I actually wrote this a year ago while we were conceptualizing recipe's and designs for what would become Philadelphia's Brewing Company. I found this scribbled on an old pad in the bottom of my locker and thought it is interesting and more appropriate than ever on the eve of our first year officially in this business as Philadelphia's brand.
January 2008
The honeymoon is over. …for some.This goes out to small brewers. The days of building a brewery and carving out your niche on uninteresting / uninspired beers just because they are 'craft' is over. Yesterdays success guarantees nothing tomorrow.
The fact is that even the smallest of us are in the business of manufacturing first and creativity second. We work in beer factories. Many days it feels like a trained monkey could do 95% of what we do. It’s the other 5% that counts the most –if you forget that and you’re just mailing it in everyday – well that makes you the monkey. Don’t get me wrong, the hard hard labor of simple everyday production – the shoveling of grain, the scrubbing of floors, the moving of kegs, and so on - is the large necessary price we all pay to have the occasional chance to create. As always it’s the smallest things that count the most. If in all the monotony of daily work you’ve forgotten that – I say wake up or move on. Its all about perspective – if you think like a factory grunt then that’s what you’ll be – think like a technically trained artist and well … you’ll make some damn good beers.
This is nothing more than a friendly reminder to all the brewers out there.
So keep the romance alive.
