so I got a brewjob overseas!

[Ducatiboy stu]

Time can be thy enemy... I was out of work for a while and I must say, it takes a lot of getting used to. The first few weeks where great, like a holiday....then it started to get very boring, especially when everyone is either at work or school. And the longer it went the worse it got


I would try and find any work you can even a few days a week , soley to keep your sanity...and give you some extra coin. Then you can still think about what you really want to do

Or...


Start your own commercial brewery.....its not as silly as you think it sounds

 

[Wardcliff]

I have often sat thinking, "There's got to be more to life". I find that many people (including myself) get caught up in trivial day to day crap, that we forget to really live.

In my opinion, if you can do it, do it. This obviously takes into consideration whether you are making a move you can not come back from (financially and otherwise), but if that's covered, travel, experience, live. What an experience for the kids as well.

 

[AJS2154]

I'd go to glenorchy, work at MONA and brew beer on the weekends. I love my job, love my hobbies and love the separation between.
Is brewing something you want to do for a living?

Gee manticle......you are living the dream for me mate. I spent 3 weeks touring Tassie on my bike about 16 months ago. I spent almost a week in Hobart doing day trips. Visited MONA of course. Brilliant. What a shame I did not know you were there then. Would have been nice to meet you.

I will be back to Tassie soon. Best place I have been to on my bike. Roads great, people wonderful, food excellent.

I couldn't agree more with you. Separation between work and hobbies is important. Brewing full time would be intense, and as much as I fantasise about getting out of the corporate world, the balance makes brewing so much fun. Sitting down after a long week, footie on, with a home brewed coldie. Nice.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

. I spent 3 weeks touring Tassie on my bike about 16 months ago.

Did you do it on an AJS ?

 

[AJS2154]

Sadly, no. CBR1100....blackbird.

I recall you have some bikes mate? Any classics beyond the beautiful Duc?

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Sadly, no. CBR1100....blackbird.

I recall you have some bikes mate? Any classics beyond the beautiful Duc?

No...only the Duc

I can only afford 1 bike atm

 

[manticle]

Gee manticle......you are living the dream for me mate. I spent 3 weeks touring Tassie on my bike about 16 months ago. I spent almost a week in Hobart doing day trips. Visited MONA of course. Brilliant. What a shame I did not know you were there then. Would have been nice to meet you.
I will be back to Tassie soon. Best place I have been to on my bike. Roads great, people wonderful, food excellent.
I couldn't agree more with you. Separation between work and hobbies is important. Brewing full time would be intense, and as much as I fantasise about getting out of the corporate world, the balance makes brewing so much fun. Sitting down after a long week, footie on, with a home brewed coldie. Nice.

Only moved here last June from Melbourne so next time.

 

[good4whatAlesU]

Applied for a job in Cardiff a while back, they were keen to until they found out I was an Aussie... then "sorry mate, no can do".
I explained my family lived in Glamorganshire for 500 years, cousin once was a mayor of Cardiff. . Nothing doing "sorry pal, more than 1 generation removed - piss off"
Shame a bloke can't go back to find his roots. Anyway, they can have the stinkin place.

 

[spog]

Applied for a job in Cardiff a while back, they were keen to until they found out I was an Aussie... then "sorry mate, no can do".
I explained my family lived in Glamorganshire for 500 years, cousin once was a mayor of Cardiff. . Nothing doing "sorry pal, more than 1 generation removed - piss off"
Shame a bloke can't go back to find his roots. Anyway, they can have the stinkin place.

Hmm prolly a blessing in disguise ,Cardiff is a bleak place and bloody cold.
The locals that I met were goodo but honestly it had bugger all else going for it.

 

[idzy]

Droid, if you are serious about getting a brewing job, I would suggest volunteering at a local brewery. Go in and ask if you can sweep and clean. This is what you would be doing for your first two years working in a brewery anyways. Hopefully it will lead to something. It is going to be very difficult breaking into brewing as it is very in vogue and the money (from my understanding) isn't great and therefore jobs aren't plentiful.

I know a guy that did exactly this and then started working for them assisting and is now a brewer elsewhere, so it is possible.

You will need some gainful employment on the side though. Maybe you say to the brewery, what days do you brew? Maybe I can come in and help you clean out the MLT or lug around grain or whatever...

An astute business owner will see your drive and passion and want to employ you.

EDIT: Is Bullant Brewery near you?

 

[droid]

hey Idzy, yes Bullant is near and I have worked (insert "volunteered") there. He gets his son in for nothing to help on a brew day so not much need. I could go up there and get some beer for my time but feel I've had a good look at what he does. Some things worth talking about face to face no doubt.

