Thursday, April 16, 2009

Musings on the hiring.

Okay, so we’ve hired David Pierce to join the NABC team.

You have questions. Why? Now what?

It’s important to understand that Dave brings a perfectly complementary set of professional skills to an existing brew team that includes our longtime brewers of record, Jesse Williams and Jared Williamson.

From the start, we’ve been a brewpub brewery, and as such, we’ve had the luxury of indulging a full range of creative artistry on the part of the current brewers (and Michael Borchers before them). The fact that we’ve always aimed for flexible stylistic interpretations as a means of weaving our house beers into the broader palette of the many beers on tap at the Public House means that we now have distinctive brands to deliver to a wider world. Without that, there’d be no brewing expansion plan.

Accordingly, our brewing expansion plan alters the old dynamic, but not in terms of fundamental creativity. Now, there are added challenges posed by consistency and production on a larger scale, and the efficient distribution of the finished product to our wholesalers, first in kegs, and then later, in cans.

That’s why Dave is on board. Remember that it’s a challenge for him, too, because it will be the first time he has undertaken to brew and ship someone else’s formulas. He's a pro's pro. 'Nuff said.

I’m sure that at some point in the future, Dave will be able to brew his own creative ideas, probably at the smaller Grant Line brewery, along with Jesse and Jared, as part of a brewmaster’s signature series. I can’t wait, although for now, the plan is to receive the brewery, build the brewery, and then brew our existing beers for distribution to metro Louisville and the state of Indiana.

The sooner this gets underway, the better, and the closer we’ll get to the next stages.

Does this help explain matters more clearly?

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