The Brewery Owner's Problem

Here's why this chapter specifically matters for anyone running a brewery, more than it matters for most people.

You will be surrounded by alcohol every working day. Tasting is part of the job — checking fermentation progress, assessing finished beer, evaluating new recipes. Quality control requires you to drink, or at least taste, your product regularly. Events, festivals, taproom sessions, meetings with publicans, industry gatherings — alcohol is woven into every aspect of the business.

Research into alcohol industry workers paints a concerning picture. The culture of drinking within the industry is pervasive. Daily drinking becomes normalised. As one former industry worker described it, "it was impossible not to have a drink at work." Four or five drinking days a week is standard at industry events, and the line between professional tasting and social drinking blurs quickly.

Studies on occupational factors and excessive drinking identify several risks that apply directly to brewery owners: high physical demands, job stress, social norms that encourage drinking, and constant availability of alcohol. All four are present in a small brewery. You're physically exhausted, financially stressed, surrounded by a product you can drink whenever you want, and operating in a culture where drinking is not just accepted but expected.

Dependency creeps up on people who never imagined it would happen to them. It doesn't look like the stereotype. It looks like one pint at the end of a brew day becoming two. It looks like "just tasting" the new batch becoming a regular afternoon drink. It looks like the taproom pint becoming the thing you need to get through the evening, not the thing you choose to enjoy. By the time you recognise the pattern, the pattern is already entrenched.