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Just Shoot Me — Please Not a Sit-Com in a Small Brewery

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Senior Vice President of Professional Brewing Division

Paul Gatza is the Senior Vice President of Professional Brewing Division at the Brewers Association. Paul’s origin in the beer community started when he took up homebrewing in 1990. He worked on the bottling line at Boulder Beer and would sneak over to the brewhouse when opportunity allowed. He owned a pair of homebrew supply shops in Boulder and Longmont, Colorado from 1994 to 1998. He served as director of the American Homebrewers Association for seven years and is in his 23rd year as Brewers Association director. Paul is ranked as a National Beer Judge by the Beer Judge Certification Program. Paul is also a former judge director of both the Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup, before moving to the judge panels for these elite competitions.

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“Strange Brew” is to be set in a family-owned brewery. The pilot development goes to Will & Grace creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick of Warner Brothers TV, according to The Hollywood Reporter. My gut reaction is that this isn’t good news and won’t help craft brewing’s image. When I take a step back, I think, well, Cleveland is cooler because of Drew Carey’s television show, so maybe it could help. I guess if they are going to get many aspects of technical brewing wrong and misrepresent the industry, I hope they are really funny in doing it. Each week a different malfunction to overcome. Please let the brewer wear rubber boots.

Actually, there could be some interesting video projects that poke fun at it. It seems hard to think that this could be as funny as the McKenzie Brothers “Strange Brew.” You know, “there’s a mouse in this bottle, so give us a free case of beer, eh?”

Somehow I think operating a small brewery on tv is going to be easier than in real life. 

–Paul Gatza

Link to author biography
Senior Vice President of Professional Brewing Division

Paul Gatza is the Senior Vice President of Professional Brewing Division at the Brewers Association. Paul’s origin in the beer community started when he took up homebrewing in 1990. He worked on the bottling line at Boulder Beer and would sneak over to the brewhouse when opportunity allowed. He owned a pair of homebrew supply shops in Boulder and Longmont, Colorado from 1994 to 1998. He served as director of the American Homebrewers Association for seven years and is in his 23rd year as Brewers Association director. Paul is ranked as a National Beer Judge by the Beer Judge Certification Program. Paul is also a former judge director of both the Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup, before moving to the judge panels for these elite competitions.

See Paul Gatza's Articles