Twin Elephant: The hometown brewery that feels like home

I've always been a fan of the environments, the people, and the stories behind microbreweries. Each one has a different story, each one is unique, and each one wants to create amazing beer for the masses. Till recently my hometown didn't have a brewery to call its own. That changed in May of this year when Twin Elephant Brewing opened its doors to the locals of Chatham Borough. For the first time in our towns history we had a brewery.

On May 7th, Twin Elephant opened for the first time and I'll admit I was nervous to try their beer. This was a brewery in my hometown. You hope it will be good because then you have a sense of pride but if it isn't what happens? Do you fake your love for it since its local or do you just let it fade away without a care? I was the 4th person in line that day to try their beer for the first time and I will tell you from that first sip I was in love. The beer was amazing I'll admit I cried a little because for the first time ever their was a place in my backyard that made something I love. I've been to breweries all over and have tried hundreds of amazing beers but this was the first time I was enjoying a beer made at home.

In college I wrote a paper on the microbrew industry in America, and one area I focused on was the impact of craft breweries on the communities they are in. One thing that stood out in all the articles I read was the sense of pride locals had for their brewery. I felt pride when I had Twin Elephants beer for the first time and every time I've been there since.

Tim, Scott, and Cindy have created a place to be proud of. Not only for themselves, but for the community of Chatham Borough. They all take pride in every beer they make and you can tell their passion is genuine. Each week brings with it new beers for the masses that are made with the passion for experimenting as well as creating something to be proud of.

It's that passion that makes me feel proud to say we have a brewery in my hometown (conveniently less then 5 minutes car ride from my house I might add!). Stop by on a Friday or Saturday and you'll see people there from all different backgrounds enjoying the local beers. From blue collar workers, to business people, to beer geeks, and families no one ever feels out of place here. Which makes it a real communal place. A place where you can enjoy a pint with your friends, maybe see people you haven't seen in a while, or even catch up on whats going on in town.

Twin Elephant is now a part of our town and I myself am glad it's here. So cheers to the future of Twin Elephant. (When you stop by tell them Christian sent you.)

(PS Tim, Scott, and Cindy consider this my application. I'd love to help Twin Elephant grow and become the best brewery it can be.)

Long time no see

Hello all! I'm back from the dead of the internet to give the world an update on my job situation. Back in April when I last posted things were dark, I wasn't sure about my future and I was still far away from finding a job.

Fast forward to now and things have changed big time. I've been working since late June for a music company that focuses on teaching children, as well as renting them instruments for their schools music programs. I was brought on to help with the assigning and shipment of rental instruments to children all over Northern New Jersey. It was a busy, crazy, and intense summer but, one that saw many success for myself and the company. I was able to help improv shipments of rentals to kids and reduce the failure rate big time. Overall our success rate was 98% which was a huge improvement from the previous summer.

I was only supposed to stay till the end of the summer/fall busy season when the rentals for the new school year are at there highest. But, I have stayed on and have been working there ever since. Currently my role fluctuates a lot depending on the day of the week from managing the warehouse to helping with improving the companies online presence. It seems like I'm going to be staying here for a while if the money is right.

This job is the first one I have ever had where I've felt an extreme sense of personal satisfaction with my own work. Everyone here works well together and we all work towards the common goal of helping the company provided an excellent level of service to our customers. There were many days where I would come home exhausted but I never felt like I didn't want to be there. The exhaustion I felt was good it made me feel like I had accomplished something everyday I went to work.

The future is looking bright for the first time in a long time. Hopefully this will continue into the new year and hopefully I will be writing more for this blog.

Till then stay positive my friends, you never know what will fall into your lap when you least expect it.

Happy Birthday to Chatham's Train Station

On June 14th the Chatham Historical Society put together a bunch of events to celebrate the train stations centennial. One of the highlights was the railway museum inside the eastbound station. Comprised of 100 artifacts from the private collection of my father, it was well received by the public, committee officials, local politicians, and even the executive director of NJ Transit. Throughout the day we had people telling us how much they loved the little museum. Most were amazed to find out that this was only a small portion of my fathers collection. One aspect of this exhibit that made me proud was the fact that for the first time my father had an opportunity to show off items that he has collected over the last 40 years on a grand scale. The museum was his and everyone on the centennial committee couldn't stop thanking him. It was a long day for him, my girlfriend, and myself. By the time the day was over we were all exhausted but it was worth it to bring a little piece of railroad history to the citizens of Chatham. Below are some pictures highlighting the exhibit we set up that day.

The mid-week in review: January 15th 2014

Sitting here in my room, enjoying a nice beer, and thinking about what to write today I find myself not 100% sure what to write about. Maybe I can tell you that the beer I'm drinking is a new rye style brew from Yards. It's got a strong rye taste and a simple name 'Rye.' Maybe I can tell you that I'm doing all of my writing now from my new Macbook Air, after 6 and a half years of using my Macbook Pro I figured it was time to get something new. It's battery is amazing and I love the way the keys feel while I type. I see a lot of writing in this computers future.

32 Goals for 2014

It's a new year and another new chance to write all I can. Taking a look at the list of writing prompts that my friend Joey gave me I find that today is entitled 32 flavors. Which means its time for a list of some sort. Since this is my first post of the new year I'm going to put a list together of 32 things I hope to do in 2014. In this case the order of importance doesn't really matter.