From Maine, With Love - An Allagash Brewing Podcast

S1 Episode 16: A Look Back and Tellings of the Future!

• Allagash Brewing Company • Season 1 • Episode 16

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We did it! With our first season finished, we look back at some of the notable numbers, moments, and memories that made this year of podcasting so special. Plus, we give you a sneak preview of what you can expect from our next season. Spoiler: it's going to be fun.

Brett Willis:

This is From Maine with Love, an Allagash Brewing podcast where we talk about beer, our community here in Maine, and things that generally make us happy. I am joined by Liz.

Liz Wilson:

Hello. Good morning

Brett Willis:

Marketing manager. And this is Brett Willis, senior communication specialist here at Allagash. And this is a little wrap up episode.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah.

Brett Willis:

Wrapping up the year

Liz Wilson:

We did it.

Brett Willis:

You know, we

Liz Wilson:

Made a podcast

Brett Willis:

20, we didn't make a podcast for an entire year, and we're gonna continue to make a podcast, uh, next

Liz Wilson:

Year.<laugh>. Yeah. Yeah. That's

Brett Willis:

Isn't that exciting?

Liz Wilson:

That is the even better news,

Brett Willis:

<laugh>. So there, there you go. That's the podcast. Podcast over. No, we actually have some really fun, we have some fun numbers that we pulled that kind of encapsulate the year. Um, we also just thought we'd, you know, recap, just go back through a couple of our favorite sort of moments in case you're just joining us. You can look back at those as a little sampling.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. Spoiler or alert. It, it always ends up at food was the common theme.

Brett Willis:

Yes, so it's a food podcast at this time.<laugh> with a little bit of beer sprinkled in there. What do you think, Liz? Oh, well, you know, you know where I have to start? We have to start

Liz Wilson:

With dog

Brett Willis:

Secret questions. All right. Who goes first? Do you wanna go first or do you want me to go first?

Liz Wilson:

You go first.

Brett Willis:

Oh, all right. This is a good one. And, uh, if you don't want to answer it, then I don't have another question.

Liz Wilson:

<laugh>. Oh. I'll give you one of my backup questions. I was on a roll this morning.

Brett Willis:

Awesome. All right. I like that. All right. My question, uh, for you is, Liz, you have a dog. Yep. Taco. Yep. What is the naughtiest thing that Taco has ever done?

Liz Wilson:

Oh boy.

Brett Willis:

<laugh> or one of the naughtiest. He's not a, he's not a very naughty dog.

Liz Wilson:

Um, he's not a very naughty dog, but I think I was just visiting some friends last weekend and we don't have any kids in our house, so every toy is his. And so it's very confusing to go into a home with children and children's toys because he thinks they're all his. Mm-hmm. And all weekend he needed a lot of supervision so that people's levies and stuffies did not get absolutely demolished by my dog. And that was a little bit stressful, cuz I don't wanna be responsible for that. Yeah. So, yeah. Um, yeah, he, he is a big destroyer of toys.

Brett Willis:

Oh, that's good. Is he like a ripper out of the stuffing?

Liz Wilson:

Oh, immediately. Yeah. Like if there's a squeaker it is even the toughest of toughy toys<laugh>, it's out in three minutes or less.

Brett Willis:

Yeah. Yeah. So I know, I know how that goes. Yeah. That is, that is Chip. That is my dog as well.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. So that's good. Yeah.

Brett Willis:

I like that.

Liz Wilson:

Sound asleep next to me here, so.All right, Brett. Oh, I got a handful here, but<laugh> Okay.

Brett Willis:

We can rapid fire if I can answer it really quickly.

Liz Wilson:

Sure. Let's do it. Yeah. We're an, we're in advertising Yes. On the marketing team. Yes. What is your favorite holiday advertisement? Because I have one that's been stuck in my head for a solid week now.

Brett Willis:

Whoa. That's a really good one. I, the, the first, I'm gonna have to say the first one that popped to mind, and I think it's probably because it's the longest running one and it's the, the m and ms with Santa. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Because it's just like, you know, they do exist. He does exist. Like, that one is just like, it has, it's been running for like 27 years or something. Yeah. And the CG kind of holds up. It's like the Jurassic Park of commercials, you know,<laugh>,

Liz Wilson:

It's

Brett Willis:

Like, they look pretty good

Liz Wilson:

That, and because the Hershey kisses one with the little bells, like that's a really old one too.

