Gamer + Brewer = GameCraft

A gamer is one who enjoys playing games, notably video games, or can be one who consistently gives a strong effort in the most challenging of times, notably in the sports world but could apply to school, business or…brewing.  Certainly, the “Damnemic,” as I like to call it, has provided that most challenging of times for small business owners and brewers. 

Andrew Moy is the co-founder and Head Brewer for GameCraft located in Laguna Hills. A rising star among a virtual sea of world class brewers in our super-loaded SoCal brewing scene, Moy has won 2019 GABF Gold for There is No Cow Level, his wonderful coffee stout and followed up this past year with a Bronze for Umbeereon, his German Dark Lager.  

Before even attending Siebel and Doemens for brewing school, and while Head Brewer at Riip Beer, he had garnered a 2016 GABF Silver for Super Cali in the crazy competitive American IPA category.   

DRENNON: Where were you born and raised and what role did that play in your early development? 

MOY: I was born and raised in Long Beach and went to UCI for college, so I’ve been in SoCal for my entire life, for beer I had some pretty good local options.  One of the places that really got me into craft beer was Beachwood BBQ in Seal Beach. They really opened up my eyes to a lot of great craft beer that is out there. 

DRENNON: What did you think you wanted to do for a profession before you became a brewer? 

MOY: I had a lot of interest in the medical field and with a B.S. Degree in Public Health I was looking at something epidemiology related. Alternatively, I was looking at becoming a Paramedic with a fire department or joining the military as a corpsman.   

DRENNON: When and how did you get into brewing? 

MOY: My parents got me a homebrew kit for Christmas in 2012 and I started really diving into it. After homebrewing for a little bit, I decided to get a job at a brewery temporarily while I looked to get a job in Public Health. After a while working at Bayhawk Ales in Irvine, I fell in love with the industry and stuck with it.

DRENNON: Which brewers and/or which beers have influenced you? 

MOY: Blackwell from Belmont Brewing Co. and his pale ale have been my biggest influences. Blackwell not only helped me get my start in the industry, but I learned a lot of really great fundamentals from working there with him. My brewing philosophies and styles really evolved from working there, a lot of which I continue today. Blackwell’s super sessionable pale ale in particular is a great example of how the simplicity of a recipe can sometimes be better for the beer. 

DRENNON: From BBC in Long Beach, you moved on to Riip Beer CO. in nearby Huntington Beach. What did you learn during your time at Riip and why did you choose to leave? 

MOY: I learned a ton at Riip, especially the trials and tribulations of opening a new nano brewery. It was my first role as a head brewer; being responsible for all of the production, I had to learn a lot of new things operationally to keep the brewery running. As a brewer, I got the opportunity to really play around with a lot of ingredients and dial in my IPAs, which we were mainly making there. I ended up leaving Riip at the end of 2016 to go to the Siebel institute in Chicago and Doemens Academy in Munich, Germany as part of the WBA – World Brewing Academy. After winning a Silver Medal for IPA (Riip Super Cali) at the 2016 GABF, my grandfather offered to pay the tuition for school and it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. 

DRENNON: How valuable was the education you received at Siebel and Doemens? 

MOY: Immeasurable. Going into the WBA with some industry background really helped as well. It helped put into context a lot of the in depth material we were being taught. A lot of that information was almost immediately put to good use in the design and build out of the brewery for GameCraft. 

DRENNON: What was the genesis of GameCraft? 

MOY: GameCraft started as an idea of my co-founder, Scott Cebula. He wanted to open something in Laguna Hills, where he’s lived for over 20 years, that brought the community together.  Initially he was looking at opening a coffee/beer bar, but as he explored more options and did more research, he saw how local breweries have been building communities in their respective areas. So, he decided he wanted to open a brewery in Laguna Hills. That was probably easier to approach since he also has been a homebrewer for 20 years.

DRENNON: Who came up with the cool concept and name? 

MOY: That was Scott mainly. It was a bit of a placeholder at first as we developed the brand and the brewery. We are both gamers and have been for years, and we wanted to show that in our branding. We saw it as ‘games’ as a whole; video, traditional, board games, etc., meets craft beer. Over time, the name stuck and we went with it.

DRENNON: What are your favorite games? 

MOY: Company of Heroes, Starcraft, Fallout Series and Overwatch. 

DRENNON: Is there a philosophy to your brewing? 

MOY: Beer is a complex beverage but I think generally, I like to take a simplistic approach to it. You don’t have to get super crazy with all different types of adjuncts or rare ingredients to make great beer. I think SMASH (Single Malt and Single Hop) IPAs are a great example. It’s back to the four main ingredients in beer; water, malt, hops, and yeast. You just have to let the ingredients speak for themselves.

DRENNON: Do you have favorite styles? 

MOY: I think right now I have gravitated to just more ‘sessionable’ beer in general. There’s just something nice about being able to have a couple great tasting beers without getting too full or bogged down from bigger, ‘heavier’ beers. 

DRENNON: In addition to being impressed by the beer at GameCraft, I’m a big fan of the food. It is not predictable pub grub. How do you view the pairing of the food and the beer at GameCraft? 

MOY: From conception, we wanted food pairings as a main component of the tap room. Scott and I both enjoy eating, drinking, and exploring different flavors.  In my opinion, beer is a much better beverage to pair foods with than wine. There’s such a diversity in flavors; sweet, bitter, sour, chocolate, fruit, salt (gose), etc. With the pairings we take the approach of the beer highlighting the food, or the food highlighting the beer. With our Asian/Latin fusion pub food, we have a lot of options and flavors with which to play around.

DRENNON: I’d be remiss to not ask how GameCraft navigated what I call the “Damnemic” that challenged us all in 2020 and still into 2021?  How were you able to pivot to meet the seemingly ever changing rules and regulations?  

MOY: Well, we certainly did a lot of pivoting over this last year. At first it was definitely a shock and a challenge while everything was ‘to-go’ only. For the beer, the pandemic forced our hand into purchasing a canning line so we could offer more of our core beers in smaller formats which has been pretty popular and a good addition for us. Fortunately for the tap room, we always had a kitchen and a well sized outdoor space so we could distantly seat guests and keep up with the food requirements. 

DRENNON: What are your goals for the brewery and for yourself individually as a brewer? 

MOY: As a brewer I’d like to see a comeback in sessionable styles, ales and lagers. It would be great to see GameCraft lead the way to the return of great, super drinkable beer. For the brewery, it would be awesome to continue to see GameCraft turn into a respected regional brewery, hang out spot, and community builder in South OC.

DRENNON: To become an excellent brewer, which is more important:  talent or work ethic? 

MOY: Work ethic for sure. If you’re not willing to put the time and effort into your craft, then even if you have talent, you’ll never see it amount to anything. 

DRENNON: If you had to describe yourself in one word or phrase, what would it be? 

MOY: Nerd.