Closet Drinking Toward Destiny: The Story Behind “Tap That AZ Podcast” – Part 3

In part two we learned about how the decision to hole myself up in a small windowless room in my house with no ventilation helped me to inadvertently realize what I’ve been searching for my whole life: destiny. I didn’t realize it at that time but this pseudo sweat lodge experience planted the seed for me to find what I was meant to do. Initially my idea was to focus on craft “beverages”: beer, wine, coffee, spirits, or anything beverage-related. But after interviewing my first few breweries I knew that craft beer was quickly crossing the line from interest to passion and eventually obsession. Don’t let me fool you though; as excited as I was to do this show interviewing people in person and often with patrons around created quite a nerve-wracking experience for me. The first several interviews involved me getting to the place about 20 minutes early and sitting in my car hoping I would get a call/text/email stating they couldn’t make it. I was surprised how nervous I was. But every time it went great and I had a blast. It also helped to have a beer or two. The people who I talked to were so excited to share their stories and once we started talking it was like a conversation between old friends. It was also really cool to see how all the amazing Arizona beers are made and taste beers straight from the tanks.

It didn’t take me long to realize that craft beer, and specially Arizona craft beer, was the direction I wanted to take my career. I was, and still am not sure what exactly that will look like but I’ve narrowed it down to Arizona craft beer. The main reason? The people. The people I have met through this journey are the most passionate welcoming group of people I’ve ever encountered. I can’t even start to list them because if I tried I know I would miss someone and if that person happened to be one of the three people who read this I would feel like a real jabroni. But you all know who you are and I appreciate you.

In part 4 we’ll talk about how I abandon everything else in my life to pursue this dream. I sold everything that I owned, wrote my family a goodbye letter, and took my bindle on the road. Ok, I didn’t get THAT extreme but a lot of things fell to the wayside and before I knew it every free minute I had was happily spent toward this new-found obsession. Bear with me. We are ALMOST to the much-anticipated finale! (Or the “OMG, when will this end?!?!” moment).

 

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Eric Walters
I love beer. Specifically Arizona craft beer. Oh yea, my family is pretty awesome too. An amazing wife and 2 awesome little girls make my life great. And did I mention beer?



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