Brett Willis:

Yes. Yeah, it's like stop motion too. So it's never gonna, never gonna go outta style. Right? Oh

Liz Wilson:

Yeah, that's a good one. They're ahead of their time. Oh,

Brett Willis:

I love it. That's a good question.

Liz Wilson:

The one that's been stuck in my head is Happy Honda Days, and

Brett Willis:

Oh my God,

Liz Wilson:

It's at one point somebody's gonna be like, Hey, happy holiday, it's Liz. And I'm gonna say, yeah, happy Honda days. I'm like, I'm just waiting for that to happen.

Brett Willis:

I'm so glad you brought that up because literally I have been contemplating saying Happy Honda Days to people for like, as my real thing to say it, it feels very like branch, like, that feels like something Branch might do<laugh>, but I love Happy Honda Days. I really do love it.

Liz Wilson:

Click. Why does it work? So, I don't know, I guess it's just an earworm somehow.

Brett Willis:

It's like a, it's like a"jump to conclusions mat" level idea, where you're like, that's not a really good idea, but it just sticks around and you're like, you know what? That's a really good idea. Yeah. That's amazing. Oh, what, do you have another question, Liz? I like these, these are are good questions.

Liz Wilson:

<laugh>. They're so unrelated to each other. I love it. Um, okay. This one I just thought you and I both grew up in Connecticut. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, you know, the pizza questions coming. We got New Haven known for its pizza Yep. Is where I'm assuming you're going to tell me your favorite pizza is from don't,

Brett Willis:

Don't assume.

Liz Wilson:

Okay. Tell me more.

Brett Willis:

What my favorite pizza?

Liz Wilson:

Yeah.

Brett Willis:

You know what? I'm a pizza egalitarian<laugh>. I think every pizza has its place. I love, I love a good deep dish. I love a good, you know, I love a good New York style pizza. I love a good whatever. Pizza. I think like pizza is never bad. Yeah. So I, I just can't, it's kind of where I'm, where I'm feeling. Okay. I will say I do not really like the burnt parts of the New Haven style pizza. No. And I know that is part of the style to like literally char certain sections, and so I do not particularly enjoy that. But I do like the pizza.

Liz Wilson:

It is good. I know you, you and I both have had our moments with artichoke pizza in New York. Oh,

Brett Willis:

That's

Liz Wilson:

True.

Brett Willis:

Yeah. Maybe that's my favorite

Liz Wilson:

Pizza<laugh> for anyone else that's also had an artichoke pizza from New York.

Brett Willis:

And Liz and I've talked about it, but the, the only way to have the artichoke pizza is way too late at night, uh, when it has just come outta the oven and you burn the entire top of your mouth off, uh, because you have had a couple drinks before and you cannot wait for it to cool down. That's great. Because I think it takes like four days for that pizza to cool down too. Like,

Liz Wilson:

It's basically like cream of artichoke soup on top of a pizza. Yeah.

Brett Willis:

Uh, and Oh, it's magic

Liz Wilson:

All right. Let's talk about beer.

Brett Willis:

All right. Let's talk about beer. Maybe we can ask some more questions. This is fun. Uh,<laugh>, so notable numbers, um, right. First. One is the, uh, the pounds of Maine-grown grain that we brewed with, or that we're going to have brewed with at the end of this year. We, we, we can project that stuff out pretty well knowing our brewing records. And that number is 1.4 million.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah, that's a big number.

Brett Willis:

Yeah. And the, the part that blows my mind is we, so we made the pledge 2016, we're gonna brew with a million pounds of grain by 2021, and

Liz Wilson:

Per year

Brett Willis:

Year. Per year, sorry. Yes. A million pounds of Maine-grown grain per year by 2021. And in 2021 we brew with like a million and like 500 grains or something. Pounds of grain. Now we did 1.4 million, like, it's like a almost a 50% increase.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah, that's a big jump.

