Art/Industry

“There!”

In a round-about way, we’ll always be heading in that direction…to the non-existant there.
It’s happened continuously from the very start of this project just over one year ago, just over one year ago.

“When a garage was just a garage,” you say.

The ‘there’ I imagined just over one year ago looked nothing like the ‘there’ that I’m currently in; not one tiny bit.  In the over-arching, general sense, this brewery is by definition that vision.  Make Beer In The Woods.  It is the ‘B’ to the ‘A’ with a straight line between them (in the over-arching, general sense line-drawing class).  Except I thought that I’d be selling beer last year.  Except that we’re still caught up in legal hurdles (label and formulation approvals).  Except that we’re almost out of money.

“It’s a process,” everyone says.  No shit.

This particular process just happens to be a sum of my life’s work to this particular point, in the form of a very passionate art project.  Art, in the form of a brewery.  I didn’t quite realize it when I wrote a recent post stating that ‘The Beer is Secondary’ that I meant Second to Art.  Art is the ‘there’ I have been trying to reach, and finally understanding it has transformed how I think about The Ale Apothecary and our precarious (seemingly) race to the bottom of our bank accounts.

“Money comes, money goes,” a friend says.

Well, it’s going.  Going to an extremely good cause, in my humble opinion.  It’s a real American love story that I’m part of, but definitely not telling (this blog notwithstanding).  There’s so much history in both family and brewing tradition, I’m just the place that they meet.  There’s this crazy place called Bend, Oregon that has developed not only a huge beer scene, but an informed beer scene (with beer tourists!).  Bend also has a population of people that act in the belief that dreams do come true, not just for themselves, but for others as well.

“Get on with it, Mr. Herky-Jerky,” someone from the peanut gallery spouts.

OK!  The Ale Club info is going to be released very soon.  The beer is coming along better than I could have hoped.  Our labels, logo and presentation are going to knock your socks off, truly.  I am anticipating another ‘there’, one that involves actually selling a product for money, which is a welcome sight indeed.  If you end up becoming part of our Ale Club, you’ll be purchasing art in the form of beer and a brewery.  Since scientists seem to have mainly right or wrong answers, I’ll be describing The Ale Apothecary as an artists’ brewing studio in order to reinforce that it’s all about the interpretation.  Maybe you’ll like our beer, maybe you won’t.  Maybe you’ll love it.  I love it.

“Love is all you need,” says John Lennon.

So, just to sum up all that I’ve so accurately described here, I am finally shrugging off the last vestiges of my social conditioning in order to fully realize this thing.  I’m committed to our now larger project called ‘Art Over Industry’.  It’s not a challenge or a cause, but it’s a way that I want to live.  It’s a cheat sheet for my decision-making process.  Perhaps purposeful art in the form of small business is our upcoming American revolution?  Perhaps it is possible to use beer to change the world for the better?  Now that I think about it, it’s always been that way with our liquid bread.

“Ed!  What kind of crap are you listening to out there?!”  Mildred hollers.