Greg Berbusse

Head Brewer, Bay 13 Brewery and Kitchen

As Bay 13’s in-house brewer, Greg Berbusse spends his days peering into huge tanks of beer, fermenting, choosing hops (usually Australian, the nationality of owner Nick Sharp), and brewing the golden ambrosia of Coral Gables’ only brewery. Berbusse is self-taught, originally having learned the art of beer-making with his college roommate under the “misguided impression” they would save money by making it themselves. He then collected a master’s degree in cell biology and was three years into a PhD in medical sciences at the University of Arkansas when he dropped out to pursue his old passion. After working at several brewing companies in Arkansas, he was hired for the job at Bay 13 in 2020.

Latest Achievement

This month, Bay 13 will be putting on the Woop Woop Beer Festival, which will feature two collaborative beers courtesy of Berbusse – a smoked honey lager in partnership with the Coral Gables Art Cinema, the event’s beneficiary, and another beer made with Shōjō Beer Company. (For more information on that event, see Best Bets.) Berbusse has also just finished a new hazy IPA, available this month at Bay 13 – an updated iteration of the “Deadly Hedley” beer that the brewery released last year in collaboration with Lou Hedley, the University of Miami’s Australian punter.

What He Says

“I started brewing beer 14 years ago,” Berbusse says. “I bought a bunch of books and watched way too many YouTube videos and there was a lot of trial and error with the same recipe over and over and over again.” Fourteen years and three professional brewing jobs later, he’s learned a lot more. “It’s just an almost infinite opportunity to be creative,” the brewer says. “They’re always developing new malts, new hops; different yeasts and water treatments do different things. So, there’s a way to tweak every little thing to make it your perfect Pale Ale or IPA or whatever you want…. I just like it.”