Friday, October 17 2008

Limited Edition Tour Week One

Why is it so dark in this picture, and why is that box tilted to the left?

Whoo-eee! It’s been a busy week in the Western USA. I flew into Denver to do a couple of Limited Edition Events. The first one was for the Brew Hut in Aurora Colorado. Wonderful folks there, and they put on a great event, despite having just come off the weekend of the Great American Beer festival. They also happen to run a micro-brewery attached to their retail store, and this year they took a silver medal for their beer, so there was much rejoicing and happy faces.

We also had a chance to drop in on some of the local Colorado retailers, including my friend Wally at High Country down in Monument. His is a dual-purpose store, specialising in garden supplies and consumer winemaking. He’s a tremendously sharp guy who really connects with his customers and makes everyone feel welcome. Plus, he’s got a resident kitty-cat who has the run of the garden centre. How could you not love a store that gives you the opportunity to moogle a kitty while you shop?

Always stirring the pot!

I was especially pleased to drop in for an informal customer appreciation event for my friends at Stomp Them Grapes. If there’s another home winemaking store I feel happier and more at home in than theirs, I can’t think of it. We did a stand-up tasting with some excellent local cheeses and salami, and I answered a whole raft of questions from some very sharp customers. The fellows were in the middle of crushing and pressing grapes that day: they were just sweeping and tidying as we came in, and as we left late in the evening they were back outside, running the crusher and the one-armed Italian rowing machine (grape press). It looked like hard work, so I beat a hasty retreat, but I’m looking forward to seeing them again soon.

Salt Lake City and the Wasatch mountains. Pretty!

We scooted over to Salt Lake City after that. It’s about a one-hour flight from Denver, but might as well be on a different planet. I’m not sure what it is about the city, populated as it is with members of the Church of Latter Day Saints, but I was treated so well by the nicely groomed, polite, mindful folks all around me that I was nearly off my rocker in ten minutes. I think their preternatural affability and politeness is more cultural than an artefact of their religious beliefs, but my goodness it was a disorienting experience.

Fortunately I was doing an event for my old and great pal Mark Alston of the Beer Nut, who provides an oasis of iniquity in the midst of it all. He’s a swell chap, very bright guy with some sort of ADD/ADHD/OCD affliction that makes him relentlessly energetic and active. It’s kind of like hanging around with a Tasmanian Devil that forgot to take its meds, but in a very good way. Jamie, who manages the Beer Nut, organised the tasting event and did a great job, despite some trying circumstances. She’s a gem, and her customers were really engaged at the show—I got a lot of great questions, commentary and responses from them. The tasting was held upstairs at the Tsunami restaurant, a very nice venue with some darn tasty food—I wouldn’t have thought of doing salmon nigiri as a substitute for the smoked salmon with the Gewürztraminer, but it worked fabulously well.

Afterwards we wound up at Mark’s restaurant, The Bayou, where we enjoyed some of his excellent cuisine (try the Gumbolaya, but bring a defibrillator, because it’s delicious and deadly) and great jazz. There was a quintet playing that was as tight as a rubber brick, and slick as a greased bass player. I could have stayed all night, but had to get back to my hotel, as my 7 am flight and my 5 am appointment with Homeworld Security loomed large.

Thanks to all my friends and fellow travellers on this go-round. Next week, the Midwest—I'll be doing a Limited Edition event for the customers of Bacchus and Barleycorn in Shawnee (hi Alberta!) in this really cool venue: it's a converted barn that serves as a corporate meeting place, all fancy-like, then it's over to Midwest Brewing Supplies to see how they're doing--I haven't seen them for some time, and I'm really looking forward to hanging out with them. After that it's Rochester Minnesota and my old friend Wally Klopp at the Pine Cheese Mart and Brew Shop. Wish me luck--more security and more flights to go.

Your Name:*
Your Email Address:*
Comment Title:
Comment:*