Well, by now, if you've been following this blog, you should be fairly surprised to hear anything at all out of me! Those of you that "know" me know that I vastly prefer audio over texting and face to face time over all other forms of communication. Since I've stuffed my gullet with all the usual suspects at this time of year, I've rendered myself immobile and therefore, I have a few moments to reflect and refract over O'Dempsey's and this past year or so.
These past few months and the preceding year have been some of the most rewarding and frustrating of my life. I researched the beer industry thoroughly and in spite of numerous cautionary tales and of course Georgia's fondness for "blue laws", I still decided I could do this. Well I must say, we certainly were not prepared for some of the lessons we were about to learn and how far my limited patience could be stretched. No regrets, looking back I think I probably needed some patience strengthening exercises. After all, that which doesn't kill you…
Which brings me to the rewarding bit, I have been blessed with the pleasure of meeting thousands of craft beer enthusiasts as well as a few hundred total fanatics thanks to starting up O'Dempsey's and getting out there to explain myself, my beer and what it is we're actually up to. This is the face time part I mentioned earlier. It's amazingly time consuming but worth it. When I'm at a tasting or festival and I am explaining one of my beers to somebody that is tasting it for the first time, there is this incredible moment where my words meet up between their palate and their ears where a tiny spark goes off in their head and I can actually see and feel them get it and that's what it's all about. That shared experience makes a deep impression on me and all the hard work and frustration of getting my beer to market at that moment becomes worth it. Multiply that moment by the number of people I’ve shared it with and it adds up to an incredible couple of years.
Another immensely satisfying aspect to all of this has been the incredible people I've met and worked with in the industry itself. From all the brewers and brewery reps to the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild to our distributors and all the retailers both on premise and off, I've been thoroughly impressed with all of your work ethic and passion for craft beer.
So you see I have a lot to be thankful for. I am truly thankful to you all for the opportunity to share O'Dempsey's beyond my backyard and wildest dreams.
Thank you all,
Randy Dempsey
