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.
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