CLEVELAND, Ohio - The flagship events and accompanying parties end Saturday night, the last pours of Cleveland Beer Week dribbling into pint glasses and snifters throughout the city. But no one, during the nine-day celebration, did a better job honoring brewers than Great Lakes Brewing Co. on Thursday night.
The brewery held its first alumni dinner, an idea that, by all accounts, really seemed inevitable.
Since its founding in 1988, Great Lakes, Ohio's first craft brewery, has acted as kind of a farm system. Many of the brewers who trained there have gone on to head up other brewhouses throughout Cleveland.
If you have had a beer at any of more than half a dozen places in the city, there's a good chance it was made by someone who once worked at the pioneering Ohio City brewery.
Someone who worked on a small brewing system or a larger one, who toiled in the pub, who studied late night in the lab.
Thursday, with no awards or pomp or overly formal program, those mentors and proteges came together to share memories, and to have a beer with each other.
People like Josh Jones, now the brewer at Hofbrauhaus.
"I'd run around the brewhouse to get all my work done as fast as possible to pick Joel Warger's brain," he said.
Warger sat at a table a few feet away. He left Great Lakes to help start Goldhorn Brewery on the east side.
"This guy take over my job as pub brewer," Great Lakes' Luke Purcell said of Warger, "and made me look like a bad brewer."
Purcell acted as host for the evening, introducing brewers and talking as much about friendship as he did beer.
"This has truly been the focal point of Cleveland brewing," he said.
The brewers laughed and openly talked about the long-held and dispelled rumor about Christmas Ale. The story goes that when former brewer Tim Rastetter left Great Lakes, he took the spicy ale's recipe with him. Not true, he said, though "the legend grows."
"It was an honor to be here," said Rastetter, now at Thirsty Dog Brewing Co. in Akron. "Where we are today is relative to where we were years ago. We've remained friends with other brewers, to help other brewers in their aspirations to grow."
More than 25 years ago, Rastetter home-brewed with Andy Tveekrem, who also got his start at Great Lakes and who is now brewmaster a few hundred feet away, at Market Garden Brewery. He spoke respectfully, humorously and earnestly of his time with other brewers.
"It's been a pretty fun ride," he said. "I think the culture of Great Lakes is what we're talking about. It's pride in what you do."
"It's humbling," said Dan Conway, who founded the brewery with his brother, Pat, as he surveyed the all-star cast of brewers. "They came from here, and are back again."
Matt Cole, fresh from his annual victory lap at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, spoke of the importance of taking an active interest in selecting the right types of hops, a backbone for any beer.
"If you can have farm to table, this is ranch to brewery," he said.
Bill Boor learned quickly about the benchmark he was going to have to seek when he started at Great Lakes.
" 'This is Bill Boor, the new CEO,' " he was introduced to a patron. The man looked at him and, after an awkward silence, said seriously: "Don't screw it up."
They geeked out, told jokes, became emotional. And, like brewing itself - a communal, hands-on process - they were together.
"I don't want it to end," Purcell said. "I don't want it to end."