Blog #18 - The Resurrection

Throughout my life my interest in any particular subject rises and falls like the tide at the Bay of Fundy. I seem to have trouble focusing and the cause is usually a lack of money. I had tossed aside the idea of a specialty bottle shop within hours of dreaming it up and would take years to bring the idea back to the table.

Fast forward to 2009 and the beginning of local beer tasting group. This would force me to have beer on my mind all year round by keeping up with brewing industry news, planning tasting events and attending more brewfests. In December a few of us traveled to Russian River in Santa Rosa for the day. Pliny the Younger release party was our reason and even though the availability of the beer turned out to be a bust, we had a great time and even stopped at a few stores on the way back.





Looking back now, I am not sure it even registered in my slightly intoxicated little brain that these might be specialty bottle shops. Monument Wine & Spirits was the first stop and I was not expecting the amount of bottles that dominated the back wall of cold cases and made up the horseshoe of wine crates in the center of the store. Having learned soooo much more about the industry and what brews had become valuable for trade; it hit me like a sobriety check point. And to think...as much as I loved this place for the selection of bottles and clever use of wine crates...it really was just a liquor store with a better than average selection. They still sold Johnny Walker, Mike's Hard Lemonade, enough Bud Light to choke a hippo and cigarettes behind the taped together counter. In fact the only thing appealing about the entire store was the beer.



We spent about 20 minutes browsing & purchasing and then hit the road headed for Livermore. I believe our next stop was Perry's Liquor and they had 1/4 the selection of Monument. I still wish our local liquor stores had this quantity and quality of beer, but this place was a waste of space as far as I was concerned. I guess my problem is that amazing beer that had serious effort and thought put into it by genuinely good people from around the country is mixed in with 5 Hour Energy Drink and malt liquors that punks will use as an excuse to beat their girlfriends.

This was the beginning of the dust being blown off of the rusty gears in my brain and the thought process really beginning to pick up speed. Several times a week I would ask myself as I sat down with a cold pale ale, "If I had a location like that...what would I do? How would I theme it, how would I layout/organize the selections, how would I advertise?" I didn't have exact answers...that would have to be thought out over many nights sitting in front of the computer or tossing around ideas with Dad. But the most important thing was...don't let this idea fade like last time.

Next...YouTube and the East Coast.

Blog #17 - The Reality

The drive from Chico to Madera is a long, flat and unimpressive 4 hour waste of time. Yes the Sierra Nevada mountains can be beautiful during the winter and spring, but the rest of the year they are clouded in a dirty mixture of agriculture dust and carbon monoxide. To pass the time, I subjected my dad to nonstop ramblings of how exciting it would be to run a specialty bottle shop in Fresno. Imagine every week working with a distributor and trying to obtain the latest and greatest releases from everyone's favorite breweries: Stone, Three Floyd's, The Bruery, Sierra Nevada, Russian River, etc.

In true 'father' form, my dad put my dreams to the test by playing devil's advocate and asking every question possible regarding location, inventory, distribution, bookkeeping, & demographics. Well, most of the questions I came up with at least a halfway decent answer, good enough for the car ride home. But none of them would hold up under scrutiny let alone convince an investor or bank rep to loan me money. And I hadn't even begun to crunch real numbers. Electricity costs were probably high because of the refrigeration units. Inventory had to be expensive because of all of the single bottles that had to be purchased. And most important, I had no idea if the Fresno/Clovis area could even support a craft beer retailer.

By the time we arrived home, the idea had faded into a faint memory and although I would think back on the possibility every now and then over the next 7 years, I would never seriously re-examine it until 2010.

Next...Resurrecting An Idea

Blog #16 - The Idea

The Birth of an Idea -
Ah...the initial stage of being an entrepreneur. Everything is a possibility, all ideas are in perfect form, and the world is your oyster (whatever that means). At some point, though, you have to allow reality, facts and figures, to begin creeping in and infiltrating your all too perfect dream. Oh well, that's when the work begins and that can be just as exciting as the dreaming stage if done right.

Somewhere between 5 to 8 years ago, my cousin Mike escorted my father and I to a wonderful little store in Chico, California called "The Brew Guild". The location wasn't perfect, and the exterior was very unassuming, but interior layout was grand and the product was mouth watering. I do believe it was the first beer specialty store I had ever set foot in. Before this is was mainly beer, wine & spirit liquor stores that appeared dusty and careless. They may have carried a large selection of craft beers but they played second fiddle to gallon jugs of table wine and 24 packs of Coors Light. The Brew Guild was on an entirely different level.

As I have mentioned before, I think of craft beer like a comic book collector views the newest release of Iron Man or a classic must have Silver Surfer #1. I bide my time, collecting tastes 2 or 3 in a sitting, knowing with a smile on my face that this is a collection that cannot possibly ever be complete in my lifetime. And that is the way I like it. What fun would it be if the chase ever ended?

The Brew Guild consisted of, from what I can remember, an entire wall of refrigeration units that displayed individual 12 and 22oz bottles from around the world. One section of the store contained dozens of different styles of glassware in which to enjoy the hundreds of beers that I had never heard of before. I think they were organized by country of origin, which didn't matter at that point in my life because I was extremely ignorant of 90% of the world of craft beer. After walking the store several times, I made the tough decision of picking only 2 beers I had never tasted. On my way out I was already planning my next trip up to Chico to visit this Mecca of sorts with a little more money in my pocket. Money and knowledge would be my two weapons of choice used to launch a proper assault on this place.

Next...Dad And His Damn Reasoning

Blog #15 - The Legend of Anchor Brewing

With the news of Fritz Maytag selling the famed Anchor Brewery to a couple of investment/marketing goofballs making the rounds in the beer industry, I need not let my gut reaction get the best of me.

I call them goofballs at first because their background seems to reek of annoying Studio54, Smirnoff sipping (actually Sky Vodka), yuppie type ads that only promote how hip you will look drinking berry flavored malt beverages while trying to shout your conversation over the latest Jay-Z crap playing in the background.

But hey, maybe these guys, who I have seen in a half dozen photos and never a beer in hand, might turn out to be the next best thing for Anchor since Liberty Ale (considered the first American IPA). This tiny bit of optimism rests on the rumor that they want to open a "Center of Excellence" somewhere in the Bay Area. I could see a Brewer's Mecca of sorts in Golden Gate Park or somewhere near AT&T Park. I will give these guys a chance, but they better bring their A-game and not try any new marketing tricks that involve 'light beer', 'fruity' beers (not that fruit can't be an ingredient, just not at Anchor) or any other tactics that taint the Anchor name.
We Generation Y'ers grew up with Anchor and we respect what Fritz has accomplished. We will be watching you guys...with Steam, Liberty, Porter and Christmas Ale in hand.