Steve Lonsway – Brewmaster
Steve started home brewing as a college student in 1990. At first he dabbled in lighter style beers and an occasional wine. That all changed in 1992 when he traveled to England for a study abroad program. Living in the outskirts of London, Steve frequented the many local pubs and fell head-over-heels in love with the beers as well as the English pub scene.
While sipping a pint of bitter at the Queens Head in Ealing, England, Steve began a business plan to open a home brewing store in Appleton. That dream became reality in April of 1993…Homebrew Market. For the first several years Steve ran the store meanwhile reading every beer book he could get his hands on (as well as brewing A LOT of beers!).
Now married to his long time sweetheart, Sara, it wasn’t long before Steve realized that brewing was his destiny and enrolled in The Siebel Institute of Brewing Technology in Chicago in 1996. After he graduated, a friend notified him of a brewing opportunity in nearby Oshkosh, Wisconsin. In April, 1997 Steve took the Assistant Brewer position for Fox River Brewing Company in Oshkosh, Wisconsin while their second location in Appleton was being constructed. When the Appleton location opened, Steve was promoted to Brew Master of the new facility. After a short while, the same position opened up in Oshkosh and he accepted an offer to become the Corporate Brew Master in charge of both brewery operations. Steve had a great run there winning several national beer awards and still finding time to add a daughter to his family.
Steve vacated that position in 2002 to focus on growing another beer related business he started in 2001…Happy Tap. Happy Tap is a company that installs and services draft beer systems throughout North East Wisconsin.
In 2004 his second daughter was born. Shortly thereafter, he and his father purchased Adler Brau Brewery and Restaurant. They continued to use that name until January, 2005 when they changed it to Stone Cellar Brewpub to better accent the atmosphere.
Since that fateful day in 2004, Steve has added to his family a dog, won several more national beer awards, sold his Happy Tap business, established Stone Cellar Brewpub as a destination restaurant and expanded the brewery to triple the annual production and sold Homebrew Market to his brother Rob.
In Steve’s little free time, he very much enjoys camping with his family, traveling, biking, attending Chicago Bears football games as a season ticket holder, and sampling craft beers in his “Parlor”.
Steve has built his life around craft beer and his passion shows in the beers he creates.