C Koch Biography and Net Worth

James “Jim” Koch is the co-founder and chairman of the Boston Beer Company, maker of Samuel Adams beer. 

Frustrated with the low quality of American beers in the early 1980s, Koch started brewing beer in his kitchen using his great-great-grandfather’s recipe that he found in his father’s attic. Focusing on complexity, balance, full-flavor and quality ingredients, Koch created the first craft beer in America. 

In 1984, Koch co-founded the Boston Beer Company with Rhonda Kallman, who was also his first employee. Naming the first brew Samuel Adams Boston Lager, Koch carried a briefcase of the beer to bars and restaurants around the namesake city. The Harvard graduate quit his consulting job and debuted Boston Lager on Patriot’s Day in 1985 and subsequently launched the American craft beer movement, a decades-long trend of which Koch is said to be the founding father.

Within two months of its start, Boston Lager won “The Best Beer in America” award in The Great American Beer Festival’s Consumer Preference Poll—an accolade the beer received a record four times. 

Lacking adequate funds to construct a world-class brewery, Koch purchased the abandoned 100-year old Haffenreffer Brewery in Boston in 1988 to open the Samuel Adams Boston Brewery. In the mid-1990s, the legacy brewer expanded the operation to Cincinnati—his hometown—by buying the Hudepohl-Schoenling Brewery where his father was an apprentice in the 1940s. 

Holding a 26 percent stake, Koch took the Boston Beer Company, Inc. public in 1995 with the ticker SAM. 

Under Koch’s leadership, the Boston Beer Company continued to expand, innovate and shape the American beer landscape. With more than 1,900 employees, the brewing company crossed $1 billion of sales with over 60 kinds of beer. 

The Boston Beer Company umbrella now includes popular beverage makers Dogfish Head Brewery, Angry Orchard Cider Company, and Twisted Tea Brewing Company. Seeing the potential for growth in the hard seltzer segment, the Boston Beer Company launched Truly Spiked & Sparkling in 2016 as one of the first hard seltzer brands to the market. Renamed Truly Hard Seltzer, the brand accounted for about 40 percent of revenues for the Boston Beer Company in 2020. 

From the beginning of the company, Koch has taken measures to create a company that he, personally, would want to work for and a culture that celebrated beer with a passion. The Boston Beer Company has been named as one of the best companies to work for by Boston Magazine.

Koch has also taken measures to support American entrepreneurs and small businesses. Koch and Samuel Adams launched Brewing the American Dream in 2008, a program that has distributed $4 million to small business owners in the craft brewing, food, beverage and hospitality industries. Koch and the Boston Beer Company also offer the Brewing and Business Experienceship to one craft brewer annually to receive mentorship from the Samuel Adams brewery. 

Koch holds his B.A., J.D., and M.B.A. from Harvard University.