Like many others you may meet in Juneau, Damien Horvath came to visit and fish one summer and, "just never left." That was 1995 and 14 years later, he has the same attitude about working for Alaskan . . . "I want to retire here."
 Born in Saudi Arabia, his family moved to St. Croix when he was just three years old. The stormy Juneau weather is nothing to Damien who endured seven hurricanes while living in St. Croix. It was the devastation left by Hurricane Hugo in 1989 that he recalls most poignantly, "99% destruction, there was nothing left." Hugo forced Damien to attend military school in Florida for six months before returning to the rebuilding island.
A fishing "visit" brought Damien to Southeast Alaska from St. Croix in his late teens. When the sport fishing season came to an end, Damien went to work at Valley Video, the local video store in the Mendenhall Valley neighborhood of Juneau, where he met his then supervisor and future wife, Liz.
The brewery is closely intertwined with Damien's personal life. He first met Alaskan Brewing Sales Representative Sean McLaughlin at the hospital when their wives were in labor at the same time, giving birth to daughters within 12 hours of one another. His son Charlie loves to come into work with Dad on weekends to "see the machines making beer." The first word uttered by both of his children: "Beer".
As bass player in Brown Haven, a band including fellow Brew Crew members Tyler Lindquist and Darin Jensen, he had the opportunity to play at Celebrator Beer Magazine's 20 Year Anniversary party in San Francisco. "It was a lot of fun," recalls Damien, "We weren't nearly as good back then though. The DVD is hard to watch."
In his spare time, he likes to practice judo and mixed martial arts. "I numb the pain after sparring with a six pack of Alaskan IPA, my favorite beer," adds Damien "while online gaming with friends across the country." Technically savvy, he also builds gaming computers and is currently developing his own home theater.
As for his long-term goals, they too are intertwined with Alaskan Brewing. "I fully support international distribution of our products, and would like to become our first international sales representative . . . in Fiji!"
Until then Damien gives it up to his current neighborhood, "Valley Rules!" |
