Very important people... and me
What do you get when you stick the owners of the largest, best-known craft breweries, the icon of homebrewing, and me in a room? Why, it's a day of fun and merriment known as the Brewers Association board meeting. Monday in Boulder, from 9 AM till 5 PM, going straight through (except when I had to run out of the room to, um, rid myself of the coffee) till we were done was the war of attrition that we conduct 4 times each year. Frankly, it is amazing that such a large group of independent individuals, all convinced that they are right on everything, can get along so well. Especially when most all of the people at the table are competitors. And some have a history of not always being pleasant with each other. Yet we all come together for one sole purpose: to advance the craft brewing movement. I'm probably supposed to be using the "Promote and Protect American Craft Brewing" tag line. It took only 52 hours of meetings over the course of a year to come up with that.
If you can stand to sit there long enough, there are moments of entertainment. Hot button issues come up and feathers get ruffled. There is a good interaction of different personalities. The headstrong, the facilitator, the big picture, the detail oriented, the grenade lobber, the thick skinned, the thin skinned. Sometimes it is not unlike "12 Angry Men", although Kim Jordan might object to that. There are moments of intrigue when you try to figure out why somebody holds a certain position. Even with everybody pulling for the greater good, there is no separating people from the experiences they have had with their own companies. And different people see different threats and opportunities for the industry.
Going around the table clockwise: Sam Calagione, Randy Mosher, Mark Edelson, Kim Jordan, Steve Hindy, Steve Bradt, Jim Koch, Charlie Papazian, Rich Doyle, Gary Fish, Dick Cantwell. Vinnie Cilurzo and Susan Ruud were out of the picture and Ken Grossman and Jack Joyce were via phone.
My first reaction in sitting in the same room with these people a couple of years ago was awe. And that lasted three minutes. Then I started speaking up. And which of these personalities am I, you may ask? I'm the one who gets a concept between his teeth and won't let go of it, willingly, even long after it has been beaten dead. Periodically I succeed in winning over the group, but that always worries me more. Then I hope I was actually right!
Undoubtedly the best part of the meeting is getting together for beers when it is over. Usually we gather at some watering hole and then head out for dinner together. That's when the most amusing stories come out: the crazy things going wrong inside breweries, dysfunctional in-fighting between partners and accidental successes.
But it is over until February, so now back to work on Saint Arnold's!