During his last conversation with then President Obama on Marine One, the President asked Nate Roberts what he was going to do after the military. Roberts, who is now co-owner of Stonecloud Brewing Company, The Goose and Wells Pale Lager, told him he was going back to school to learn how to brew beer. 

“I said it jokingly, but that’s kind of what I did,” Roberts says. “I started my college career studying Biomedical Engineering because I thought I had to do something extremely challenging — for me, anyway — but decided after a few years, and working in a brewery, that I wanted to learn the science particular to beer. I transferred into a brand-new brewing science program in Denver and ended up minoring in biochemistry.”

Roberts, a native of Wheatridge just west of Denver proper, spent 10 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he served as a communications specialist, and did three tours in Iraq. “Three times,” he says. “Back-to-back. It was crazy and scary, and many other things, but I met some of the coolest people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and experienced a life most people never get the opportunity to experience. I feel extremely fortunate.”

He graduated from Arvada High School, also in west Denver, at which point he decided joining the Marines would provide him an exit from Denver and a chance to see the world. The brochure used by recruiters seldom covers the finer points of “seeing the world,” but Roberts appreciates his time in the service.

“The first four years I was in the military, I was attached to a unit called 1st Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, a specialized grunt unit that definitely set the pace for my future in the military,” he says. “We worked with some of the military’s elite, and specialized in communications that no other branch of service was trained in. Consequently, we rarely worked with the Marines. We were often attached to foreign military services, different branches of the military, the government, special operations, etc. It was a wild ride.”

That is how he came to work on Marine One, more formally known as HMX-1, the choppers used to transport the President and foreign dignitaries, among others. Before getting the assignment prospects go through a rigorous vetting process, and only two candidates are selected as Marine One Communication System Operators at any given time, so Roberts was proud and excited when he got the assignment. 

“I was responsible for communicating with the President and relaying important information back and forth between him and whomever he needed to talk with anywhere in the world,” Roberts explains. “As you can probably imagine, some of the job was pretty serious, with serious consequences, but sometimes he just wanted to chat with, say, Tiger Woods.” 

Obama was famously a fan of craft beer, and also the first President to hire a brewer for the White House. Roberts said the President always had a honey brown ale ready to go, and he loved to talk about beer. “He would also visit various breweries during his travels,” Roberts says, “and one was in my hometown of Denver: The Wynkoop, owned by Mayor Hickenlooper. So, long story short, I got into craft beer out of excitement.” 

Roberts left the Corps as a staff sergeant shortly after that last ride with Obama, and he said while he realized that he’d never top that experience in the Marines, he does occasionally regret getting out. In Denver, he went to work at Call to Arms Brewing Company, where he met Stonecloud founder and Goose co-owner Joel Irby. When Irby moved back home to Stillwater, Oklahoma, Roberts reached out and moved here to help with Stonecloud. 

LEFT: Signed photograph of President Barack Obama with former Marine staff sergeant Nate Roberts

Many things attracted Roberts to the beer business — getting rich isn’t really a thing in craft beer, so you need other motivations — but he especially loves how challenging it can be, which seems the exact thing you’d expect a good Marine to say.

“The beer industry is challenging, but fun. I can’t imagine there is another industry that takes people from all walks of life and forces them to become intimately knowledgeable about engineering, chemistry, biology, physics, electronics, etc. The people that care about making good, quality beer are a special bunch. The industry is full of the hardest working individuals I know of. It doesn’t pay well, and it’s absolutely unforgiving at times.”

“As you can imagine, some of the job was pretty serious, with serious consequences, but sometimes he just wanted to chat with, say, Tiger Woods.” –Nate Roberts

Stonecloud has established itself as one of Oklahoma’s most consistently excellent breweries, with beers that run the spectrum from balanced, centrist, traditional brews, like the Havana Affair Pilsner, to geekier brews like its Christmas stouts. It’s no surprise, then, that the Wells Pale Lager (and the Amber) that Roberts makes — and owns in conjunction with graphic design wizard Elizabeth Maxwell — is a lovely, balanced, sessionable beer. With so much success brewing great beer, why get into sandwiches, especially given that we’re living through one of the most difficult stretches ever for the restaurant industry?

“A need to punish ourselves, maybe?” Roberts says, laughing. “I’m kidding. We honestly just thought it would be fun. We are acutely aware we had no business getting into the restaurant scene, but here we are! Back in Denver there is a wonderful sandwich shop called Curtis Park Deli. Unassuming, to-the-point and delicious. Every single time I go back to Denver I make a stop.”

Roberts describes The Goose, the new-ish sandwich shop at 1210 N. Hudson in Midtown, as a place for people who love good food, fun drinks and a damn good time. It’s part dive bar, part sandwich shop, part Malört headquarters for OKC, part community gathering place — and an excellent addition to our food scene. The recent decision to add curly fries and chicken noodle soup to the menu has made it even more popular, and it still has one of the best burgers in the metro. Roberts chooses to focus on the importance of family, team and community — again, values he internalized as a Marine. 

“At its core, The Goose is about quality without pretense,” he says. “Everyone gets involved, from our staff to our regulars. Whether it’s an over-the-top themed event, a beer you can crush without overthinking or a late-night hang fueled by Malört and bad decisions, The Goose leans into the fun. But behind the antics, we give a damn. We care about our people above all else. That will never change.” 

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