Trading retirement for the brewery

98-year-old Union Craft Brewing employee doesn’t plan to slow down

BALTIMORE—The birthday party brimmed with laughter, conversations and palpable good feelings. Attendees stuck temporary tattoos to their faces while others played oversized games of Jenga and Connect 4.

On paper, it sounds like a children’s celebration. But this was an event at Union Craft Brewing, the spirited beer company that calls Baltimore home. And a closer look at the tattoos revealed the reason more than 500 people passed through the brewery that recent Saturday afternoon: They were the illustrated face of Henry “Zadie” Benesch, the facility’s oldest employee. In January, he turned 98.

“Old friends, new friends— it’s amazing,” Benesch said. “I did not realize I had touched so many people, and that they think so much of me.”

All day, Benesch was the center of attention. Whether he was inside or in the parking lot to take a cigar break, friends, family members, Union employees and strangers regularly approached Benesch to offer good wishes. He has that effect on people, said his grandson, Union co-founder Adam Benesch—particularly on the workers.

“For the most part, our staff is made up of 20-somethings and 30-somethings, and he’s able to connect with people who are 50 or 60 years younger than him on a daily level,” Adam Benesch said. “He’s really become a critical figure of the brewery.”

When Union’s brewery was merely a warehouse shell in 2012, Zadie Benesch began showing up to watch the space’s development. At least, so his grandson thought. After awhile, Adam Benesch suggested he pitch in by building the cardboard cases Union cans are delivered in. He’s been volunteering 25 to 30 hours per week ever since.

“I come down and spend four or five hours, make about 500 to 600 boxes and call it a day,” said Zadie Benesch, who lives in Pikesville. (In 2017, he made more than 80,000 boxes, according to his grandson.)

At the start of Benesch’s shifts, Union employee Jenna Dutton greets him with a cup of black coffee. For her first year of working at Union, she didn’t know the origin of Benesch’s nickname. When she learned it was a play on the Yiddish word for grandfather, it all clicked.

“I went up to Adam and said, ‘Zadie’s not just your grandfather anymore. He’s everybody’s grandpa here!’ “Dutton said.

At his birthday party, Union honored Benesch by surrounding him with his favorite things. Cigars from 1998 could be purchased, and Vent Coffee Roasters offered cups of coffee (which Benesch drinks each shift) for 98 cents. His favorite Union beer, Blackwing dark lager, cost 98 cents as well, though Benesch said he only drinks once in awhile. When he does, he prefers bourbon.

With a slice of pie made by Dangerously Delicious Pies by Benesch’s side (the fluffy lemon meringue, another favorite), Union presented the man of the hour with an unexpected gift: new cardboard boxes bearing his bearded face that read, “This box was assembled by Zadie.”

Surrounded by family— including some who drove hours from Pennsylvania and Virginia—he marveled at the box. It wasn’t a one-off token of appreciation, but Union’s new standard boxes moving forward.

“It’s the face that launched a thousand beers,” Benesch said with a laugh. “That was amazing to me. Whatever they do, they look out for me.”