WALKIE TALKY BREWING CO.

 

Michael Johnstone and Joel Saunderson met in the fall of 2019 as they both pursued their Masters of Science in Brewing and Distilling with Entrepreneurial Focus at Heriot-Watt University. Both were chosen as two of the four members of the Natural Selection Brewing project, an annual collaboration between brewing and distilling Masters students and Stewart Brewing in Edinburgh, wherein students are tasked to plan, execute, market and sell a unique beer on an industrial scale through the Natural Selection label.

 

Joel has lived in Scotland for over 10 years having relocated from his native home in Northern Ireland for University back in 2009. Joel developed his true passion for beer after stepping foot in his first BrewDog Taproom in his early 20s, taking up the art of home brewing in his spare time from his many years of working his day job in retail management. The hobby grew to the point of commercial cask-brewing in Edinburgh’s Leith neighbourhood for a local brew pub and after six years plying his trade, decided to go all into the brewing industry by applying for the Master’s degree in Brewing and Distilling at Heriot-Watt University.

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Prior to moving to Scotland in 2019, Michael worked throughout almost every level of the service industry in his home state of Maryland, USA and neighbouring Washington, DC from fry cook to beer, wine, and spirits salesperson to the general manager of Nanny O’Brien’s Pub in DC. His passion for alcohol grew over his 10+ years behind the bar and prompted his move, after a brief stint at RaR Brewing in Maryland, to Scotland to complete the world-renowned master’s program, putting the science and practice into his dream of running his own craft brewery.