We are so excited to participate in the first ever Show Me Craft Beer Month with Missouri Craft Brewers Guild!
When we started Piney River Brewing in 2010, there were a few small brewers in the state making some great beer. We quickly found camaraderie with established and new brewers/brewery owners in the state, and we have watched our industry grow.
Missouri is a state that has long been associated with the brewing of beer, and back in 2012 Piney River, along with some of the other craft brewers in the state, was involved in helping create a state guild to organize and to be the voice for craft brewers in the state.
For the first few years of the Guild’s existence, the Guild was organized very simply by a few breweries that really had a lot more to do in life and in business than to make sure our Guild was well organized. A few of us did come together for some important issues that affected craft brewers in the state, but it was not an easy process without a person devoted to organizing and growing the Guild. There were a lot of very late at night emails and mostly flying by the seat of our pants.
Our Guild was very fortunate because after making an application requesting funding, the Brewers Association awarded our guild a grant to help fund an executive director. In the fall of last year we found the most enthusiastic, beer-loving, idea person to fill our executive director position at the Guild—Sherry Wohlgemuth.
Already in the short time that Sherry has been the Guild director, she has created a new logo, established a website and social media sites, written, emailed, phoned and visited state and federal legislators, testified before legislative committees, and launched a membership drive. Like most non-profit organization executives, Sherry makes a lot out of a little and is constantly thinking of ways to grow and to promote the breweries that the Guild represents.
Why does this matter to you?
Beer is an industry. In Missouri, craft breweries employ over 8,100 people, and our breweries and brewpubs have an economic impact of over $1 billion (yep, that’s billion with a “B”). Craft beer is also a very local and personal industry made up of people like Brian and I—ordinary beer-loving people that had crazy dreams to make something with their own hands and to bring value to their community and to the area where they live. It’s important that we have an organization that represents our interests in the state and at a national level. It’s important that we have a cheerleader that’s organizing our members as the voice and the advocate for craft beer in Missouri. That’s what the Missouri Craft Brewers Guild does every day, and we honestly believe the work of the Guild makes craft beer in Missouri better and stronger so all of us can enjoy fresh, local, fantastic craft beer for a long, long time.
As stated in the Guild’s mission: The Missouri Craft Brewers Guild exists to protect and promote the interests Missouri’s craft brewers. The primary focus of the Guild is to advocate for a just and a rational regulatory and statutory environment at the state and federal level and to promote independent craft brewers in the state of Missouri.
The work of the Missouri Craft Brewers Guild is very important to Brian and I. We really do sleep better at night knowing that there’s someone actively working on issues and opportunities for craft beer and organizing Missouri independent craft brewers into one collective voice.
The Guild kicked off Show Me Craft Beer Month as a way to promote the craft beer across the state with our member breweries. Although it’s not a requirement to participate, the Guild also hoped to use this month as a way to raise some additional funds for the Guild.
There are a variety of ways the Guild’s member breweries are participating and asking our craft beer loving fans to help us celebrate. At Piney River, we’re celebrating all month long…
At the BARn in July a portion of all sample tray sales will go to the Missouri Craft Brewers Guild; the Guild is our Charity of the Month. We are also donating $1 from every pint of Black Walnut Wheat sold in July as an additional way to raise a pint for a great cause. Piney River probably wouldn’t be able to keep the lights on and the brewhouse warm without Black Walnut Wheat beer sales, and it’s certainly a beer that is known and loved wherever it’s sold. We couldn’t think of a better beer to share with the Guild during the FIRST EVER Show Me Craft Beer Month!
Thanks for joining us!
