Many of you know we were recently voted the "Best Brewery in NH" in the Hippo. It goes without saying that this is an incredible honor, especially being a company only nine months old. We cannot thank you all enough, and are proud that you enjoy our beers as much as we do. Honestly, the best award we can achieve is one we are presented with everyday: Each time one of you spends your hard-earned money on our of our fresh pours.
Once we heard the good news, I immediately thought back to my time in Iraq. The military teaches us that mission success may call for celebration, but always produces a new mission to focus on. Carl explained it well to me: "Victory sets conditions for future victories." During my tour overseas, we primarily focused on convoy escorts on the roads in and around Baghdad. We knew that the days we returned inside the wire safe and successful, the next day would bring new challenges, requiring us to always remain vigilant and focused on what the next day's mission might bring. Even on the eve of our unit's return to the states, our mission was to thoroughly prepare our replacements so that they too could be successful.
While it is always wonderful to win awards for your merit and hard work, that isn't why we continually work hard and focus on the road ahead. We brew with the hope of showing you our version of beer. Not for medals, accolades or favorable beer ratings.
Saying all that, don't think we aren't humbled by the experience. We just know this is one of many things that we will be growing from, and not looking back. To quote my favorite author:
"We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.”
-Kurt Vonnegut
Awards show you that, yes, you accomplished something. But they also force you to question: could it be done better? This is a question we constantly ask ourselves, always striving to be better than we were the day before. We are not the brewery that opened on June 14th, nor are we the brewery that won Best in NH. We are the brewery that is always focused on jumping off cliffs, forcing ourselves to develop our wings. We enjoy glancing occasionally in the rear-view, but remain focused on what's out the front windshield.
With today's release of Emma Wood, and others down the road such as my coffee porter, we look forward to the future. To hopefully winning more awards, yet reminding ourselves: Alright, now lets go do better.
I look forward to seeing you in the future and figuring out what we can do better tomorrow because of today.
-Jake
Renaissance Man
