Greg Maddrey was many things, including a respected member of the local brewing community around Seattle. More important that any of it, he was a beloved spouse, friend, son, uncle, and brother. Greg was born on August 16, 1971 and passed away on June 1, 2025 at his home in Alexandria, Virginia.
On the beer scene around the Seattle area, Greg worked at Big Time Brewery, Hale’s Ale Brewery, Maritime Pacific Brewing, and the Ram. On social media, Big Time Brewery remember him this way: “We lost a local legend. Greg was a brewer, distiller, friend, co worker, and a great man. He was fun to be around, kind, hard working, and kicked butt in everything he did.”
Below, I’ve posted some words that Greg’s wife, Stephanie, shared with me.
My best friend, Greg Maddrey, passed away on June 1, 2025 at our home in Alexandria, VA. I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to distill the life of someone who was bigger than life down to a few sentences, so bear with me.
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Greg, or G, who despised being called Gregory, except by his Mom, was one of the most creative and determined people I have ever had the pleasure to know. He would launch himself full throttle into each endeavor, and if it gave him room to create, all the better.
After living his formative years in Williamsburg, VA, then moving to Atlanta, GA as a teen, Greg entered the Navy in 1991. He entered as a Corpsman, after they tried to get him to be a submariner. He was a fantastic swimmer and would willfully dive into or sit in any body of water, no matter the weather or temperature… he would always say, “this is nothing, I swam in the North Sea!” In Honduras, he followed an Eagle Ray for a good 30 minutes, just floating along. In Hawaii, he dove down deep enough to hear the song of the humpbacks migrating past, and spent much time floating along with the sea turtles.
His work as a Corpsman led him to work as a lab technician and phlebotomist after the Navy. In Atlanta, he worked with the top Lupus doctor in the nation because, as he was told and continued to repeat, he was a good stick. He would even tell people, strangers at times, that they had good veins. Apparently, Lupus patients have very difficult veins, so his expertise was extremely valued. After a divorce from his wife, Jane, he and his best friend, Stephen Alcini, moved across the country in a UHaul and VW Van with 4 cats, across the country, to land in Seattle, where he would start working at Fred Hutch Cancer Institute. During his time there, he also discovered that he had a love of homebrewing, of creating new flavors.
The Maddreys are flavor creators. Greg’s mom, Mary Rosalia “Rose”, ran a catering company when the boys were young, and got them started on their culinary adventures. Charles Gordon, Greg’s older brother, took his creativity to many restaurants across the country. Greg focused mostly on his own home pantry, creating magic from what he saw in front of him to feed his friends, of which he developed many in his beer years in Seattle.
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Greg took this flavor adventure on its own path which led to him working at Maritime Brewing to RAM to Hale’s Ales to Proletariat Wines to Letterpress Distilling to Big Time Brewing back to the RAM. He built a solid family in the beverage world of Washington who also shared his love of barbeque, hunting, golf, hiking and snowshoeing. These included too many friends/family to list but included Will Osberg and Steph, Henry Desmarais, J and Brenda Kipling, John and Lori Burley, Sean and Meg Dunbar, and Bill and Cheryl Jenkins, plus many many more. He then moved to open 2 Silos in Manassas, to Portner Brewhouse in Alexandria, and to Valor Brewing in DC.
Greg left the beverage industry when his health became the focus, but found a new calling in butchery, working with an amazing mentor in WenDell at The Cut here in Alexandria. To the one, there was never a job that Greg didn’t fully commit to and put his full heart in to making better and stronger.
At the end of the day, though, Greg was my best friend. He was the one who put on old country while making homemade pasta sauce, to dance to in the kitchen. He was the once who would put on Scarlet Begonias by the Grateful Dead as he smoked his cigar by the scarlet begonias we planted on the porch. He criticized the Wheel of Time TV series because he had read the whole series four times and the characters weren’t right. He loved history so much, that we stopped to read every Historical Placard. He collected $2 bills and 1976 quarters. He would also stay up late with me when we couldn’t sleep to watch reruns of Cheers and MASH, with tons of stand up comedy thrown in.
He is survived by his tribe, his spouse Stephanie, his father Charles (Claire), his brother Chuck (Jessica), his brother-in-law Adam (Paige), father-in-law Byron (Susan), mother-in-law Frances (David), and nephews Jesse, Eli, Emmerson, and niece Abeline.
In short, Gregory Hoggard Maddrey was the best friend, son, uncle, brother, and spouse that any of us could ask to be blessed with. Hey, Mr, have I told you today?
