How You Know Him: Founder and owner of North Texas Beer Festival (please hold applause until the end of the intro). The epitome of style and grace; so elegant and full of class [wait… this is the copy for Heidi Klum]. This guy loves beer, Van Halen, and ninjas…we friggin’ love this guy!
Why start the North Texas Beer Festival?
Why not? I’ve enjoyed beer since childhood and fell in love with the stuff while in Europe (Oktoberfest Munchen in ’97 to be exact). A good friend and avid home brewer suggested I organized this event three years ago. I gave it 18 months, no one else did it, so I did. The first one was challenging and it didn’t take long to figure out why no one else had done it before but we had a great event and are looking forward to an even better one this year.
What was life like before NTBF?
Calm, serene and peaceful. Those days are over. Now my phone doesn’t stop ringing, I get 200 emails a day and from some very interesting characters. I had a guy call yesterday wanting to bring a tank with live sharks to the event for the small fee of $18,000. Every time I think I’ve heard it all, I realize I haven’t.
If you could sit back and enjoy a cold one with anyone in the world who would it be?
Hmm… I’m hoping my wife doesn’t read this but I would have to go with Hugh Hefner. I’ve been a big fan of his work for many years. Anyone with a grotto can’t be all bad. The most interesting man in the world looks like he would be fun to hang out with too.
If we look in the trunk of your car right now what would we find?
Promo pieces, swag, some more promo pieces… did I mention promo pieces? There’s a bunch of them in there. My car is riding on the axles right now. I feel like I’m pulling a boat. I’m looking forward to it driving normally again.
The one song that sums up your life thus far…
WOW- just one huh? That’s a tough one- “Crazy Train,” “Highway to Hell” and a dozen others come to mind but let’s go with “Right Now” by Van Halen – even though it’s not my favorite VH song, that wasn’t the question.
Who would win a fight between a ninja and a pirate?
Ninja please! The ninja of course. I’d give 100-1 odds on that smackdown.
One beer that fits all occasions…
I would have to go with the Franconia Koelsch. It pairs well with just about anything. I like their Maibock too but it’s not available year round and in pretty limited production. I think they’re only making 35 barrels of it this year so get it while you can. We’ll have some at the beer festival- nudge, nudge, say no more.