Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Where I'm At (Another of those Autobiographical Posts--but aren't they all?)

A few months ago, way back in September, I last kept my readers up to date with my career. I spilled the beans about the end of my time at a certain brewpub not to be named, and the interim experience toiling away at the Harriet Brewing taproom. I had accepted a new job at a brewery taproom yet to open and said it was weeks away, but didn't name the name. Weeks was inaccurate to say the least. The original idea was to be open in late October. That was a month and a half wrong.

My hours at Harriet started to dwindle away. I kept telling them that the new job would start in a few weeks, over and over again, because that's what I was being told. Finally, they ran out of shifts to give me in early November, and I spent a solid month completely unemployed, waiting for my new job to start, subsisting on unemployment, selling things off, borrowing some. It was a rough time. I'd go out once in a while, to my favorite taprooms, brewpubs and bars, watching the bartenders hard at work, dreamily eyeing their actions, thinking: "I so want to do that again! Let me back there!"

I took the job of beer server at the brand new Eastlake Craft Brewery in the Midtown Global Market, at Lake Street and 10th Avenue, for several reasons. I wanted to be involved with a small start-up, just taking off. The project intrigued me with the possibilities inherent in the location, being part of a multicultural marketplace in a part of the city that's starved for local beer options, and utter lacking in beer bars. The location was convenient, also, as it's just four blocks away from where I live. Easy commute there. Even in the dreadful days of winter, a short walk home from work won't be too terrible.

Only one thing was unclear, and the question was asked to me, though I had no answer: "How good will the beer be?" I didn't know, for the owner / brewer had no experience brewing anywhere else, being yet another home-brewer going pro. I was not his friend before they hired me, so I never hung out at his home, drinking his hombrew. Once the brewery was up and running, I got some early tastes from the tanks, but it was too soon to judge their quality, being unfinished, not fully fermented. Mostly what I had to go on was his taste. I had a good feeling that this was going to be a terrific taproom and a quality brewhouse, and that feeling had to carry me from September 24, when I accepted the job, until December 11, my first real shift behind the bar at the finally open taproom. (I certainly got advice from friends and family, telling me: "just get another job." But it's not that easy to "just get a job", and I already had one, plus in the time it would take to apply, interview, be hired and train, the job I wanted and had would be starting.)



We have four beers from the mind of Ryan Pitman to start with: a saison, Belgian pale, black IPA and rye stout. I'm fondest of the last two. The response so far has been universally positive. We'll be up to eight beers on tap in a few weeks, and who knows where we go from there. I'll be filling your pint or tulip 5 days a week soon, and no, I keep telling my friends and acquaintances who visit the following: no, it's not my place, I'm not an owner, or a manager, I didn't design the place or pick the beers or write the descriptions. That's all Ryan and his wife. Me, I'm fine "just" bar-tending for now. Nothing wrong with it. And I might use this space to tell you about the beers, but I won't be reviewing them. I went over all that mulling about the beers at that other place where I was FOH manager, and here I have a specific monetary interest in having you visit the place and drink the beers and leaving a tip. That's how I'm paying the bills and keeping Sonny and Rollie the cats in Fancy Feast.



So, I'll post about the beers for informational purposes from time to time, but I won't give my opinion, bad or good. This will be the first and last time I say, come down to Eastlake and have a pint! Choose from any of the fifteen restaurants, bring your food in, settle into our cozy taproom and enjoy yourself.

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