Meet Finn Knudsen

Finn Knudsen has a multi-layered personality and presence about him that becomes apparent when you spend some time with him. Finn is a genuinely nice man who is jovial, easy going, and often cracking jokes, many of them at his own expense. He is very kind and thoughtful, and people are just really comfortable and at ease around him. He’s jolly! You almost get a feeling that he is a little bit like Santa Claus, albeit a much trimmer and more physically fit version than our typical stereotype of the Jolly Old Elf. Everyone likes having Finn around.

When you start talking to him about his career and his many experiences working and traveling all over the world, you quickly realize this guy is exceptionally sharp. In his profession he has developed significant technical, engineering and scientific acumen.  He's equally adept at promoting and evaluating good business practices, marketing strategies, public relations and financial accountability.

Finn is the owner of Knudsen Beverage Consulting Company. Although it is headquartered right here in Evergreen, Colorado, his business may have him traveling to far corners of the globe – places such as India, Russia, the Ukraine, Brazil and South Africa – to offer his consulting services to folks in the brewery industry. Finn has worked for or consulted with well known firms like Coors, Ranier Beer, Mondavi and Molson.

He consults with organizations that are just getting starting, wanting to take their company to higher levels of output and profitability, or needing help complying with regulations. He also does evaluation of brewery companies. If an existing company were interested in selling out to another company or merging with another brewery, it might employ Finn to evaluate the company from many different angles to help owners prepare for a sale or to evaluate their worth.

Finn originally hails from Denmark; but he and his wife, Margrethe, have previously lived in Canada and Seattle, residing in Evergreen since 1993. They have four grown children who all live in Colorado.

The Mountain Community has surely benefited from Finn’s professional skills and numerous contacts in the brewery business. For example, Finn was an Evergreen Rotarian for many years and was instrumental in organizing the original Wine in the Woods (which later morphed into Wine in the Pines) as a major fund-raising event of that club. He encouraged and cajoled many wineries to participate in the event and later helped broaden event activities to include beer tasting with the further help of his numerous contacts. Finn served for several years as the Service Chairperson for Evergreen Rotary and greatly increased the number of fund-raising events organized by the club.

Finn is always eager to help out in these situations where his special knowledge and contacts are useful. He has the savvy to make things happen, and he has a jolly good time getting involved in one fund-raiser and then another. Currently, he is helping Conifer Rotary Club secure the free services of several breweries for their upcoming Kansas City Barbecue scheduled for August in Meyer Park. When nonprofits can reduce overhead, more money can be directed to the mission of the organization.

He has also provided this guidance and know-how to a number of other nonprofit fund-raising activities that involve beer or wine tasting. But he doesn’t just provide contacts because of his business associations. He really works with the event planners, guides them and helps them realize more effective ways to raise money, be more efficient, but also provide a really good time.

Several years ago, Finn and his wife moved from their home in the North Evergreen area to a home closer to Conifer, and he eventually changed his Rotary membership to Conifer. Everyone in the Conifer Rotary was delighted and collectively whispered a victorious “Yes’ because they knew what a gem they would have in Finn as an active member of their organization. (There’s always a little friendly rivalry, as well as lots of collaboration, between these two clubs.) But he is till happy to help them out when he can with their beer and wine tasting events.

Finn, thanks for all you do to make this a fun place to live.