johnlittle.com

I’ve had a few friends ask me these past couple of months about what’s happening with me (I was always such a loudmouth I’ve even surprised myself by how quiet I’ve been lately), so I’ve been thinking about writing an update.

Nowadays I just can’t stand to be behind the computer much. And so many years of legal writing makes me sound so punctuated that I sometimes cringe when I read myself, even when its just informal message board stuff… So, I’m trying to change that… do different stuff.. like with the use of these ellipses… or mybe i shld typ evrythng like i wUd in chat). I don’t know. I guess the trick will be learning to write more readably and with less clauses.

My old about me page was last updated in June of 2008, and alot has happened since then, so I’ve known I need to come up with a new one… this is part of that effort.

Last December or so, I wrote about some health issues I’d experienced and how that had led to a change in career. The last time I read that account, I decided I’d shared Too Much Information. My sincere thanks to friends and former clients who left some very nice comments for me. I’m getting better, and I very recently had several “all clear” test results for blood clotting and pulmonary issues. Short story: While I remain a licensed attorney, I’m not practicing law right now. It really sucks to have health issues coupled with the misery of being shackled to a desk manufacturing a product called billable hours. So, I’m taking a break. Maybe I’ll muster the gumption (how’s that for more creative writing) to get back to practicing law one day, but it’ll be in a much different form. I used to be the General Counsel of a healthcare company that served special needs children and adolescents. I sometimes like to think that with my background, I’d be well suited to represent such a person in court. But I was never a courtroom attorney and don’t know much about civil procedure, so I’d need a good mentor.

In the meanwhile, I’ve been working on doing something in the field of brewing. Having been my hobby for the last 5 years, that’s really the only other thing I was any good at. I sure can’t cook. Besides homebrewing, pretty much all I’ve ever done is read and write. I can’t even wire a ceiling fan without being dumbfounded. But by golly I’m excited to be figuring out how to wire pumps, temperature gauges, float switches, and electronic ignition gas valves to a brewing system. I’m definitely needing someone to make sure everything is exactly right, but I’m enjoying the challenge of figuring out as much as I can.

It has been a little over a year now since I made the change, and I’ve stumbled through a few different possibilities on which direction to take.

First, I seriously considered a brewpub and got a group of Auburn folks together to talk about the possibility of starting one. There was a ton of excitement, but that quickly faded as the dollar amount guesstimate for renovating Auburn’s Train Depot (one of the only buildings near downtown Auburn that would meet the requirements of existing Alabama law for brewpubs) began to exceed $3 million.

I remember us all touring the Train Depot one day and this accountant (who accompanied one of the prospective owners) looked down her nose at me and asked, “Well, have you ever brewed on commercial equipment that is USDA approved?” Uuugh.

I tried to explain that brewing equipment isn’t required to be certified as USFDA approved, and that many breweries are started by homebrewers who simply learn how to operate the equipment. It was also useless to point out that some beer made by Siebel Institute and UC Davis graduates on large commercial equipment isn’t all that good, and at the same time there’s world class beer being brewed in Alabama garages in modified kegs over outdoor burners. Those points, of course, fell on deaf ears that had already decided the way things should be. She also quickly managed to quickly turn off a guy who is probably the best chef in South East Alabama by explaining to him that he would need to be prepared to work with a cheaper menu involving finger sandwiches. Needless to say, none of this went very far at all.

But after that day, her question to me really continued to bother me, and my problem was this: If I haven’t done it myself, it doesn’t matter much to point out all of the very successful craft brewers in the United States who began to brew commercially after years of homebrewing just because it was a passion (Alot of brewers have Sam Calagione to thank for the inspiration). It’s like knowing, “I can do that!” but having to admit at the same time “I’ve never done that.” So maybe its just my personality, but it was easy for me to think I needed to be able to prove that I was able to learn to brew on some sort of large industrial equipment.