Brett Willis:

It's crazy.

Liz Wilson:

And it was, we barely made a million pounds of Maine-grown grain in 21 because...

Brett Willis:

It was like, just over.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. It was December when we did our little celebration, I believe. Yeah. Yep. Um, and so to see that we've increased that, that's just, it feels great. And, uh, yeah. Do you know if there are certain beers that are taking more of it, or were, our volume has sort of come from?

Brett Willis:

I think there's a lot of white wheat. Um, so I mean, Allagash White uses a lot of Maine-grown grains. Yeah. I think there's oats. Um, there's definitely white wheat. Uh, I think there's some specialty malt. I mean, 16 counties is a, is a big one. That's, uh, the, all, that's a hundred percent Maine-grown grain in that beer. But I think it's just going into a lot of our beers. We've just built it into a lot of different recipes, so

Liz Wilson:

Yeah.

Brett Willis:

Yeah.

Liz Wilson:

That's great. That's good. We're gonna keep it going.

Brett Willis:

Gonna keep it going. And I mean, we, we can't, we can't say a number because we don't know for sure, but it sounds like 2023, the plans are to up that an even larger amount. So like, it's, it's, we're gonna continue growing with the, or doing, you know, using more Maine-grown grains. So it's exciting. Yeah.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah.

Brett Willis:

All right. Liz, you want the next one?

Liz Wilson:

I think you understand this one.

Brett Willis:

<laugh>,<laugh>, it does require a certain way to say it. Yeah. Uh, so the, the larger way to think about it is the amount of money that we at, at that Allagash has donated to our local community would be over$500,000 this past year. That includes money that comes from our, sort of our dedication to, uh, donate 1% of revenue. It also comes from our tasting room charity program, which is when guests leave any money above and beyond their tab. Yeah. We donate that to our charity of, um, you know, our charitable partner. Those, they, they used to change month, monthly. Now they're on somewhat of a different schedule just to make it more equal the amount of money that we're donating to everyone. But, uh,

Liz Wilson:

Yeah, it's huge. It's awesome. Yeah. And thank you to, to anyone who's listening who has stopped by our tasting room and has given to our charitable partners, um, I think Brett and I see a bit of that program, and it is pretty spectacular to watch. So, um, you know, the team helps to nominate a lot of, uh, the nonprofits here that are featured. And so there's a lot of passion that goes into, um, you know, this program in particular. So thank you for, for helping to make that such a, make such a huge difference.

Brett Willis:

It's, yeah. And it really is a huge difference because a lot of these, um, organizations that we're donating to are not large. They're fairly local organizations and, you know, these donations of thousands of dollars are, make a big impact for them. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. So it's awesome. Thank you.

Liz Wilson:

And then sort of on that, um, on that giving front on, yes, we've started a program here. I feel like it's been in effect Oh, all the years I've worked here three or four years now. Yeah. On Giving Tuesday, each employee, um, can use a hundred dollars to, um, direct to a nonprofit of their choice. And it can be a local organization, it can be a national organization, and then allagash. Um, and shout out to Joe on our team who literally processed, what was it, 110, a hundred dollars donation amounts. Yeah. Uh, on behalf of employees here. And so, you know, we had such a wide variety of, um, organizations that were given to everything from local animal refuge leagues to Planned Parenthood, to, you know, all sorts of, uh, nonprofits. So, um, it gives everyone, uh, an opportunity to sort of have their voice heard when it comes to our giving on behalf of allade.

Brett Willis:

Yeah. It was awesome. So it totaled$11,000, which is very cool. And that was all that was under that$500,000 umbrella, you know. Very cool. Previous stat, we got another one, and this is for volunteer time off. So we have a, a program at allagash where if you hit 16 hours, you can actually donate more money to, through Allagash Allagash donates money, um, to the organization of your choice. But we had, uh, of our staff, 39 people hit their 16 hours of, uh, volunteer time, off hours, this, uh, volunteer time off, hours, hours, hours, hours,<laugh>, it's 39 people hit their 16 hours of volunteer time off, and that totals 624 hours, they volunteered. And there's a lot more, there are a lot of people who haven't hit the 16 hours, so we don't have exactly the, the whole number, but it's, uh, which will be in our recap blog.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. That's such a, um, another program that, you know, you always want to do more volunteering work, and I feel like Allagash really encourages, and you can use your work hours to actually go out into your community and support any nonprofit. And I don't, it doesn't even have to be a nonprofit. You can coach a little league team or you can, you know, just, just hours you spend volunteering on behalf of your community. Yeah. Um, so Brett, what did you use some volunteer hours for this year?

