardo Ricci.
Following his graduation with a B.S. of Architecture in 1995, Pollard took his first architectural position in Boulder, CO before returning to upstate NY in 1996. Pollard took a position with Smith Sacco Architects in Burnt Hills, NY. In 2005 JT assumed ownership and operations of the Firm.
His unique design style and vision can be seen in much of the built environment in Schenectady, including the Mohawk Harbor Riverfront Apartments, Bowtie Cinemas, Center City, 151 Lafayette St, the Schenectady County Public Library and a variety of other projects.
When Pollard began designing the Mill Lane Artisan District, the current home of Frog Alley Brewing, his goal was to continue to change the way the world viewed Schenectady. “Building empires” is no new feat to Pollard, and Frog Alley Brewing Co. is no exception.
According to Pollard, “Frog Alley Brewing is about having fun. We are launching with two of the most respected brewers we could find and we are very excited to welcome them to our team”. Pollard’s vision of creating a state of the art, high production brewery that would act as a means to aid Michaels and Schmidt in producing the best of the best in the craft brew world is apparent the moment you lay eyes on this space.
Pollard lives in Ballston Lake with his wife, Michelle, and four daughters who are the inspiration behind the “4” in Re4orm and Re4resh!
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Pollard is a recent graduate from the University of Southern California with a degree in Real Estate Development. With an educational background in public policy, planning and finance combined with seven years of experience in the hospitality industry, Pollard hopes to bring the business of Frog Alley to another level.
Pollard has been with Frog Alley since 2018, when she started as a seasonal bartender between semesters. Since then, she has moved on to manage taproom operations, and now heads the marketing team as well as the event coordination aspect of the bar. Pollard hopes to move forward with the company as the brand expands to continue to build her real estate sales and development skills.
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Liz has steadily worked through various positions within Frog Alley; she was spotted behind the temporary taproom bar as the brand was first being introduced, spent the summer of 2019 slinging Mohop #5’s, and has recently joined the office team. Aside from learning the craft beer trade, Liz was studying at SUNY Oneonta and pursuing her degree in Professional Accounting. Upon entering her final semester, she began to put her coursework to use and has continued to capitalize on said studies within the Frog Alley Universe following graduation.
While beer has always been a material aspect of Liz’s life (insert photo of her learning to walk while holding onto an empty keg), joining this team has allowed her to embrace the brewing culture. Actively being a part of the taproom and brewery environment, as well as reviewing ‘the numbers’ really allows for a full circle appreciation for how much is actually going on prior to the beer being poured.
NOT PICTURED:
CRAIG WILSON, BRAND DEVELOPMENT MANAGER | HANNAH BREDA, SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
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