Random thoughts from the A! Beer Wench: It's All Around the Liquid .

It's amazing the folk you see at a beer/wine expo after party, truly.

There we were, amongst the Grand Rapids beautiful (and young) people, with our branded shirts, hats and tender feet-clutching our New Holland Poets, Full Circles, Mad Hatters or (in this Wench's case) Knickerbocker GandT's, ready to speak about anything but our own products after 4 hours of doing so with zest and enthusiasm.

The perfect coolness of Cygnus 27 (the Amway Grand's attempt to entice the youth and loaded to the top of their building) was highlighted by the panoramic views of the Elevated River as the lights of the Tidiest City on the Planet twinkled in the increasingly chilly air. The DJ spun some weird mixes of (I trust to God) Annie Lennox and that group that did that horrible 99 Red Balloons-a little disconcerting but once into my 3rd Knickerbocker it started to sound danceable.

Boxes of New Holland brews were artfully arranged in odd corners and on tables while the entire bar was covered in their Artisan Spirits Line. It was, in its entirety, a marketing coup and a view to behold for one such as myself whose only function is to peddle beer.

"Peddling beer" includes: knowing as often as is appropriate about how beer is made; understanding how the different types compare to each other; having a firm gasp on the differences between a Helles Lager and a Belgian Imperial Stout and all the permutations in between; knowing the introductory steps in the brewing process (preferably having had hands-on live with same which Your Wench has had thanks to Her Brewer); being able to predict demand for different types you make and plan brews accordingly including figuring in agitation and storage times; knowing what your competitors charge for 1/6 and 1/2 barrels and for their four or six packs; knowing your competitors' names, faces and success stories; knowing the names of your best distribution partners including the owners and sales people; knowing which of your distributors works the hardest to betray your product; knowing which of your distributor partners need training up and doing so; having a material sense of Just where your merchandise is sold (nothing worse than staring blankly at a possible new My Beer Drinker when they ask "where can I get it round here!"); knowing what stores/bars/restaurants sell the near of your product; managing swag (wearables, bottle-opener-shaped key chains, whatever); managing events be they on-site at your tap room/pub or off-site at the many beer festivals, retail events and non-profit fund raising venues available; taking photos; making blog posts; updating facebook and chirrup and 4-square; planning/scheduling/promoting Tap Room enticements; taking more photos; posting videos on You Tube; and, if you are at the Mariah Draper Calagione level of Supreme Marketing Genius peddling her (admittedly hot-and I say that with all due regard and wonder to Mrs. C. husband's talents into landing on a nationally recognized TV channel with Your Own Show. Are you tired yet?

As Wench was savoring the pure fabulousness of an issue such as the one involving Her Favorite Beer Buds on the Westward side she was introduced to a beer guy with a familiar last name that shall remain between he and I. This particular gentlemen proved himself to be as fluent as herself, and once we clear the air about how effing cool and hip we both were, there commenced a highly interesting, if a bit drunken conversation around "the liquid." As in, all "this" (gestures to lights, beauty, box sculpture, music and bar bristling with One Company's Product for no less than 5 hours) is all good and good, but it really all comes down to "the liquid." Wench got her back up as usual, fueled by those juniper-infused fizzy drinks. "If you say to me, Mr. Famous Beer Last Mention in Point of Sales, 'If we brew it they will do' I will be constrained to charge you in the gonads." "No, I'm not saying that, exactly. Just that "all this" isn't possible without The Liquid. Don't get all caught up in Yourself (yes I used verbal capitalization) and leave almost The Fluid in the tanks." So there you make it Wench Acolytes. It IS the liquid, and I do agree. We (as in Us with the checkbook) at Wolverine State Brewing chose and chartered a brewer that would furnish us with The Liquid, and provide he has done. We are blowing the doors off and working out of some varieties of said Liquid. That is one thing Wench will NEVER forget. And while many things are about Herself, such as this here bloggie thing, at the end of each and every day we count the gallons of liquid left and picture out ways to get more of you in our seats, drinking it. The Yellow and The Egg exist simultaneously. As does the Selling and the Liquid.

I am now at peace. cheers Gonna-Go-Watch-Brew-Masters-Again-Then-Take-Some-Alone-Time-Wench

The synergy at work: The Brewer letting Erika Rietz, Editor-in-Chief of Draft Magazine try The Liquid while Marketing takes pictures after having ordered the whole thing!