Brett Willis:

What did I use volunteer hours for? Well, we did a cleanup. We did a cleanup, uh, a couple times at, um, uh, cultivating Community. So that's cool. They're community gardens around here in Portland that we've, uh, used that for. Ah, I'm trying to remember what I did. I have two small children, and so I feel like my volunteer time was not terribly robust.

Liz Wilson:

You're doing the best you can at this point.

Brett Willis:

You are, I'm doing. Thank you so much, Liz. You're welcome. I'm doing the best I can.

Liz Wilson:

Um, I, I think a lot of my hours went to the Pink Boots. Um, cool, cool, cool. Volunteering on behalf of, uh, the Pink Boots nonprofit, which is a nonprofit, it's a national organization that, um, supports women in non-bar non-binary folks in brewing. And we have a main chapter here, and we've got a lot of members at allagash. Um, so there have been some fun opportunities and volunteering stuff through that. It was great. That's awesome. And then within her presence, we did an incredible program practice. That's right. Um, helping to do some mock interviews for job training. So that was a, a really, um, really incredible program to be a part of. So that was fun. All right. The next, the next thing is, uh, very exciting. We were awarded the number three best Places to Work in Maine for our, the size of our business. So, you know, this, um, you know, best Places to Work survey is broken up into like small, medium, and large businesses. And so I think we fall into the medium size business that is right. And Yep. Um, it's our personal best

Brett Willis:

Pb

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. That's the ninth year we've made the list, and the number three spot is the highest we've, we've made. So that's, yeah. That's super exciting. I, and, um, so that is tallied, uh, based on survey data from employees at Allagash who mm-hmm.<affirmative>, there's, it's pretty robust survey. I don't know, Brett takes like 15, 20 minutes. Lots of questions. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, and based on those results compared with other businesses, um, that take the survey, we came in number three.

Brett Willis:

Yeah. Good stuff. I think the thing, the, the thing that is always kind of the most inspiring for me about this is not necessarily that we place highly on the list, but it's how our internal team, and I think particularly our HR team, takes this data and uses it. So a lot of what they'll go through, you know, they go through all these different categories with everyone on all the teams, because each team kind of has their own little like, score of how they did. Because, you know, certain people are going to have, you know, different thoughts about different things because it's such a different function of like marketing versus like production or a brewer or whoever. But basically they're not necessarily focusing on the good, you know, the good is kinda like, cool, let's keep doing this good stuff. But it's more about, I think, where are we falling behind and you know, what, what are the things that people are less satisfied about? Yeah. Or, or finding, having trouble with. And Okay, let's attack, let's not attack, let us address those things. Um, and so I think, you know, and that's what I think has led to us continuing to be pretty highly rated on this list because we are addressing the, the parts of this business that we're not doing as well at. Um, and that's, you know, always inspiring for me.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah.

Brett Willis:

Oh, the next one isn't a number, but I somehow managed to make it into a number

Liz Wilson:

<laugh>.

Brett Willis:

It's the Cellars. So we just opened up a new space, uh, called The Cellars. It's a tasting experience. It's in our old, uh, in the original brewhouse where Rob, uh, started brewing Allagash White way back in 1995. Uh, it has changed a little bit since then, but, uh, we've, uh, yeah. I mean, it's changed in the last, you know, couple months when we renovated the space for this really, uh, sort of beautiful Cellars experience where people can taste through, um, some of our rarer beers, barrel-aged beers, sort of, yeah. Mixed fermentation, really good stuff. And so we've released the number here. We've released three sellers, only beers so far that you can only taste in The Cellars, and they, they're really interesting. Yeah. And really tasty beers.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. I know. We just, if you follow us on our seller's Instagram account, we, Jason just did a tasting video for The Cellars number one Ooh. Recently. And it's, uh, yeah, it that's a cool beer.

