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October 27-28, 2023
Southern Foodways Symposium ⟶
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October 27-28, 2023
Southern Foodways Symposium ⟶

Oral Histories

The SFA oral history program documents life stories from the American South. Collecting these stories, we honor the people whose labor defines the region. If you would like to contribute to SFA’s oral history collections, please send your ideas for oral history along with your CV or Resume and a portfolio of prior oral history work to info@southernfoodways.org.

< Back to Oral History project: Tapping Into Richmond Beer

ORAL HISTORY

Jeremy Wirtes

Triple Crossing Brewery

Jeremy Wirtes is a co-founder and lead brewer of the award-winning Triple Crossing Brewing Company in Richmond, VA. Born in western Massachusetts, Jeremy grew up in a military family. He describes food during his childhood like a “Norman Rockwell version of New England” cuisine. He also grew up helping his father’s family process (and eat) maple syrup from maple trees. Once his family moved to Newport News, VA, his parents began homebrewing in their garage. Jeremy eventually began homebrewing himself with his first brew: a bourbon barrel-aged porter. The brew was good enough that Jeremy continued with this hobby until it became an obsession. In 2014, Jeremy joined Scott Jones and Adam Worcester to open a small, seven-barrel brewery in the Monroe Ward neighborhood of Richmond, VA. One of their first and still popular beers is a hop blend called Falcon Smash, which Jeremy takes great pride in. In 2016, Triple Crossing opened a much larger second location in Fulton Hill, on the East End of Richmond, Virginia. This new location allowed Jeremy to hire a team of brewers and to create a “brewer’s brewery” that is laid out for efficiency and ease of brewing. Jeremy and the team at Triple Crossing have focused on producing hop-forward fresh beers for the Richmond community.

Date of interview:
2023-03-08

Interviewer:
Sarah I. Rodriguez

Photographer:
Parker Michels-Boyce

Download Transcript

“

“There’s a huge balance of what we’re into and what we care about and what we’re passionate about versus what sells. And I’ve said before that we’re lucky – I feel like we’re an independent band that makes the records they want to make, and they sell…. And I can hold my head high knowing that we’re doing the things that we find interesting. And there’s a lot to be said for that.” - Jeremy Wirtes

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