Having the vision and passion…
Across from Peter Caira, co-owner and head brewer for People’s Pint Brewing Company, sitting at a high top table in the middle of the taproom, we enjoyed a pair of pints together. I asked him what he thought a “craft beer lifestyle” might be.
“For me it’s just knowing that somebody put a lot of effort into this – into this thing that you’re drinking. This thing that you’re hopefully tasting, rather than [begins laughing] just guzzling it…
“One extreme is being dedicated to going to every craft brewery no matter what you’ve heard of it, what you’ve been told, and trying the beer oneself… That’s one extreme of the culture.
“The other is just simply being able to go to your own, local craft brewery – the joy and pride to have someone in your own neighbourhood who decided that this neighbourhood can use and deserves a craft brewery. And then you supporting that vision and passion.
“And that’s the only way that a craft brewery is ever going to work, because if the taproom and retail shop aren’t supported, then you need to shift to a sort of beer factory, which isn’t the same, communal thing. If a taproom is supported though, then creativity can really flourish.
“And that’s what’s needed too, because when people visit a taproom, they really want to see something different every time they come in – and to do that, you really need that local support.”
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