As most of you know, we closed the brewery & Ale Room on Wednesday to allow all of us to enjoy a day of team-building and professional development together. I believe that it is important to invest time with the teams that add value to your life, whether they be personal friends & family or professional colleagues. They are the ones who encourage us, support us and push us. In doing so, they elevate our individual abilities, just as we elevate theirs. Dedicating the time and energy towards that effort; having fun, exploring and learning together allows us to absorb about one another's journey - their challenges, mistakes, triumphs and ambitions. This increased perspective gives us a level of comfort and understanding with one another, which carries back into our daily routines together.
We began with a hearty breakfast here in Merrimack, then headed out to New Boston where Rick Herget (a 3rd generation branding artist) showed us how he crafts and utilizes the hot-brass brands that imprint our tap handles. Beautiful work. We then traveled to Weare to see the site where Ebenezer Mudgett started the Pine Tree Riot. While the tavern that his Rioters stormed no longer stands, the event is marked with a plaque and millstone on the John Stark Highway. We grabbed a couple beers down the road at the Stark House Tavern (now a new customer; coming soon...), where Mike & Heather somehow defeated Jake & I at pool. All I'll say is we granted Heather a lot of mulligans. We capped off the day with pumpkin shooting, a bonfire fed with pallets from the brewery, a healthy dose of beer and a number of great stories.
No, as a business it isn't easy to close this place for a full day, and it's even tougher to measure just how effective this subjective concept of "team-building" really is. We simply believe it's the right thing to do, and have faith that this effort will pay dividends in the weeks and months to come. I look forward to the journey ahead with my teammates; both the work as well as the next day we can take to grow together.
Carl
Co-Founder | Accounts & Engineering
