For Mark Peffers, a career in brewing started with a Christmas gift, a terrible wheat ale and a New York blizzard nearly a decade later.

Mark received his first homebrewing kit from his sister-in-law in 1998. His first attempt was a wheat ale, and he doesn’t sugarcoat the results.

“It was not good at all,” he laughed.

The kit was packed away, and life moved on. Mark continued working in the supermarket industry, where he would spend 24 years. Then, in 2008, a massive blizzard left him snowed in at home and looking for something to do. He dug out the old brewing equipment and gave it another shot.

The result was a Raspberry Wheat Ale—and a much better one.

Mark brought a bottle to a co-worker at the supermarket. When he took the first sip, Mark watched his entire expression change.

“His whole face lit up with joy,” Mark remembers. “That was my ‘ah-ha!’ moment.”

What began as a way to pass the time during a snowstorm quickly became something much bigger. By 2009, Mark was working as a brewer’s assistant at The Gilded Otter Brewing Company in New Paltz, New York. Two years later, he completed the Master Brewers Program at UC Davis and earned his Professional Brewing Certificate.

His transition from a 24-year career in the supermarket industry to professional brewing became part of a larger story in 2012, when he was featured in Larry Portzline’s book, Follow Your Enthusiasm: How 12 Ordinary Men Discovered Extraordinary Encore Careers. Told in Mark’s own words, his chapter follows his brewing journey through 2011.

But his story was only getting started. In 2014, Mark became the first head brewer for Bull & Barrel Brewing Company in Brewster, New York. He returned to The Gilded Otter as head brewer in 2018 and stayed through its acquisition by Clemson Bros. Brewing Company the following year, eventually overseeing brewing for two locations.

Now, as Head Brewer at Firehouse Brewing Co., Mark brings that experience to the Black Hills, along with an ambitious standard he set for himself when he first decided to make brewing his career:

“If I’m going to do this, I want to make the best beer in the world.”

Nearly two decades later, that drive hasn’t gone anywhere.

Mark has experience brewing across a wide range of styles, from crisp lagers and traditional ales to fruit beers, sours, West Coast IPAs and hazy IPAs. Fruit-forward beers and West Coast IPAs are particular favorites, giving him plenty of room to experiment with bold flavors while still producing balanced, approachable beer.

Among the beers he’s most proud of are his Honey Blueberry Wheat Ale, Coconut Cream Ale and Pomegranate-Blueberry Sour Ale, all styles that have earned him numerous medals over the years.

That experience is also shaping what’s ahead at Firehouse. Mark came to Rapid City excited by the opportunity to bring successful styles from his years brewing in New York to a new audience in the Midwest. He wants the tap list to have plenty of familiar favorites while still leaving room for the beer you order simply because you’ve never seen anything quite like it before. A Jasmine IPA and fruited IPAs are already among the ideas he’d like to explore.

His own drinking preferences lean toward the classics. Mark will almost always choose a clean, crisp lager over something bold or unconventional. Bell Tower is his usual Firehouse shift beer, although during Oktoberfest season, the Oktoberfest gets the pour.

There is one flavor he has very specific rules about: coffee. He doesn’t drink it—unless someone puts it in a beer or ice cream.

Away from the brewhouse, Mark is part outdoorsman, part self-declared nerd. He spends his free time bicycling, hiking and fishing, or at home working his way through jigsaw puzzles and Lego sets, usually with heavy metal somewhere in the mix. His interests also extend to the animal kingdom, with a 29-gallon freshwater aquarium and a Russian tortoise named Jeff, his unofficial sidekick.

Rapid City has already given him at least one first outside of brewing, too: in August 2026, Mark got his first tattoo.

For all the styles, medals and years spent behind a brewhouse, Mark’s view of craft beer still reaches beyond the liquid itself. A great brewery, he says, comes down to atmosphere, teamwork, camaraderie, a commitment to quality and community.

And there’s still a little of that Raspberry Wheat Ale moment in it, too—the satisfaction of making something, handing someone a glass and watching their face light up.