There is so much to talk about and so little time (trying to squeeze this into the 45 mins before heading to work). So a week ago I handed in my two weeks notice to the Fork and Brewer. It is something I have been contemplating for some time now. For those of you who are not on my facebook (people I don't know read my blog apparently, that is pretty cool) or don't follow me on twitter ps @tall_ales, follow me for all beer and non beer related things, then you would not know I am going to be a travel consultant for Flight Centre. So are you giving up on your dreams? why did you not go back to legal work? Well for me I am a people person, I think I would make a good sales person, I am passionate about travel, hopefully use those skills to make a decent amount of money. This will be money that I put into my brewing business. So a week today I will have my last day at the Fork and Brewer, have 4 days off then off to start training for my new role.
So as I reach the end of point in my life as a bartender, being the beer geek behind the bar. I want to share with you some of the great things about life behind the bar. I have gone over some of the negatives in great detail. But one of my co workers told me something about this type of work that most office work will just not provide you with.
1) Dealing everyday with something you are passionate about. I love beer, I love it, I make it, I drink it, I talk about it, I research it, I hang out at other beer bars when not at my own, it pretty much influences a large proportion of my life. I get to impart my knowledge, get people to broaden their harizons. I have someone nearly every day (or at least several times a week) that come up to me and shake my hand and say it was great to meet me and thank me for introducing them to the wonderful world of craft beer. I have to admit that makes me feel pretty dam good.
2) The people you work with. Working behind a bar you get to know the people you work with really well. With people with all sorts of backgrounds and skills, from people who tattoo people (sometimes beer logos onto other staff members), people who are brewers who are passionate musicians, people who come from other countries and give you interesting insights, to people who work in the kitchen and are.... some interesting people, I could write a whole blog on them but I wont. One of the best things is when there are no customers, no loud repetitive music and you and your co-workers, no matter what has gone on during work, just sit down have a beer and just chill out and talk shit, have a joke and a laugh and get to know each other. It is a pretty cool thing and something that I shall miss a lot
3) Meeting people from the industry. Working at a beer bar you get to know people at other beer bars, really cool people, be it people from Little Beer Quarter, Hasigo Zake, Malthouse orTaphaus or any other beer bar it is cool to get to know people who work behind and run other bars. Even if you like the bar you work at, it is still work, so sometimes finding an outside sanctuary is essential. Meeting brewers, reps, marketing people and all other kinds of people I have found incredibly helpful in trying to start up my brewing business.
So maybe this is not how I imagined my time at the Fork and Brewer would turn out, but hey it was an experience, I will take what I have learned there and I believe good things will come from it. At the end of the day that is what is all about. So I look forward to my next step in my journey of owning a brewing company. I will keep you all informed about how it goes.
As I have promised in earlier posts I will tell you about my Wellington in a Pint entries very soon. I finished bottling them last night, took a loooong time. I have to do the write up for them in the coming days (I wrote this instead of some of them).
So until next time.
Andrew
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