Full Disclosure: I'm a New Mexican ex-pat and a huge fan of Marble Brewery. I think their beer is absolutely first rate. That said, I would love to see Marble City Brewery take off and bring high-quality craft brewing to Knoxville.
I actually had a very interesting encounter last evening at Knox Public House with Mr. Borsodi. While talking to the bartender, who overheard that I'm a homebrewer from a buddy and who subsequently asked if my beer was better than theirs [Knox Public House's], Mr. Borsody threw down a Marble City Brewery business card and declared loudly "But it's *not* better than my beer!" Quite the introduction!
We talked briefly at the bar about craft brew and he invited me out front with him to chat while he had a smoke. The conversation was not entirely pleasant and I probably was not as articulate as I would have liked. I feel that litigation is a disaster, and can really punish a small upstart company like Marble City. I really do feel for him and his.
The last thing a proprietor should do to win favor is to be rude to potential customers. Moreover he was extremely upset about a tasting conducted at the brewery several months back to which the local homebrew club was invited (apparently they weren't even though the entire club got the invite via listserv) and he wished they had not come.
Mr. Borsodi, the people you want to love your beer are home-brewers. We're an opinionated and obstinate collection of beer connoisseurs. You want us to love your beer because we will tell anyone and everyone around us that your beer is fantastic, that your brewery is cool, that your head brewer is a mad genius, and we will put money in your pocket. Even if you don't like us and find us annoying we're going to be a great marketing tool. Be cool to us.
So here's to hoping that Marble City Brewery and Marble Brewery (a taste of home so very far from the desert) can co-exist and happily quench our thirst side by side in coming months.
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fixintheworld writes:
Full Disclosure: I'm a New Mexican ex-pat and a huge fan of Marble Brewery. I think their beer is absolutely first rate. That said, I would love to see Marble City Brewery take off and bring high-quality craft brewing to Knoxville.
I actually had a very interesting encounter last evening at Knox Public House with Mr. Borsodi. While talking to the bartender, who overheard that I'm a homebrewer from a buddy and who subsequently asked if my beer was better than theirs [Knox Public House's], Mr. Borsody threw down a Marble City Brewery business card and declared loudly "But it's *not* better than my beer!" Quite the introduction!
We talked briefly at the bar about craft brew and he invited me out front with him to chat while he had a smoke. The conversation was not entirely pleasant and I probably was not as articulate as I would have liked. I feel that litigation is a disaster, and can really punish a small upstart company like Marble City. I really do feel for him and his.
The last thing a proprietor should do to win favor is to be rude to potential customers. Moreover he was extremely upset about a tasting conducted at the brewery several months back to which the local homebrew club was invited (apparently they weren't even though the entire club got the invite via listserv) and he wished they had not come.
Mr. Borsodi, the people you want to love your beer are home-brewers. We're an opinionated and obstinate collection of beer connoisseurs. You want us to love your beer because we will tell anyone and everyone around us that your beer is fantastic, that your brewery is cool, that your head brewer is a mad genius, and we will put money in your pocket. Even if you don't like us and find us annoying we're going to be a great marketing tool. Be cool to us.
So here's to hoping that Marble City Brewery and Marble Brewery (a taste of home so very far from the desert) can co-exist and happily quench our thirst side by side in coming months.
Share your thoughts
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.