Wednesday, Oct. 07, 2009

Humperdink's brewmaster Alan Sparkman started as a banker.

Barry Shlachter

Another late comer to professional brewing is Alan Sparkman, who began his working life as a pilot and flight instructor, then reinvented himself as banker who played country guitar professionally on the side before choosing a new career path as a craft brewer at age 40.

Needless to say, his wife was close to being unnerved when her banker husband, who was spending his day selling jumbo CDs, suddenly announced that he was considering brewing beer for a living. Whether it was midlife crisis or finding one’s true calling, Sparkman had visualized his future after buying home-brewing equipment and creating beer after returning home from the now-defunct Southwest Savings, where he was a vice president.

The Mansfield resident took a professional brewing course at University of California-Davis, landed an apprenticeship at Humperdink’s brew pub in Arlington, and was later promoted to head brewer there. It paid off. His Freidabrau Oktoberfest won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival for best dark American lager in 2003, and silvers in 2001 and 2006.

"Why brewing? I like the art of it, the creativity of it, coming up with new recipes," Sparkman said. "My 'Prowler’ imperial American brown ale doesn’t really fit any style guidelines.

"What I don’t like is all the hard work," he added. "That’s the lazy musician coming out."

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