Two years into a culinary career, Genna Flynn realized for her, “doing the chef stuff,” cooking for mostly strangers instead of just friends and family, “wasn’t as fun or fulfilling as I thought it would be.”

She’d also started hanging out at Green Bus Brewing. Located in downtown Huntsville, Green Bus is a nanobrewery housed in a 150-year-old-plus building that oozes neighborhood pub charm you can’t synthesize, even though Green Bus has only been here since 2016. As you walk into the place and look up, you’ll see the severed visage of a ‘70s Volkswagen van mounted on a wall. It’s a cool cozy space.

In early 2022, Flynn became the head brewer at Green Bus, located at 206 Eustis Ave S.E. She’s the only head brewer in Huntsville, a city with a robust craft-beer scene and no shortage of breweries. Female head brewers are a rarity in the state of Alabama too. And somewhat in the industry as a whole, where the well-earned head brewer stereotype is a trucker-hat-wearing, bearded-white-dude.

Unlike most other local breweries, Green Bus’ beer is sold only in its taproom and not at restaurants and bars or via commercially packaged cans or bottles. “I love my job here. I love the people that come in. It’s a great atmosphere,” says Flynn, who is 29-years-old.