The Founding of Pa's Bier, Inc.
It's Trials and Tribulatiions
New Entrepreneurs
My career change from musicologist to beer importer began with my retirement from CSULB in 1986. Having been introduced to good German, and Austrian beers during my various sojurns in Europe, and at that time not being able to find many good imported Weizenbier in California, I decided to attempt to find and import one.
It seemed simple enough. Talk to a few people, ask a few questions, pick
a beer, locate the brewery, gather a little money, and away we go. Well,
as you will see, there were a few hidden hurdles to overcome, some big hurdles.
Nevertheless, off I went in search of my Weizenbier, naturally in Germany,
and Austria.
Co-incidentally, my oldest daughter, had just passed the California bar,
and with PA (no longer Herr Professor Doctor) being interested in any bar,
Nancy and I gave April and her boy-friend a two week trip to Kitzbühel,
Austria. I went along on the flight to Munich, clearly as a chaperone, but
stayed in Munich while they continued on to Kitzbühel. (Just couldn't
wait the extra hours for a good German beer.)
My intent was to make contact with a Bavarian or Austrian brewery and consolidate
the idea of importing a Weizenbier into California. To my chagrin, the Munich
breweries, my first attempt, had already either committed themselves to
importers in the U.S., or simply were not interested in the U.S. market.
Somewhat disillusioned, I decided to take a day off, and dropped down to
Kitzbühel to see how daughter was fairing. To my amazement, I found
her in a beer-bar also, drinking an Edelweiss Weizenbier. WOW, - the search
was over after I first tasted Edelweiss, - FANTASTIC!
In my mind my search was over, but what would the brewery think? I couldn't
even find the name of the brewery, the Österreichische Brau Aktiengesellschaft
(Brau A.G.). Nothing was listed as to the Edelweiss brewery. The Brau A.G.
was listed as Linz, Schwechat, Innsbruck, Zipf and Kaltenhausen, - Kaltenhausen,
a "cold house?" With map in hand, I at least located the towns.
Not being dissuaded by obstacles, and with the help of an old Austrian friend,
Hans, we eventually found not only the Edelweiss brewery, but also the head
of the Export Division. Naturally he was too busy to see us. Furthermore
he had no interest in exporting to the U.S. either. Thanks to my friend,
Hans, we finally coerced him into meeting with us late one Friday afternoon
in the Salzburg airport. He was returning, exhausted from another business
trip, and somewhat exasperated that he had to meet with us. For two hours
we sat in the airport caferteria, cussing and discussing, pounding on the
table, and insisting that we were going to work to-gether. The total conversation
was not only in German, but often in the Austrian dialect. What a dialect.
What an ordeal for me.
Not being confident that this connection would materialize, I continued
my search for two more weeks, visiting breweries throughout Bavaria. Still
nothing. No one wanted to work with an unknown, one who had no experience
in beer or importing. Furthermore, you needed a brewery agreement in order
to obtain a U.S. importing license, but you needed a U.S. license for a
brewery to consider exporting their beer, to you - a "catch twenty-two."
Near the end of my month's "vacation" I told another friend in
Munich that I needed a solid commitment, and that I was "down to the
wire." Once again I telephoned the Brau A.G., and finally found,
to my delight that their representative for western Europe and the U.S.,
had finally expressed some interest in our proposition. Hah, in business!
Well, not quite!
Now the work began in earnest, - licenses, approvals, endless paperwork,
- BATF in Washington D.C. for importers license, and label approval, ABC
in California with their share of beaucratic control, was it beer or malt
liquor? A thousand other details, - money guarantees, personal references,
shippers, warehouse, distributors in California, etc., and eventually propaganda
and flyers to promote the beer as well as bars and liquor stores that would
"give it a try." Give what a try, Edelweiss Weizenbier of course,
with the eternal question:
Edelweiss, what is Edelweiss, - a flower, the Sound of Music, a beer,
-
A BEER?
After about nine harrowing months from its inception, the birth of Edelweiss, our beer finally arrived in California, 14 October, 1988.Our ship had come in, 20,640 bottles of beer on the wall!