I AM, BY NATURE, AN OPTIMISTIC PERSON.
That should be evident to anyone who reads this note with any frequency, but if you’re reading for the first time, there it is in black and white. One generally must have an optimistic streak to start any type of business, whether that’s a media business, a brewery, a craft maltster, a brewing-equipment company, or similar. Without the vision and conviction that things can be better in the future, no one would take the risk and put their time, energy, and money on the line.
Times like this shake some of that optimist’s resolve. Over a period of just weeks, we watched the craft-brewing industry’s sales fall precipitously as business restrictions and then stay-at-home orders compelled breweries to close taprooms, dial back production, and furlough staff. At the worst time of the year, when breweries and beer drinkers are shaking off the winter doldrums and gearing up for the season of outdoor beer-garden drinking, a pandemic has fundamentally changed how we shop, how we socialize, and the very rhythms of all our lives. It has been an unsettling experience but one broadly shared as people across the United States and around the world all grapple with similar social-distancing and isolation orders.
The bright spot (and you knew I’d find one, as it’s clearly in my nature) is that through these difficult times, we have found ways to push forward. Within days of taproom closures, craft brewers launched online ordering with curbside pickup, home delivery, and more. Social drinkers took to video conference platforms to share remote pints. Lapsed homebrewers finally found the time and reason to dust off the brew kettle and get creative. Challenging circumstances have a way of bringing into focus what really matters, and we found the silver linings.
The inevitable end of stay-at-home restrictions won’t mean an instant return to the way things used to be, pre-pandemic. Every business that sold beer over a bar before the pandemic faces a long road to being fully open with the crowds they were used to. Customers’ concerns over getting sick won’t magically go away just because orders are lifted—we’ll all be a bit more cautious and conservative. Staffs will have to be slowly rebuilt as business returns. We will all grapple with the economic fallout from the rapid rise in unemployment and the slow process of recovery. A year from now, the world of craft beer won’t look like it did a few months ago, before the world changed.
Through it, however, I’m buoyed by the spirit that has driven craft beer from the start—that idea that something better is possible, if we work for it and build it ourselves, together. That same spirit has been on display through brewers’ responses to the pandemic. As the business changes, I suspect that spirit will remain a driving force behind what we do.
Whether you long for the good ol’ days or face the future with cautious optimism, we hope you enjoy this issue. We made it for you.