Shawn Cooper and Joran Van Ginderachter
Halfway Crooks Beer | Atlanta
april 2023
Shawn Cooper studied computer engineering at Georgia Tech and began homebrewing in his spare time, discovering that brewing brought together his two passions: beer and technology. Cooper graduated in 2011 and went on to pursue his career in engineering, while his love for beer continued to grow. He began helping out at local breweries to learn more about the craft of beer making, even becoming the president of a local homebrewing club. Looking to take his beer knowledge to the next level, Cooper started attending beer industry conferences, where he would meet friend and future business partner, Joran Van Ginderachter.
Joran Van Ginderachter was no stranger to the beer making world. Growing up on a sheep farm in Belgium, Van Ginderachter went on to study biochemistry in college with the intention to pursue brewing. He graduated from brewing school in Belgium, and officially started his professional brewing career in 2008. Eager to explore new flavors and experiment with new styles of beers, Van Ginderachter, along with some friends, opened their own brewery, Brouwerij t'Verzet. In 2013, Van Ginderachter moved to the U.S. and joined the team at Three Taverns Craft Brewery in Decatur, Georgia. Cooper and Van Ginderachter would grab beers and chat, with the conversation about opening their own brewery together growing more and more serious each time.
In 2019, the duo opened Halfway Crooks Beer in Atlanta. There, Cooper and Van Ginderachter go back to basics, using the highest quality ingredients sourced from local farms and hops straight from Belgium. Drawing inspiration from a Belgian cafe and a 1980s computer lab, the space is a marriage of the duo’s backgrounds, with images of sheep and computers decorating the brewery. Cooper and Van Ginderachter specialize in Belgian-style beers with the intention of fostering connection amongst their guests—encouraging people to come in, order a pint, and stay for a while.
