Since today is our 17th birthday, we figured we’d fill ya in on 17 random facts you probably didn’t know about us.

1. WHO’S BEHIND MAKING THE BEERS SO TASTY?

Our head Beer Gods are some pretty cool guys who go by the names of Mark Medlin and Nick Nock.

Nick (the dude on the right) is our Head Brewer and was SweetWater’s very first employee. Throughout the past 17 years, he’s had just about every job you could imagine at the brewery before taking the gig as Head Brewer. Nick has developed pretty tasty stuff in his time here, and is most proud of taking home a gold medal at the World Beer Cup in 2010 for his barrel aged sour. Oh, did we mention he’s got some kind of Spidey-sense that can detect any beer over 9% ABV by making the hairs on his arms stand straight up? Weird, but…