Even as the first beer was brewed and poured and its hoppy sensation tickled customers’ tongues, Matt Luhr was a part of it.

Luhr, who worked at the Dillon Dam Brewery since its doors opened and served as its brewmaster since 2001, died Thursday due to complications related to a brain aneurysm.

“Matt was like a brother to most of us at the brewery,” said Barb Richard, the brewery’s marketing manager. “He was the most kind, gentle and intelligent person. He was passionate about brewing beer. He cannot be replaced, and we are in deep sorrow over this unexpected loss.”

Luhr, 46, came to Summit County from the Chicago area. He resided in Heeney.

He had gotten into beermaking before the Dillon Dam Brewery opened and was known for his home brews, including a raspberry porter.

“Our chef, Mike, introduced me to this big, 6-foot-5 guy and said: ‘Here’s a guy who’s been home brewing since the ‘80s,’ and I had heard about Matt,” said George Blincoe, the brewery’s owner. “He was wanting to become a brewmaster, but he had never worked at a commercial brewery. ... At the time, we didn’t have any brewmaster needs, but Matt was working the brewery cleaning kegs, doing start-up work to get his foot in the door.”

Luhr worked his way up to becoming an assistant brewmaster and ultimately took over as the top brewer, producing numerous award-winning beers. Among his triumphs were winning the gold medal for his Sweet George’s Brown Ale at the Great American Beer Festival in September and gold medals at the World Cup.

“I don’t know how many medals he won, and I don’t care. I just know he was passionate about every beer he had always being top quality, and he did wonderful seasonal beers,” Blincoe said. “I’d almost have to open up the computer screen to see all the different beers.”

As passionate as Luhr was about his work, he was just as passionate about life and friendships, said Rusty Simmons, his fiancée. Everyone he met was considered a friend, and he always found the positive in them, never once saying a negative comment about anyone.

“What I appreciated the most about Matt was the way he was able to be a little child in a grown-up man’s body and see things through his eyes as if he was seeing them for the first time, even though he may have seen it a 1,000 times,” she said through tears over the phone.

As the youngest of four children, he was given a hard time and teased by his two older brothers and older sister in an area in the family’s backyard that they referred to as their fort.

“I think it made his heart and soul stronger and more flexible to adjust and be able to handle any situation that came across his path,” Simmons said.

On Sept. 29, Blincoe found Luhr in the back of his truck sweating profusely and took him to the High Country Health Care in Silverthorne. The doctors eventually released him with medication to treat high blood pressure and nausea.

Simmons and Thomas Luhr, Matt’s brother, took him back to his cabin, where he seemed confused, the first sign that he had suffered an aneurysm.

Luhr was declared brain dead on Thursday morning, but he was kept on a respirator so that his organs could be donated.

“Like everything else in Matt’s life, through death he gave as much as he could to help others,” Simmons said. “I couldn’t be more proud than to say a part of Matt lives on through others.”

Luhr is survived by his father, Robert O. Luhr, brothers Thomas and Robert and sister Susan.

“Anybody that met Matt was fortunate,” Simmons said. “Anybody that knew Matt will never forget him, and anybody that was lucky enough to love Matt was loved in return 1,000 times harder.”

The Dillon Dam Brewery will be holding a celebration of Luhr’s life on Sunday from 1-4 p.m.



Jonathan Batuello can be reached at (970) 668-4653 or

jbatuello@summitdaily.com.