Exceptional Beer Saints (2024)

You bring up Kentucky and I've always got to shout out Sergio from the eponymous World Beer bar in Louisville. Probably the most hospitable guy I've ever encountered and a true living beer legend.

Locally (ish) I'll point to the Cilurzios from Russian River. They've been cranking out epic beer for 25 years, kept prices in check as the rest of the industry has caught them and blown past. Their IPAs continue to be relevant 2 decades later, their mixed ferm/wild program is top tier in the western hemisphere, and they're great community members (both locally and as a part of the "craft beer community")

 

Also let us not forgot Beer Evangelists @beergoot

My mind went exactly where yours did reading that thread post, Beer Saints, they’re all over BA…little busy ATM so only a quick post but I’ll be back…

 

No particular order here:

Beer Saint #1: @snaotheus for being a tour and beer guide in Seattle, and for making multiple beer wishes come true.

Beer Saint #2: @Coronaeus just for being such a thoughtful and generous person.

Beer Saint #3: @beergoot who will help anyone get any beer he has access to, no questions asked…a lot of us know this.

Oh…and anyone who has suggested or recommended beers I try, whether you were conscious of it or not

This just about says it all though

 

I first read this as “Exceptional Beer Stains”.

 

I've got a few. Maybe a bit of a different take as its more like memorable moments due to some industry people - we had no clue who we were talking to at the time. I dunno about sainthood ( except for one I'm sure of) but they gave of their time to talk with us and treated us kindly even though they didn't know us from Adam (or Eve).

Brian Greenhagen at the former Mystic Brewery. We were sitting in a pretty much empty tasting room on one of our first ever brewery visits. Casual chatter with the server. This guy pulls up a barstool next to us and we talked for about an hour - initially chit chat. Then we traded business cards and talked about our backgrounds (my wife and I both have biology undergrad degrees and I had my masters in food science). After our "holy shit this is cool" moment we started talking about technical stuff and the fun really started - microbiology, fermentation, isolating yeast strains, etc. We learned a lot and could really appreciate what the brewery was trying to accomplish.

Dann and Martha Paquette from Pretty Things. We were at a tasting in a small bottle shop and tried a few of their beers and were incredibly impressed with Grampus. Dann told us the story behind that beer and the pride of accomplishment was obvious. He urged us to buy a bunch because it would never be made again. We thought he was just a guy, but he and Martha introduced themselves and even amidst the unruly mob of tasters, they were gracious and just folks - I think us really appreciating Grampus so enthusiastically might have helped.

Dan McGovern at Lake St. George in the boonies of Liberty, ME. We vacationed in Liberty for several years in a row and were kinda temporary regulars - Danny was always welcoming and would sit with us and taste and point out what his expectations were for each beer. We had a some lengthy conversations about the realities of the industry that were educational to say the least. It's been a couple of years now, but we will always have fond memories.

Father Isaac Keeley from Spencer Brewery. I've never, ever met anyone like him. Tremendous and genuine joie de vivre, a man of incredibly deep faith, apparently boundless energy, and genuine passion for brewing and sharing thst passion. We had a great discussion about how he managed the apparent juxtaposition of leading almost a double life - how he balanced his duties as a monk with the business needs in terms of time and philosophy. I dont think the man slept more than three or four hours a day. A truly remarkable human being - humble, genuine, and endearing.

Lots of people on BA for their kindness, too, from @cavedave for an incredibly "acccurate" in terms of styles porch bomb when I was but a BA whippersnapper. @JackHorzempa for lots of patience involving home brewing conversations. Utopiajane - a legend in my opinion. @Providence @2beerdogs and a bunch of others already listed. I can be a bit asocial, but there are quite a few folks on here I think of as friends I may never meet but am lucky to "know" here on BA. Our shared enjoyment of beer just breaks the ice.

 

Larry, permit me to state +1 to this.

I have had in depth conversations (many face to face) with many craft beer industry folks and the majority of them are very kind and giving people willing to readily share their perspective and thoughts on a variety of brewing topics. I would like to name names but I will choose to not do so since I am sure there will be some names I will forget to mention and I will consequently feel bad about that.

There are some beer industry folks who are pompous and think that only their way is the 'right' way but thankfully they are far and in between.

I will take the time (and this thread) to thank you for all of the help and time you generously provided in the past on several brewing/food topics. You are a genuine BA resource and I appreciate that aspect.

Cheers!

 

What a unique, iconic bar. When I lived in the wilds of Southern Indiana (ever been to Elizabeth? I doubt it!) my trips here were heavenly (pun intended).

 

Haha, thanks for the mention, but when it comes to porch bombs between us it definitely was Mutually Assured Destruction, and I'm damn glad to have you as a BA friend for sure!

Funny to see my name in a thread about saints, and for some reason it reminded me of lines from a Dead song (full disclosure- it was my bathroom break song)

"...Doctor call me crazy, some says I am, some says I ain't,
And the Preacher man call me a sinner,
But his little girl call me a saint..."

Cheers, my friend!

 

Looks like I have a thread to start

 

A lot of the participants of the NBS BIFs certainly qualify. There were members who in addition to to beer portion, sent ice cream and Taylor Ham. Some saints in that group for sure.

 

Or helped someone track down an old Washington Pint Days glass…

 

BIF is an acronym for Beer It Forward: https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/forums/beer-it-forward.26/ They're like big circular trades. The NBS BIF supports the weekly New Beer Sunday thread: https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-weekend-181.675757/

 

Great post
Cheers

 

For what its worth, I also see BIF as "Butt In Front", meaning a hefty individual... YMMV.

 

Well, I guess things are different south of the Mason-Dixon line.