Shared Experience: Craft Beer Camaraderie Transcends Borders

When brew-pubs first started popping up in the Midwest (late 80s, early 90s) I remember talking to a lot of the proprietors and always heard stories about shared help between the breweries. Mostly borrowing ingredients when needed, but sometimes physical help when extra muscle was required.

I'd like to think it's still that way -- I see a lot of friendly collab around the Chicago 'burbs.

 

I think part of the reason there’s so much cooperation is because there’s so much movement due to how difficult it is to make it, as well as folks who do make it having history elsewhere. It’s a tiny world, relatively speaking, and being an asshole probably will have consequences when you’re the one who needs a hand up.

Besides that, like many other lines of work just because you have the same ingredients, know how I do it, etc, does not mean you can just do what I do as well as I do. I can learn and copy Danny Carey’s drum parts, but a Tool cover band won’t be paying me, let alone Tool. In tech (my line of work) a hell of a lot of smart people open-source or document the life out of what they do, and life goes on. If you’re Vinnie Cilurzo, you’ll outsell an upstart copying you on reputation alone, and if they’re good enough to take that and make beer that is just as good, they’re probably good enough to go do their own thing.