Waiting for Baby
I remember like it was yesterday when my daughter Bethan was born in Guildford, England. On Sunday April 20th at about 8pm during my favourite TV programme (I can’t remember what it was) Tracey went into labour and we rushed to the hospital only for Bethan to take 16 hours to arrive!
This last 10 days has been a bit like that, waiting for our first major batch of USA beer to arrive. George our Master Brewer and John Fischer of High Falls rehydrated our beer concentrate on 19th January and so started the fermentation process. Months of planning and marketing and now I had no control over what was happening, a little like the birth of Bethan really, the only difference being I’m 5,000 miles away!
Over the last 10 days I’ve received cryptic messages such as “coming to the boil”, “fermentation going well”, “everything on track”, “cooling has started” and each time I’ve said what does that mean? only to be told that everything was OK. Strange how you never ask these types of questions in a hospital when they make unintelligible comments!
So everything on track and going well when bam, bam you are hit with two punches you really didn’t see coming. Firstly, the late hop extract we’d shipped from Ireland got stuck in customs. Somewhere during the transit the papers had become separated from the goods (I’m in a charitable mood) and so the FDA wouldn’t release the goods, and then there was customs to face.
Frantic calls from Rochester to New York to Ireland and all sorts of other places resulted in the paperwork being in place on Thursday 28th. Isn’t it amazing how many times you can look at the screen and see the words “awaiting FDA clearance” and you go away and they’ve changed to “waiting for customs inspector” which isn’t a whole lot better. At this point I was ready to scream the cry of the anguished father, but just as there are professionals on hand to look after you in hospital so too with handling FDA and Customs. Step forward Arnold of Expeditors, a professional to rival any surgeon.
I don’t know if Arnold does this for every customer or he likes people from Ireland or he likes beer, but he kept to the task of getting our special package through FDA and Customs approval in record time. He even had a truck sitting there ready to drive our precious one from New York to Rochester. This is when the second punch was thrown!
What is it with you guys in the USA? You always have to do things big and better! We get 4 inches of snow in Ireland and everything grinds to a halt. You get 16 inches of snow in New York State and the truck with the hops is only delayed by 2 hours. Amazing! I don’t have the truck drivers name but thank your Sir or Madam for making our beer be produced on time.
So at 2:33 am on 29th January 2010 in Rochester New York our SLBC baby was born. 1,500 barrels of the best Irish Ale. I was amazed that George was sending me messages via Skype when I started work at 7:30 in Ireland, he was still at the brewery!
The following day some of our business partners assembled to taste the first Saint Patrick’s Beers coming off the production line. I waited and waited for someone to call and guess what, they didn’t! I guess there was a lot of beer to test. I got an email which said “I am sure that you have heard by now, but the beer at High Falls is simply…amazing!!!” So with a big smile on my face I went off to video the Girls Brigade fashion show for Tracey, who is the GB captain. Something doesn’t seem right does it?
Today the beer is leaving High Falls and making its journey across the USA. So the vision in 2004 “to be the second most recognisable Irish beer brand in the world” comes a step nearer. Thanks to all the SLBC and High Falls people and our business partners who have made this possible. Now, when do I get to taste that beer?
And Bethan? She becomes a teenager this year!
