Sad news this morning for the Arizona craft beer community: Phoenix Ale Brewery owner George Hancock, a pioneer and champion of the craft beer scenes in two Western states, lost his battle with cancer Monday. He was 71.
Hancock, a native of England, rose to prominence in the industry as president and CEO of Seattle’s then-Hart Brewing, building it into the country’s fourth-largest craft brewery by the time he changed its name to Pyramid Breweries in 1996.
After selling his shares in Pyramid, Hancock bought Seattle’s ElTech Electronics, which he ran for seven years before deciding to get back into the craft beer business. He moved to the Valley, a market he had visited often with then-Pyramid sales rep Greg Fretz.
In 2011, Hancock and Fretz opened Phoenix Ale in a 15,700-square-foot warehouse at 30th and Washington streets in east Phoenix. Fretz, who fought his own well-publicized battle with cancer, unexpectedly died of sleep apnea in 2013 at the age of 44.
Phoenix Ale began sharing its warehouse and brewing system with Sonoran Brewing in 2013.
