|
Friends of Scott came out of the woodwork to celebrate and
throw a few back, as they say, of Macadamia Nut Brown Ale,
his signature beer, in his memory. Four
Peaks Brewery ran the event. One of the owners, Arthur
Craft, was a good friend of Scott's. It came as a total
surprise, although Arthur and I had spoken of it many times.
So on Wednesday, March 24th, he sends me this email saying
the beer is being brewed and will be ready to serve on Friday,
April 2nd. That gave me about 8 days to prepare everything
to make this a successful event. Not a lot of time to write
a story about the history of Ali'i beer and Scott. Get Access
Surf, the charity, to get me their material; design
and produce table cards and donation cards; design and produce
tank tops for the waitresses and t-shirts for the waiters
and bartenders; get the word out to Scott's many friends,
some of which flew in (had to be the most expensive beer
they ever had) while others drove 6 to 7 hours to be there
Friday night for the launch. It was hectic, scary, and emotional,
all at the same time. These things can be bittersweet, as
they are exciting on the one hand, yet bring back all the
sadness on the other.
Well, I will not bore you with any more details but this.
When Four Peaks runs a seasonal beer, they make 14 kegs
and it generally takes them 7 to 10 days to blow through
it. The Macadamia Nut Brown was a secret recipe that Scott
shared with no one. We had the basics, but did not know
exactly how he created the unique taste, so we winged it.
It came out very strong and had to be toned down. By the
time they toned it down enough we had 20 kegs. It launched
on Friday morning, April 2nd at 11 am. I, naturally, was
there to take the first draft. After all, it was 5 o'clock
somewhere, right. Bottom line, it sold out in three days.
by Sunday night, it was virtually gone. I do not know how
much was raised for the charity as all has to be tallied,
but here is the great news. The brewery owners originally
were going to donate $1 of every beer sold. When you read
the article you will see they decided to donate ALL
of the proceeds from the sale of the beer along with all
the donations. I saw people giving $20 bills and writing
several $100 checks.
I share this with you all only because I wish you could
have been here to celebrate Scott's
memory, but most importantly, the fact that it went
to such a fine cause: Access
Surf
|
