You have heard of the legendary brewing pioneers who started the American beer renaissance. Their names trip off the tongue . . . Fritz Maytag, Jack McAuliffe, Bill Owens, Ken Grossman, and Paul Camusi.

They are just as important to the beer renaissance as Christopher Columbus, Sir Francis Drake, Hernán Cortez, and Lewis and Clark were to the age of exploration. Yet there were many others who made contributions—some fell by the wayside, others managed to survive.

Brian Hunt is one of those unheralded pioneers who goes back almost to the beginning. How far back does he go? Well, when Bill Owens was installing his brewing equipment at Buffalo Bill’s Brewpub in 1983, who do you think he called for technical advice? Brian Hunt. But due to some bad luck, Brian was not one of those to open the first brewpub. Where others would have thrown up their hands in frustration, Brian held to his dream, and he survived. Because of his tenacity, Brian still does what  he likes best—make beer.

Brian Hunt’s love affair with beer goes back to his high school days in Sacramento when he and a friend would sneak out to the garage and “ferment any living thing.” He learned to take a more scientific approach while studying brewing at University of California, Davis. While almost all of the students were in the wine-making program, Brian decided he wanted to make beer.

Upon graduation in 1980, he went to work for Schlitz in Milwaukee. Brian says of the experience, “What I most appreciated about Schlitz was the old brewery, where beer was still important.  On slow shifts, like second and third shifts, I would walk in the old cellars.  Some had wooden tanks and open fermenters. They were all falling in, hadn’t been used in 30 or 40 years.  There was so much brewing history there. And it was done by tradition. Everything was done for a reason.  Often you didn’t know what the reason was, but there was a reason.  Most of the brewers, the actual union brewers, had other jobs before World War II. They came back from the war and that was their job and they knew what they were doing. I learned a lot from them.”

The year 1981 was momentous: Schlitz closed and Brian lost his job. Shortly after that he attended the Great British Beer Festival, where he discovered the magic of ale. He tried his first glass of English ale, and with the second he says, “It was like ‘pow!’ I was hooked on the flavor, and it’s been like that ever since.”

Brian returned to California and experienced a series of brewing misadventures. First, he worked on a project to open a brewery in Berkeley, which failed due to lack of capital. Then he tried the Xcelsior Brewery in Santa Rosa, which closed within a couple of years. Finally in 1987 things clicked, and Brian landed the job as head brewer at the new Willett’s Brewing Co. (now Downtown Joe’s) in Napa. About the same time, he served as consulting brewer for the start-up Anderson Valley Brewing.

Being a scavenger at heart, Brian collected bits and pieces from different breweries over the years. Word got out that he was looking for equipment. When he was getting close to opening his own brewery, a stranger drove up in a truck one day with 50 used kegs and asked him if he wanted to buy them. Brian bought the kegs and went into business for himself in September of 1992. The brewery is located in the barn behind his house (which, ironically, sits in the middle of a vineyard). He guesses that up to 15 different breweries are represented in different pieces of equipment in his brewery.

Brian’s pride and joy is the grist mill, a genuine piece of brewing heritage. Don Barkley first showed it to me at Mendocino Brewing in 1987 and explained that it was the original grist mill from Jack McAuliffe’s New Albion Brewery. When I returned to Mendocino in 1992, they had a new grist mill. When I asked owner Michael Laybourn what had happened to the original, he winked and said it was stashed away for safe keeping. Imagine my surprise when I walked into Brian’s garage in 1994—the first thing I saw was the New Albion grist mill.

Brewing four or more times a week between the two breweries (Downtown Joe’s and his own), Brian brews at odd hours at home; hence the name “Moonlight” Brewing. He brews on a seven-barrel system about twice a week, with production running around 500 barrels a year. He uses well water, does not filter his beers, and packages all of them in kegs.

Brian jokingly says he likes to make beers with so much character that they can only be appreciated by a small cadre of hardened beer lovers. Otherwise, his beers might become too popular, thereby requiring him to work harder.

True, some of his beers are robust, but others are very soft, such as his Trick-or-Treat Ale, which is fruity, malty, and mellow, and the Fruit Medley, a very fruity, smooth, and drinkable brew that, by the way, has no fruit in it—Brian has a strong aversion to putting fruit in beer.

One of his most interesting beers is Old Combine 4-Grain, made with oats, rye, wheat, and barley. It has an earthy, soft character with an indescribable, something special to it. The Moonlight Pale Lager is aged for five or six weeks and has a fresh hoppiness, a good malt-hop blend. It is immensely drinkable.

The more he-man-type beers include Death-and-Taxes Black Beer (a black lager with rich coffee notes), Twist-of-Fate Bitter Ale (with a sharp hop palate and a long Cascade finish), and Bombay-by-Boat India Pale Ale. I didn’t sample the latter, but guess that Brian would hop up an IPA pretty well. As you can tell, not only does Brian put character in his beers, but in their names as well.

Beer tourists are advised to stay away from the brewery due to Brian’s hectic schedule and the cramped quarters. It is perhaps the most cluttered brewery I have ever visited. But Brian seems to know where everything is. You would be better off visiting one of the pubs that carries Brian’s beers, such as Gaffney’s on Mendocino Avenue in Santa Rosa or the Inn of the Beginning on the Old Redwood Highway in Cotati.

If you really insist on seeing Moonlight Brewing, it is located several miles north of Santa Rosa. Call Brian either at Downtown Joe’s or at his brewery, (707) 528-2537, to make an appointment and get directions.

Steve Johnson, a resident of Clemson, South Carolina, is author of two brewery guidebooks: On Tap: a Field Guide to North American Brewpubs and Craft Breweries, and On Tap New England.