Category Archives: Makers

Community, Ideas, and Jobs: The Impact of Craft Beer in the Upstate

It’s been a few years since I realized the importance of the emerging craft beer industry. I knew something was up in my 2009 blog post Take a Step Forward with a Step Back, however I didn’t fully realize how locally important the industry would be in building community, innovation, and economic development in the upstate.

Brook Bristow , Executive Director of the South Carolina Brewers Guild shared with me the staggering economic impact of the South Carolina craft beer industry,  “The latest economic numbers indicated that South Carolina sees about a $254M economic impact from craft beer, with about 3,000 jobs directly attributable to it. With the new survey results and the additional taproom sales from existing breweries, that number should now sit around $275M.”  Greenville News has also spotlighted  the boom in Beer tourism in Carolinas.

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Photo courtesy of Anders Adermark https://www.flickr.com/photos/cmbellman/

On a personal note, our Beer and Napkins organization has benefited significantly from the community and third place that the craft beer industry has provided.  From Growler Haus in Anderson, Community Tap, and Brewery 85 in Greenville, we have met amazing people and groups who are continually brewing ideas.  A great example is from one of our first pitch sessions from David Thorton and Even Skjervold of SouthYeast Labs,   a company that locally sources brewer’s yeast for use in beer, wine, mead, cider and liquor.   Additionally the numerous home-brewing organization such as Just Brew It Anderson and Clemson Brew Crew have been a breeding ground for a number of innovations and business ideas.   Examples such as these are just a drop in the barrel of companies and organizations starting and thriving due to the community and ideas this industry is providing.

We at Beer and Napkins feel that the SC craft beer industry is not just self-serving  but provides the social lubricant  and ecosystem for continued innovation in South Carolina. We are very appreciative of the local brewers, brewpubs, and the advocacy of Brook and the SC Brewer’s Guild. Beer and Napkins is thankful to be part of this evolution.

On March the 19th we will celebrate  the industries’ journey with our BeerStory event. Brook will be our featured presenter and we will also hear storypitches and samples from three  local start-up breweries Carolina Bauernhaus Ales, Birds Fly South Ale Project, and 13 Stripes.

Please join us at Openworks March 19th at 6:30pm for a taste and inspiration. Signup here to get your tickets BeerStory: Evolution of SC Beer

We will be using #BandN_BeerStory and #scbeer during this event

Weekly Challenge: Your Ideas

This weekly challenge is actually for us! Our goal this week is to provide a better way you all can share your ideas, napkins, and creative journey. So we are listening, watching, and improving! In the meantime we would love to see your napkin work. Please post on our Facebook page or Twitter using #beerandnapkins! Have a creative week!

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4 Steps to Making Your Ideas Happen Like Clockwork

Listening to How to be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life I ran across a story about how the animators of Disney’s Pinocchio undertook a challenge to build a clock like the one’s in Geppeto’s workshop. Originally spurred on by Walt’s comment on seeing the cartoon for the first time “It’s a good thing this is only a cartoon. It would be impossible to build a real clock that works the way they do,” they wanted to show Walt it couldIMG_0585.JPG
be done! The next steps were buying and disassembling two real clocks and seeing how they worked. Then they asked a diverse group of clock makers and electrical engineers if it’s possible. After all that time invested they couldn’t admit defeat and begin making the intricate parts and assembled them the way they thought it would work…and It worked. Walt’s final comments on seeing the clock “ I knew you could do it all along…I just wanted to see how long it would take you.”

This little story illustrates the following points:

  1. Make things visual. Without the cartoon the inception to build something creative would have never took place.
  2. Break things apart and explore. Dissembling the clock was educational and gave the animators insight on how the clocks work.
  3. Seek help; fill in the gaps with a diverse team of experts. The Disney team brought in several experts to assist their understanding of their designs.
  4.  Make it. Based on their best understanding they began building and assembling.

Challenge: Think of an idea or dream you want to make a reality use these steps and share with us how you accomplished it.

Beer and Napkins Holiday Makers Special with Joey Loman

Naughty or Nice in 2014 do you have Ideas you want to make a reality in 2015? 

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Tuesday, December 9th at 6;00pm, The Community Tap 

Continuing the Makers conversation from our November 25th Meetup, this fun year end Beer and Napkins 2014 finale features lnnovator and Maker Joey Loman sharing his key steps in making your ideas and inventions come to life in 2015!

 

Event details here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/beer-and-napkins-holiday-makers-special-with-joey-loman-tickets-14663241149