Russian River- A Craft Brewery: Building a Brand through Product Innovation

Cilurzo hailed from a winemaking family in Temecula, California, that from the late 1970s to early 2000s, owned its own vineyard called the ‘Cilurzo Family Vineyards’. From a young age, Cilurzo was exposed to the various operational aspects of a small winery. Cilurzo said, “Fermentation has been in my blood pretty much my entire life. I was kind of the ‘assistant winemaker,’ and there were times in high school where I wouldn’t go to school because it was harvest time. It was all I knew.”

In the early 1990s, Cilurzo went on a two-month long tour of Europe (France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium) where he was exposed to various kinds of beers. This kindled an interest in beer brewing in him. After returning home, Cilurzo took up hotel/restaurant management courses at a neighborhood college. Cilurzo also began dabbling with brewing beer at his parent’s winery...