Partner up!

Thomas Edison said, "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration"...

...This definitely holds true when starting your own brewery. You learn 99% from trial and error and there is a LOT of hard work involved!

I had one of my co-workers recently approach me to ask me how I make beer. I told him to look it up...I really didn't have the time or patience to give him the run-down on the entire process. He then started firing off questions at me that only lead to more questions, some of which I did not care to answer. Really I just wanted this numskull out of my office. He asked if I could go with him to a local brew store called the "Brew Hut" in Aurora (by the way, awesome folk there...very helpful), but I told him that I didn't have the time to "babysit" him and that he should go there on his own if he was really serious about making beer. I also told him this,

"If you are serious about making beer, whether it's for a hobby or for a future business endeavor, find yourself a good partner".

Brewing is NOT a one-man job. It takes at least 2 people (if not an entire village) to make a decent beer. There is a lot of back-and-forth, playing off of ideas, getting a second opinion, handing over of bottles, cleaners, hoses, measuring instruments....etc. The idea of one person doing the entire process on their own is as absurd as a surgeon performing open-heart without a nurse.

I will pass on this advice to anyone serious about making beer: "Partner UP"!