Brett Willis:

Yeah, that one is super tasty because it's, it's aged, it's a golden ale aged with golden raspberries, right?

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. Yeah. So it's not red in color as a lot of fruited beers are, but you certainly taste the raspberries. So it's kind of a, your brain is working hard to figure out what's going on<laugh>. Um, and that's a fun adventure. Yeah.

Brett Willis:

It is an adventure.

Liz Wilson:

Um, okay. Yeah, I guess the numbers is what we've got, uh, in common here. And<laugh>, I just had to re-look at it. So we, um, were humbled to make fast companies list of brands that matter for 2022, and it, it was 144 brands that matter. And that is an honor because there are some titans of business on that list. So to be included among them along with our f our other main Yeah. Uh, friends Atlantic Sea Farm, um, was Yeah. Very humbling to be included on for our work. Yeah. And so,

Brett Willis:

I was gonna say, I, I think when we say like, bigger, with bigger businesses, like we're, we're 150 people at this point Yeah. As, as a brewery. And we have, you know, one brewery here in Portland. And I think that's something that we definitely get we're, because you know, you tend to see it on the East Coast at least Allagash White is in a lot of places. But it is fun when people come to visit because they're kinda like, oh, this is, this is where you make it all. Like, are you sure there's not some other spot that you're doing? Right. And it's like, no, no, it's, it's just this, this brewery. This is where we make it all.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. That's fun. Yeah. There's brands like Lowe's,<laugh> Yeah. Salesforce,<laugh>, um, gap. So it was great to be included there and Totally, I think, you know, we got recognized for our work with a million pounds of grain and, um, being B Corp certified. So those are some of our efforts that we will certainly continue pushing forward. Yeah. Um, great. One more, Brett, last number.

Brett Willis:

Big one, and it's a number one. Allagash White won gold at the, uh, G A B F. That was, uh, I think the fifth time it's won gold at the GABF(Great American Beer Festival). I'm just gonna make up a number. No, we should look it up. I'm looking it up<laugh>. Uh, cuz I don't wanna just make that up, but yeah, Allagash White won gold.

Liz Wilson:

That was exciting. We had a good crew of folks that were out there. Um, yeah. And so it was, it's always fun to get to hear from people on the ground and the excitement. And so, um,

Brett Willis:

Yes, fifth time was the fifth time, but yeah, it, it is one of those things where we don't take it for granted. I think we've heard from some people where it's kinda like, yeah, it's like a given, you know, oh, oh gosh, white winning the wit beer category. Like, it's, it's for, I think for people outside of our, our business, I've heard that it's kinda like, oh, you know, this is, that's not a big deal, but like for us it's always a big deal. It always means that like, yeah, we are continuing to push the quality of this beer and keep it, you know, relevant Yeah. And keep it tasting great for, and, and within the style and everything else. So I think it's, uh, yeah, we're, it, it does not, like, it's not a given for us. We are like Yeah. Especially Rob. I think he just gets super excited about every time. Yeah. Well, as well he should.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah.

Brett Willis:

All right. Little recap or thinking about favorite moments. We don't have to make this too long though.

Liz Wilson:

We can just kinda

Brett Willis:

Like rip through him.

Liz Wilson:

Um, you know, I feel like we kicked off the season really strong with Patrick and his obsession. Yeah. Uh, I think, is that the word he used on Yes. Yeah. Obsession with fermentation. Yes. So I think that set a good tone for us, um, as we embarked on this podcast endeavor. So, yeah. Um, we just, you know, Patrick has so much, much enthusiasm for what he does and, and for the brewery, and so I think, you know, it's just, it was great catching up with him about

Brett Willis:

That. Yeah. That was awesome. So that was episode two. And Patrick is our, our, R&D brewer. He does a lot of the R&D around here, guides that program. Um, and I think in a similar vein, uh, if we jump up to all the way to episode 12, uh, talking about sensory our sensory program with Carl, I just love chatting with Carl about that stuff because it's like, you know, you hear, oh, it's tasting beer and you talk to Carl and it's like, I did not know you could go so deep down the rabbit hole of how the flavors and aromas and everything about this beer can be dissected. And it's so, it's so interesting

