Best "Beer Celebrity" Encounter

Not sure this qualifies as a "celebrity" encounter or not, but what the hell.

Discount Liquor in Milwaukee and Waukesha both have beer tastings in store from time to time. Over the past two years, I've had the opportunity to meet and chat with both owners of Central Waters while they were personally pouring samples at the Waukesha location. The first time this happened two years ago, Anello brought a growler of 1414 along and I got to chat with him one on one while he poured me several generous (and free) samplers of 1414. 'Twas a great time (and a great beer)!

 

Tom Kehoe of Yards once said our homebrewed Bitter "didn't taste like a homebrew"

 

Eh, not exactly a beer celebrity but there are enough science nerds on here...
I got to meet Dr. Michio Kaku last month after a talk he gave and asked him if he wanted to get get a beer after the meet and greet. Turned down (due to an early radio interview the next day)
TBH, I would probably not recognize the faces of any of the 'large' craft breweries' brewing teams.

 

Meeting Vinnie from Russian River randomly in the crowd at Botterock Napa a few weeks back was pretty cool. Apparently the Black Crowes are huge Pliny fans and he had just bottled a batch that day...

 

I once asked Joey if I could have some stashed Hunah or some leftovers from Daddy's club.

 

Well i live next door to the pipeworks brewery. So i get to see them shooting hoops or throwing the football around most days. Solid group of cats.

 

A CFO is your best beer encounter?
This isn't accountantadvocate.com

How did you find out he was the CFO anyways?

 

Larry Bell, Randy Sprecher, Kirby Nelson, Dan Carey, Russ & Jim Klisch -- even Greg Hall, all stand-up guys as well.

 

My wife and I were on a train station platform in Italy when I noticed a woman wearing a Dogfish Head hat, standing with some friends. I said, "You guys are a long way from Delaware." The woman in the hat looked puzzled for a second, and then realized I had recognized the logo on her hat. We chatted for a second about the beer, and one of her friends said, "She IS Dogfish Head, you know." A minute later, her husband, Sam Calagione, comes bounding down the platform.

They couldn't have been nicer, and Sam even took a picture with us despite the fact that we were more than a little dirty and sweaty from the hike we had just done. We saw them again in the next city (we all had hopped the train because the hiking trail was closed for a stretch), and I got a great shot of Sam holding up my WSU flag.

One good beer encounter came at the expense of another, however, when my wife woke up the next morning with excruciating pain in her knee. We had to end our trip early (thank god for travel insurance) and miss Oktoberfest in Munich.

(On a related note, a trip to the hospital in Italy is exactly as awesome as you would expect. Doctors with slicked-back hair and gold chains, taking smoke breaks directly outside the ER.)

 

Meeting Vinnie at RR is always a treat. Such a nice guy and very appreciative of his customers. He usually responds personally to emails sent to the company.

 

In April 2010 I was day drinking at The Map Room when two guys stopped by. I proceeded to spend 15 minutes talking to the Nat'l sales manager for The Bruery while the second guy he was with sat quietly behind him. Feeling bad for not involving him our conversation, I asked "Are you the local Bruery rep?" to which he replied "My father owns the brewery." It was Patrick Rue.

In August of 2009 I was in Brussels wandering somewhat aimlessly through a rough-ish neighborhood trying to find Cantillon (No GPS phones at the time) when I saw a big, blank door. I gave it a knock and nothing happened. After about a minute or two the door cracked open and Jean Van Roy peeked his head out. I was visibly surprised to see HIM answering the door. It was a Belgian holiday and he was the only person there. He went on to give my wife and I a personal tour including barrel samples of young lambic. Pretty awesome experience.

 

are you kidding?
SNBill is so active on this site....

 

SNBill is not the CFO.
Bill Manley is SNBill

 

Greg Koch and Omar Ansari would be my two. Have also spoken with Jim Buechler from Ballast Point on the phone for a while

 

just messing with you.
I don't think I've met anybody of note in the beer world.

 

I've met a bunch of beer types over the years - I don't know if they range from Best... but, Garrett from Brooklyn, Dann and Martha from Pretty Things, The Hendlers from Jack's Abby, Hugh Sisson from Heavy Seas, Matt from Mayflower / (now of) Blatant, I know one of the publishers from Yankee Brew News, etc. In fact, it's at the point that when I go to beer evernts / tastings, it's more like am I ever NOT going to ruin into someone I know.

 

Jeppe from Evil Twin has had a place in my neighborhood since Tørst opened, I see that dude everywhere. My friends brother is a head brewer at Sierra Nevada and my uncles friend is the operations manager at Stone.