So I made a decision to try to do what alot of people do when they start brewing commercially, that is go get a job at a brewery cleaning equipment, shoveling out mash tuns, doing whatever it takes to learn how the brewery operates. And I figured, if I’m gonna do it, I might as well do it right and go to Oregon, the heart of craft brewing in the United States. I was just gonna do it for a few months to have the experience, and I did feel the need to keep myself occupied and productive. That kind of thing is not unheard of. Plus, I really just needed to feel like I was moving forward, even if I was figuring things out as I went.

But the truth is I’m still a big baby and really can’t stand being away from my family too long (plus the people who tend to do such things are typically young and crazy, not old and crazy). I remember working in Austin and travelling alot (“alot” being about once a quarter for a weeklong trip), and not ever enjoying being away that long. My 2 week trips to Indianapolis and Fresno were unbearable! A few days are no big deal and even refreshing, but a week is pushing it for me.

So that trip ended up being just a time to get away and do some thinking to try to figure out what I thought I could do that involved brewing and didn’t involve practicing law. And the scenery was very refreshing!

And here’s what I thought I’d do:

(ugh, it is taking me forever to write this… had to take a week off after working on the above for 2 days in a row… just can’t stay behind the computer too much anymore, and since this next phase soured, I haven’t been too thrilled to re-think it in too much depth… so I’m going to make it shorthand)…

I thought -> don’t need to learn on that big equipment.. raising money for this anyway… plan to hire an experienced brewer and just move on.. I’ll be happy on the pilot system… got a law firm on board to handle the legal work.. also an accounting firm… planned to raise necessary funds for a 30bbl brewery (by this time packaging brewery seemed the way to go instead of a brewpub))… developed relationship with a design-builder, major equipment suppliers, even had an incredibly well-respected brewer very interested…. testified at an Alabama House Tourism and Travel Committee hearing on House Bill 373 (raising allowable abv in beer from 6% to 13.9%), steps taken with law firm to put together a securities offering for investors, then:
BOOM.
Adverse Material Development (or Material Adverse Change, however you want to say it) from the perspective of potential investors. An Amendment was added to HB373 at the last minute severely restricting where good craft beer can be sold in Alabama, and then the bill passed. I was really irritated at first.

(funny thing is I hear from a reliable source that Alabama beer wholesalers are planning to push a bill in the 2010 session that will undo the HB373 Brooks amendment so that many stores desiring to sell >6% craft beer will be able to to do so without applying for new licensure and all the beurocracy attached to that…)

Anyway, I got over it and figured something else out. Definitely, it was painful to spend so much time only to have the rug pulled out from under, but it has actually been for the best. I learned alot during those months.. I never was thrilled with the name and image we had for that brewery idea and am much happier with the way I’m approaching it now.. very small.. though there’s still always worries about whether it will work out.

One thing I concluded was that whatever I do has to be what I can do with the status of the law being the way it is now, without regard to what the Budweiser Distributor group may do in Montgomery, or what the consumer group led by a Budweiser Distributor rep may do.

It was a little traumatic to come up with a new direction (ever tried to come up with a company name and branding image? it’s tough… I never was completely happy with the previous one).. I really wanted something I could feel good about. I came up with some crazy one’s as I thought through it), but I eventually did come up with something to get behind, and I’m really happy with the direction its going…

Inspired by Southern culture, European farmhouse brewing and a few of my favorite brewing books, Brew Like a Monk, Farmhouse Ales and Wild Brews, what I’m working on now is Southern Farmhouse Ales, a small batch brewery for highly specialized craft brews. No debt, no investors (and I hope I can keep it that way ), just me and Priscilla, and I’m designing and building most everything from scratch… which is a challenge but is a ton of fun! I’m working on a brewing system I call The Bluto 555. I’m loving what I think it’ll be able to do. Facility, fermentation tanks and other equipment are issues that I’m working on too… and man, everything adds up fast. I wish I could move faster on getting the whole thing up and running, but the brewery probably won’t be functional until 2011. And of course my family is my priority, so I’m prepared to extend the plan further if needed.

I remember when I learned to brew, I went to sleep every night thinking about the brewing process, the ingredients, the yeast, the equipment… Ya, I’m doing the same thing now just about every night, only thinking about a bigger better system and increased (hopefully!!) attention to some of the important technical and scientific aspects of brewing. Very exciting!