Liz Wilson:

And it's such a personal, um, skill, you know? It, it's all, yeah. All of that sensory is so deeply personal to each individual person. And so the way that he sort of structures it and makes it into a, you know, a structured program here at Allagash. Yeah. So we're all working towards the same quality, but the way that we taste something is connected to memories that are, that are very specific to that person. And so, you know, identifying flavors that are attached to memory, it's just all of it's so interesting to me. Yeah. So, um, let's see what else? I mean, we chatted with, you know, Susie and Mike, two of, of our, um, area sales managers here in the field and just mm-hmm.<affirmative>, you know, we also got some delicious cookies from Su That's right. Thank you. Again.

Brett Willis:

Always comes back to food.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. But just hearing from them, you know, it's, I think, you know, they're on the road all the time. They are, you know, they are out there selling Allagash White and Yeah. You, you're probably aware that there's a lot of beer options, um,<laugh> out on the field. So it is, um, their job is, is is tough. And yeah. So, you know, they lead with empathy and they try and be the best partners that they can be for our wholesalers and our retail, um, you know, uh, accounts. And it was just great to hear from them, just sort of their experience out in the road.

Brett Willis:

Yeah. And I think that like, knowing them both, uh, because we've worked here for a while and I know them pretty well, you know, I was expecting a real like, raucous funny episode, these are both really funny people. And then it turned into like, just this very heartfelt episode, and I was like, oh, that was awesome. It was so unexpected. But just,

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. Yeah.

Brett Willis:

Uh, yeah. That was great. And, uh, I think I'll, I'll round it out. Yeah. And just say, you know, the last three-ish episodes that we've done, uh, 13 through 15 Oh, the, the, the Suzy and Mike episode was Episode 11. Yeah. Uh, but episode 13 through 15 all about Hop Reach. I mean, we've been so sort of enmeshed in the process of that beer. Everyone in the company has been for the past year because it's our first year round IPA. It's a big category with a lot of very talented brewers brewing that style of beer. So, you know, we wanted to put our best foot forward. And so I think being able to catalog that a little bit and kind of reflect upon it because we put so much work into that beer, uh, was, was great.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. Inspiring. And, uh, it's coming out soon, I feel. Yeah. We've been talking about it for a little bit January, 2023. It's true. It is making its way near on your shelves, um, in all of the places that we distribute Allagash to. Yeah. Um, so it's, uh, a culmination of a lot of, a lot of hard work and we're really excited to share it with you. So, um, if you give it a try, let us know. We'd love to hear your feedback. Um, but yeah, it's, it's getting brewed on Wednesday. Yeah.

Brett Willis:

And I'm gonna, I'm gonna put in a plug, literally, if you do have feedback on that beer, go to in, go to our Contact Us page and go to Beer Quality. And if you send us a beer quality comment, literally our brewmaster and head of quality Zack Boda, who's also been on this podcast, they see every single one of those emails. So it's like, it, it does not go to a deep dark pit that no one sees. Like we literally care about these, these quality emails and Yes. So your voice will be heard, uh, very loudly here at the brewery. Um, but yeah. And then food. Talk about food.

Liz Wilson:

We will always talk about food. That's great thing. That's so good. I know that's a good thing. Do you have a, a beer and food pairing planned for the next few days? Oh,

Brett Willis:

You know what, I'm going with a classic. I got, uh, we have a little oyster, uh oh sort of situation where we have, uh, we made good friends with local oyster folk and they give us a good deal on a dozen oysters. And so I got three dozen oysters<laugh> because I'm a madman. Uh, and I have, uh, Tripel, yeah. Got some Tripel. So I got, I got Tripel I, I got 12 ounce triple and I have some 750mL bottles of Tripel, because I know that those are Jason, our Brewmaster's, uh, favorite one of his favorite beers that we make,.

Liz Wilson:

I, and I believe his wife's favorite. His wife.