...but the overseas thing is more about getting some experience brewing in an oldy worldy place. Somewhere that does decoctions etc.

guess I'm looking for experience and doing well in comps so that I can say...if I ever open something...that I can brew an award winning beer...and if you don't like it it's because it's not up your alley, not because the beer is poorly made.

the other thing is using that right of abode that I have as my Dad was born in England and the feeling that "waste not want not" etc

btw - there is another place East of here in it's infancy that I will help out in any way I can, for the experience and also as the people are very nice as well. Infancy as in - business plan and funding all sorted, line-up sorted, site sorted and awaiting full scale equipment to arrive...

right now I am working at the school where my kids go (right across the road) as an integration aide - I woke up in a cold sweat at 2.30 this morning thinking about the student I was scheduled to work with today...I don't want to be waking up in the middle of the night worrying about anything but in the end, today was very rewarding so who the feck knows about the future

my problem is geographical as far as brewing goes, I would be doing a half day a week if I lived in Melbourne and I would love to take 3 months out and work in some old German brewery and that may happen at some point, just doesn't look like now

appreciate the thoughts tho

 

[Mardoo]

Gotta be a way. I worked out a way that my ex-wife could become a volunteer vet nurse at an otter rescue in England. They offered her room and board for a 3-month stint, as she was already a qualified vet nurse.

You just need to find an English eccentric brewery owner. Gotta be one of them that would be in to taking you on. Gotta love the English eccentrics! My inlaws are damn close, but not quite quirky enough.

 

[yankinoz]

I considered a job in Canada a while back. There was a brewer or assistant opportunity in Winnipeg . I was not happy here and looking for an opportunity elsewhere. I decided not to apply after I was informed that the locals call it 'WINTER'peg.

A Canadian film a few years was called The Saddest Music in the World. It was set in Winnipeg . . . in winter . . . during the Great Depression. What could be more depressing than that? In it a local brewery sponsored a saddest music contest and the winners got to swim in a vat of beer.

Fun movie if still available.

 

[yankinoz]

the Mrs is an Anthropologist so she can get work here and there, though I would be happy to do the working at a good brewery for the experience

then there's the good ol' US of A, and we have close friends in Boston - Sam Adams has quite alot of work around the parts...

so...

what now? probably nuttin' but...

where would you go?

and why?

Work for anthropologists is tight, especially so in the US. Depends on publications, which can work for or against you, depending on where you apply. Brewery work and anthropology work in the same city? Seattlle, LA or Portland might be the best bets -- community college work in anthro in those areas.

I'm an anthropologist retired in Gippsland after working in the US and PNG. Years ago I talked to the head guy at a NJ brewery, who said I could take a class in microbio and come back, but I'd better forget it because breweries were disappearing fast. So I switched to anthropology.

He was right for a time. There were 83 breweries in the US then. The number dropped to 62 by 1986.

Now it's almost three thousand. So maybe the best advice is don't take too much advice.

 

[Feldon]

Given that beer is a food, and not just a beverage, and your wife is an anthropologist, why not propose a research study into the anthropology of beer. Maybe one of the universities Yankinoz knows of might be interested, or perhaps one of the major megabreweries or an inspired microbrewery would put up a research grant to fund the project.

The idea came to me when reading the obituary of Sidney Mintz who died late last year. He pioneered the field of food anthropology (see http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sidney-mintz-the-father-of-food-anthropology-who-wrote-a-landmark-work-on-sugar-and-its-part-in-a6946841.html ).

Perhaps Yankinoz might know if much work has been done in beer anthropology?

Your wife could lead the project and you could be her research assistant doing field work collecting data at breweries (where you get to meet the owners/brewers with a view to getting your foot in the door).

But beware…

 

[yankinoz]

Given that beer is a food, and not just a beverage, and your wife is an anthropologist, why not propose a research study into the anthropology of beer. Maybe one of the universities Yankinoz knows of might be interested, or perhaps one of the major megabreweries or an inspired microbrewery would put up a research grant to fund the project.

The idea came to me when reading the obituary of Sidney Mintz who died late last year. He pioneered the field of food anthropology (see http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sidney-mintz-the-father-of-food-anthropology-who-wrote-a-landmark-work-on-sugar-and-its-part-in-a6946841.html ).

Perhaps Yankinoz might know if much work has been done in beer anthropology?

Your wife could lead the project and you could be her research assistant doing field work collecting data at breweries (where you get to meet the owners/brewers with a view to getting your foot in the door).

But beware…

anthropology.gif

Good point about Mintz. There's some interesting stuff going on today in China, globalization vs tradition. On that count I won a bet with a colleague from a village in far northern China. I bet there'd be a pizzeria next time he visited.

Beer anthropology, hmm. My Ph.D. thesis was on English pubs, mostly design and social usage, but that was aeons ago. Within social and cultural anthropology today there's a conflict between what makes up most of the research and papers at meetings and what attracts funding and therefore rewards from university administrators. I'd need to know more about Droid's partner's background and interests.

Does she have Third World experience? Great possibilities for brewpubs in many countries, but you'd better really, truly know the ropes in the country. No room for naivete. .