Meet the people that put this here site together: John Wurth, John Campbell and staff writer, Roger Baylor. Together, they stay on top of what’s going on in the Louisville, KY craft beer scene, so you don’t have to. (?)
For over a decade, John Wurth of Hatch Creative has crafted websites, logos, posters, and magazines that people remember. John has been been glued to a keyboard from the day his father brought home an IBM PCjr back in 1984.
John moved to Louisville, Kentucky in 1996 and got a job doing real graphic design on a real-live Macintosh. He has worked various graphic design and web design jobs ranging from designing / typesetting direct mail pieces, PC / Macintosh consulting, pre-press operator, Webmaster, Graphic Designer, Web Development Manager to Creative Director for a regional magazine.
His designs have been seen on products by national companies such as Dominos Pizza, Pizza Hut, Dallas Stars (NHL team), and local businesses such as Bittners, Dare to Care, Derby City Roller Girls, Historic Homes Foundation, Insight Communications, Louisville Public Media, Peterson-Dumesnil House, Win.Net, WHY Louisville and Churchill Downs. If it can be printed, he has more than likely designed it. John was also the Creative Director for Sophisticated Living magazine from May 2006 – June 2009, while running the day-to-day operations at Hatch HQ.
John has been doing web design since the good old days when the only available tools were a hammer and chisel on stone slates (AKA: Simpletext and NotePad). He has worked on the Kentucky State Fair 100th Anniversary site, Kentucky Fair and Expo Center’s site, the Muhammed Ali Center site, and tons of local sites, big and small. Take a gander at his portfolio.
John also (obviously) enjoys craft beer, long walks on the beach, hiking up little hills and plays drums in the hillbilly, rockabilly, honky-tonk band, Solid Rock’it Boosters in his spare time. Google it.
John started bartending at an early age and stumbled headlong into a career in the wine business. He worked as a wine and cigar buyer for a private dining club before moving to New Harmony, Indiana, where he took on the role of Wine Director at a quaint resort nestled on the banks of the Wabash River. There he founded the New Harmony Wine Society and became involved with the St. Louis Bordeaux Society. He began writing regular wine columns for two separate magazines and a monthly beer column for a third publication.
While living in New Harmony, he befriended Dan Kopman, co-founder and COO of Schlafly Beer in St. Louis, Missouri. John returned from a debaucherous tour of California’s wine country to find a job offer from Schlafly Beer waiting on his desk. In 2004, Schlafly moved John and his family to Louisville, Kentucky, where he could be centrally located to oversee the expansion of distribution and Schlafly’s transformation from city brewery to regional player.
John also spent 6 months as a marketing consultant for the Bluegrass Brewing Company’s production facility on Clay and Main where he helped create the seasonal “Single Batch Series” and redesign the Bourbon Barrel Stout packaging (based on a drunken sketch of a whiskey bottle he was working fervently to empty).
John later joined forces with friend Roger Baylor to build the New Albanian Bank Street Brewhouse and expand the New Albanian Brewing Company’s production to include state-wide distribution in Indiana and availability for the first time in Louisville. It was under the New Albanian flag that he launched Fringe Fest – a three day music, art, and beer festival on the “fringe” of New Albany’s annual Harvest Homecoming celebration and co-founded the Louisville-based cigar club know as Cigar Faction.
In 2010, John helped launch and re-create Louisville’s most well-known beer brand – Falls City Beer – as a craft-brewed, English-style Pale Ale. Falls City Beer is once again becoming a local household name with over 120 draft locations in the city and plans to make bottled beer available year-round.
John is co-founder of LouisvilleBeer.com and an outspoken advocate for all things local.