Tag: community

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Slow Lane

This blog, well me, is fond of borrowing great ideas from other parts of life that it (I) thinks would work well in craft beer. Here is another one…

A lot of digital ink has been spilled during the pandemic regarding loneliness and isolation. But this is one of the first truly smart ideas I have seen to combat it. And brewery taprooms can do something like it.

Designate a communal table, maybe at a certain time each week where anyone can come and talk. No phones allowed of course, unless one is showing photos. Have a special low ABV session ale and have a brewery employee there to get drinks but also just there to chat about beer and / or life.

It would be a great way to walk the community talk.

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Helping the Longshot

Here is your second dose of Sam Adams related news…..

“(Boston, MA) – Samuel Adams today announced that it is expanding its philanthropy initiative, Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream, to home brewers and small craft brewers nationwide. Focused on helping up-and-coming brewers turn their passion for beer into successful businesses, the program will target funding of at least $100,000 to the craft brewing industry in 2011.

The initiative is part of the company’s Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream program, which supports small business owners in the food, beverage and hospitality industry by providing accessible financing, as well as business and financial literacy tools and assistance. Small brewers nationwide can apply for loans ranging from $500 to $25,000 to be used for a variety of business purposes including expansion, equipment, and marketing, with all loan payments recycled back into the fund.

Launched in June 2008 in partnership with ACCION USA, one of the country’s top not-for-profit micro-lenders, the broader initiative has already loaned $540,000 to over 60 businesses – largely in New England – with the goal of reaching $1,000,000 by the end of 2011.

“Our goal with the craft brewing component of Brewing the American Dream is to support small business owners in our niche of the industry who are facing the same hurdles around starting or expanding their nano or microbrewery that I faced when I started brewing Samuel Adams in my kitchen in 1984,” said Jim Koch, brewer and founder of Samuel Adams.”

It is actions like this that make me continue to write about and drink craft beer. What other industry helps out possible competitors like this? And they spent most of the fund money in their own backyard!

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Community

One of my favorite shows is Community. Part of the NBC comedy block on Thursdays. Of course only 4 of those 6 six shows are funny to me but that leads to this great post on the RateBeer HopPress about beer blogging.

Now that you are back from reading there, I want to add my two cents. I love having an opinion (see above) but what I am learning is how to listen better to other’s words. Because the more I listen, the more I learn. AND if I disagree, it teaches me how to frame an argument. I may have been too scared to enter a debate class in high school but the beer world is filled with opinions and I love to talk about them.

Because apathy leads to a world of cheez whiz, white bread and water lagers. Let’s get the discussion going. It can be heated but at the end of the night it should lead to both sides learning something and buying each other a beer. SO keep talking. In bars, during brewery tours or online, it doesn’t matter as long as you are discussing and not hurling words at somebody.

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Community + Beer =

…even better beer! One of my favorite beer websites is Thank Heaven for Beer. They have great reviews every Saturday that personally help me evaluate beers better. But they also go the extra mile to create a community of like minded beer lovers, click HERE to read part 1 of their shout outs to great beer websites.