Spruce Beer, Traditions, and the Potential Within

I respect the type of person who looks at a beautiful, towering spruce tree and says, “I think I can make a beer out of that.” It’s a reminder that most things in life are more than they first appear. Anything is possible.

Although most of my experience with beer has failed to produce profound observations, there is something to be said for the craft that goes into craft beer. Years ago, I ran a beer blog which I established to help promote the importation of more Canadian beer to Texas. At the time Texas beer was awful and we needed all the help we could get. But things changed. Texan brewing laws were updated, and a craft beer renaissance followed. With tasty options closer to home, I closed the blog.

In Nova Scotia, Garrison Brewing brews beer from trees. Seriously, they nip off the green tips of spruce trees as an ingredient. It’s delicious. I thought that was the apex of creativity but here in Texas Armadillo Ale Works of Denton uses Mesquite tree beans in their incredible beer Honey Please. I’ve lived in Texas my entire life and had no idea mesquite trees even produced beans.   

This year I am a bit sad to close another beer-related tradition. There will be no Gifting of the Associate Beers in 2018. For many years I made a small effort to spread a little holiday cheer with the hard working Associates at my firms. Each December I shared my love of Canadian beer with the Associates, giving each a 750ml bottle of one of my favorite Canadian beers. It was a mere token of appreciation. When I left my Executive Director position in April, I wasn’t thinking about my annual beer order. This week I ran into my ordering contact and had to admit the end of the effort.

I felt bad not buying the Associate beers this year. Actually, I don’t miss the logistics of it all because it was a huge pain in the ass. I often special ordered the beer months in advance. Once it arrived, I lugged it downtown and made multiple trips from the parking garage to get it all up to my office. I wrapped bottles in colored tissue paper and put each in a gift bag. Late in the evening I crept alone floor by floor, leaving a bag on each Associate’s desk. By the end of the process I was sure my lungs were coated in glitter.

Of course, you don’t do things like this for thanks or heaven-forbid, a reciprocal gift. My hope was that during a much needed break, our Associates would kick back and share an exceptionally good beer with their loved ones, thinking for a moment that maybe not everyone in legal management sucks. 

The effort was not always 100% successful. I once had an Associate call to complain that someone had left a beer on her desk. Another one tried to re-gift the beer to me, unaware that I was the guy who had given it to him in the first place.

Thinking of the spruce beer actually makes me think of the possibilities within each of us. Our initial observations often fail to show the full potential of anything. When some of us look at a tree all we see is a tree. Others see lumber, shelter, fuel, a medium for intricate carvings, or even beer.

As I look at lawyers, I see many who feel typecast early on in their careers. I recall a young Associate starting at my firm who was so excited about his future. “I am going to be a municipal bond attorney” he said during his first week, beaming with pride and a forward-looking certainty that most of us will never have. Within a few months he was well on the track to becoming a bond attorney when a partner from our telecom section approached him and asked if he wanted to try some projects with that team. In a flash he was poached. His role changed and over the next two decades he developed an incredibly successful career as a telecom and utility lawyer. I often wonder what his life would have been like had that partner not seen something special in him.

You too possess amazing potential. If you feel trapped in your job, try to remember that there is a huge world of opportunity out there. Your potential will not be seen by everyone. Be especially careful if you are making career decisions under the guidance of others. If I have learned anything about careers it is that there is no right or wrong, only expectations which are met or not. As you start your career someone may plant you in a spot with the promise that if you stay put, you’ll grow roots and have great growth potential in the future.

Then again, maybe you don’t want to be a tree. Perhaps you aren't root-bound and immovable. Maybe you would prefer to be a delicious beer. In this world anything is possible.