North Coast Brewing names Jennifer Owen as new CEO of Fort Bragg brewery

Jennifer Owen has been named as chief executive officer of North Coast Brewing Co., the Fort Bragg beermaker with a devoted nationwide following and reputation going its own way as competitors chase the latest beer trend.

Owen had served as interim CEO since October after Jeff Ottoboni left following a roughly two-year tenure at the helm.

Owen was previously the chief financial officer for the brewery, which is widely known for its flagship Scrimshaw pilsner as well as its Old Rasputin Russian imperial stout. She will retain the CFO role in a move that was publicly announced by the brewery’s board of directors on Jan. 27.

In an interview, Owen reaffirmed North Coast’s commitment to Fort Bragg as it is one of the city’s largest employers, with about 100 employees.

The company is an outlier in the sector as it is a certified B Corporation, meeting standards in areas such as its environmental practices, treatment of employees and relationship with its community. It also remains independently owned, with its longtime owners serving on the board, including original brewmaster Mark Ruedrich, who retired as CEO in 2019.

The company was late to get its beer packaged into cans, entering that segment of the market in 2020. It had no extra room to install a canning line at its plant along Highway 1. Thus, North Coast was forced to can Scrimshaw and Old Rasputin over at the Gordon Biersch Brewing Co. plant in San Jose. North Coast brewed 45,000 barrels last year without counting canned products.

“Our next goal of course is to have our own canning line,” Owen said. She added that the canning line would be on land nearby the Fort Bragg plant. “We want the flexibility to offer both cans and bottles. We are never going to give up the bottles.”

Owen also wants to build an internship program to have younger brewers join the staff to help inject some new blood into the beermaking process. North Coast doesn’t rely heavily on the most popular style in the market, the hoppy India pale ales (IPAs). The company released its hazy IPA last year, well after other breweries introduced their versions. As part of the launch, the company in 2020 sponsored a diversity scholarship for the brewing program at UC Davis.

“We are working on some new products. But we are not one of those breweries that spits out a new beer every month,” Owen said. “We’re trying to offer new stuff but also keep up volume on the old.”

You can reach Staff Writer Bill Swindell at 521-5223 or bill.swindell@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @BillSwindell.