August Gresser’s path in life as a brewer was shaped by his fascination with beer as a product. The unrelenting allure of beer has remained with him, making the beverage his life’s pursuit. After completing his studies at the Technical University of Munich at Weihenstephan in 1986, his scientific career began as a research assistant at the Chair for the Brewing Technology I under Prof. Ludwig Narziss. At the time, he was also working on his doctorate in brewing on the topic of “Contributions to knowledge about hop aroma with special attention to technological processes”. In 1986, he focused his efforts on the Italian brewing industry where he began as the head brewmaster at Birra Moretti in Udine. Starting in 1988, he was promoted to a position in charge of technology at Moretti-Labatt's Italia Group for the brewing facilities at Udine (UD), San Giorgio di Nogaro (UD), Crespellano (BO) and Baragiano (PZ).
From there, he moved to Algund/Merano to the Forst AG brewery, where until 2007 he was Technical Director of the breweries Forst and Biella (Birra Menabrea) as well as for Merano Mineral Water and Kaiserwasser in Innichen. He has since founded August Gresser & Partner KG (a consulting company for brewing and beverage technology) in Algund (BZ).
He spends his free time, among other activities, writing technical publications and specialist books on brewing for e.g. Il Manuale del Birraio Pratico or as a co-author in creating the Handbook of Brewing.
In 2011, together with his friends, he founded the organization “Slow Brewing – Brewing Beers with Character Takes Time e.V.” in Munich and is now the Managing Director. In this capacity, he currently works with 30 Central European breweries.
His involvement in various organizations is reflected in his many publications on their behalf, such as the VeW (alumni association for brewing science graduates from Weihenstephan), the AITBM (Associazione Italiana dei Tecnici della Birra e del Malto – association of Italian brewing and malting technologists) and the Kuratorium für Technische Kulturgüter (Committee on the Cultural Value of Technology) in Bolzano.
Dr. August Gresser has been a member of MEBAK since 1999 and served as Vice-Chairman of the organization from 2004 to 2010.
In 2020, on the occasion of the 95th MEBAK plenary session in Freising at Weihenstephan, Dr. August Gresser was named as an honorary MEBAK® member in appreciation and recognition for his decades of commitment through the broad spectrum of work he has done for MEBAK, above all with regard to his management of working groups for the creation of books in particular technical and technological subject areas, such as the MEBAK volume Microbreweries: From Project Planning to Quality Assurance and the MEBAK guideline Guidelines For Beverage Dispensing Systems (available only in German).
The members of MEBAK hope that their colleague Dr. August Gresser stays true to his motto “Beer is my life” and wish him a long life, good health and happiness.
Source: Der Weihenstephaner p. 39, 2020