I am jealous every time I read about people making life changes. Not that I am unfulfilled but the thrill of risk reminds me of when I was 23 and told my boss “I could never do that” to which he replied “what are they going to do – take your bicycle?” Life lesson. So, I am a real booster when I read about this sort of thing from Peter at BetterBeerBlog:
Starting Monday, the hourglass gets flipped. I will begin my newest adventure in opening up a craft beer bar here in the South Bay. No, there’s no name yet. No, we don’t have a location yet. In much of the time I’ve been blogging about the South Bay craft beer scene, I have always called for people to step up and help bring good craft beer here as no one will do it for us. It’s always been one thing to sit comfortably behind a keyboard and “rah-rah-rah” the community to do something and another thing to just do it. So I am going for it.
He is not alone. Last week, Young Dredge over in the UK announced he was joining one of the new exciting craft breweries in London, Camden Town Brewery. Exciting times.
Frankly, I have no idea why every beer blogger with any respectable level of following has not been picked off by a brewery but that is no comment on Dredge’s fortune. If I were ever to get maudlin and weepy for what has been and what may never be, it’s my real happiness for our friend Stonch – leader of the rise of the UK beer blog of 2007 – and his route in life from law, to vibrant beer blog 2.0 blogging, to beer business exploration and, leaving the writing behind, into Gunmakers’ ownership success. Making that sort of leap is both a huge risk and a real commitment – as well as a massive statement about what your own life means to you. I wish that good fortune for these guys.
Ambition is a wonderful thing. Finding a venue for your ambition that matches your bliss like Peter and Dredge and Stonch, too, have is quite a something, as we would say out east. Quite a something.