Brett Willis:

Yes, exactly. Yeah. Yep. I think she calls them Poppers<laugh>. I think that's a deep cut. That's amazing reference. Yeah. She calls them Poppers cuz they have a little cork.

Liz Wilson:

Amazing. I wanna take that. I'm gonna call'em poppers

Brett Willis:

Fun. Have little popper.

Liz Wilson:

That sounds delicious. Who's shucking all those oysters?

Brett Willis:

Me. I will, I have a, I have a cheese knife that is now my best oyster shucker. Just, I didn't have an oyster knife and I only had this like little sharp pointy cheese knife and I was like, maybe this'll work. And it is like the best oyster shucker. Wow.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. Way to be, I don't know.

Brett Willis:

Resourceful, you know, Yankee ingenuity. Yeah,

Liz Wilson:

<laugh>. That's, that's what I was looking for. I was like, wait a second.<laugh>, there's a term here, there's,

Brett Willis:

There's a term.

Liz Wilson:

Um, yeah, I guess I, we, yeah, have a Christmas Eve party with good family friends and I feel like Curieux makes its way out, uh, in that a little bit later in the evening, which, um Awesome. Is a good, it's a good memory. So we'll be enjoying some of that.

Brett Willis:

That's great. And Liz, I feel like you've asked me a bunch of questions and, and I have implicitly been interested in your response. I just have not asked them back to you, so I'm, thank you. Oh, that's for answering. I, I, I'm like, I love it. Yeah. Just wanna make that clear.

Liz Wilson:

I could, uh, I could talk to a wall. Well, what a year. We're gonna be doing this again next year. Yeah. Brett, any sneak previews you can provide? Because I think we're gonna change it up a little bit. We're gonna, you know, keep our, you know, our, the format, but we might have some more guests on here.

Brett Willis:

We just might, and we haven't even told the guests yet, but we're gonna tell'em soon.<laugh>. Uh, but yeah, so I think to kind of set it up, you know, we've been, we've been, um, sort of working within this idea of we're good together, we as people do, can do better things when we work together, uh mm-hmm.<affirmative>, you know, to make these, make these things happen when we work with nonprofits, when we work with, you know, uh, just local partners like the, the farmers, uh, that we work with. So as part of that, we want to kind of start building our, more of our partners into this podcast cuz we work with some really interesting people. Yeah. And some really inspiring people, honestly. Like, uh, Liz you mentioned in her presence, uh, Claudette and Micky, who have founded that. It's, it's just like, I, I look forward to being able to tell that story at some point. Right. Um, and I think that, you know, that's, that's the thing. We just want to be able to give, use our platform to kind of give some of these inspiring organizations, uh, a bigger voice so that maybe they can get some more support or they can just spread their message and things like that. And of course we'll still be talking about beer, beer will factor in there, but, uh, yeah, it's exciting.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. I'm really excited about that. We, as you mentioned, there's just so many inspiring people doing great work around Maine and and beyond, and so to, to just chat with them and talk about their inspiration and what, you know, motivates them. I mean, nonprofit work is not easy by any stretch of the imagination. No. So hearing sort of what their motivation is is gonna be great. Yeah. So

Brett Willis:

Looking forward to it.

Liz Wilson:

Me too.

Brett Willis:

Well, congratulations to, to all of us. We did it. We made a podcast.

Liz Wilson:

We made a podcast. Yes. So thank you for all of you who have listened along the way. Yeah. Um, and we love getting your emails and mm-hmm.<affirmative> your things that would be interesting for you to hear. So keep those up. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> Brett, what's that email address that I can never

Brett Willis:

Remember? Oh, that's podcast@allagash.com<laugh>. So you can email it.

Liz Wilson:

But yeah. Wishing everybody, uh, a warm winter wishes from Maine.

Brett Willis:

Happy Honda Days.

Liz Wilson:

Happy Honda days

Brett Willis:

And a happy New Year

Liz Wilson:

<laugh>. See y'all in 2023.

Brett Willis:

See you in 2023. I'm waving. I don't know why. See ya,<laugh>. This has been an Allagash Brewing production. If you have something you want us to talk about on the show, shoot us a message podcastatallagash.com. And as always, thanks for listening.