Bear Beer

Wholly Geeznuts, a lot of change in a short amount of time. To review, since November of '06 I have been in talks to open an upscale sportsbar with my bartender colleague Agent Smith. Last month the business partnership gained a lot of momentum and started rolling towards serious commitmentville. We stood on the precipice of a consulting contract in which we would pay $100K to a team to steer us through the process of getting Ferrum up and running over the course of 18-24 months. This prompted me to step aside and do some serious soul-searching and bank account-examining. At the end of my few day reflection, I had my answer: BAIL!

So I bailed. Lots of factors led to the decision, but the biggest one was my disenchantment with the concept. As I have previously stated, my goals tend towards the brewery and my ideas. I could no longer justify working for the next 5+ years on someone else's concept that is not a direct line to my goals. Plus, who wants to own a sportsbar anyway? Not this guy.

So back to the brewing, yes? YES, dear reader (as if you're out there). Through the classic connection of I-know-him-he-knows-her-she-works-at-a-brewery I was able to get into the furry underbelly of Thirsty Bear Brewing company for a day "working" with the brewer. I was there from 8-3 asking questions and pitching in when allowed. It was great, me and Brewer Bear alone with our rubber boots and water hoses for hours. I had to stop myself from giggling with glee several times throughout the day. It is supposed to be work after all. We brewed the Black Bear Lager, from grains to fermentor. I have to say there were no surprises. I understood the concept, and the work was no more or less glamorous than I expected. This bear's porridge was juuuust right.

After working for several hours, Brewer Bear seemed to warm up to my presence considerably. Those bears can be so territorial! Over lunch I ever so slyly let him know of my seriousness of the work, and offered to come back again. It was such a tightrope all day, of how eager to seem, to not be annoying, to be helpful but not in the way, and now I was asking to come back and bug him more! I was nervous, as probably I should have been, but it turned out well, he was open to the idea. So this Thursday, back for more! I've got my foot in the door, I will brew another day.

Like George J, I'm a movin' on up.