From: Paul Gatza 

Tuesday, January 24, 2012 Subject: Danny Williams

It is with heavy heart that I report that our dear friend Danny Williams passed away Monday night in his bed in Sunshine after a struggle with cancer. Danny served various functions for the Brewers Association over the last 15 years as a volunteer steward, World Beer Cup block captain, and contract cooler manager for the GABF competition, beer service team lead for the Craft Brewers Conference, and BIPS and BA Professional Division membership temporary caller.

Danny had hundreds of friends in the craft brewing community. His affable nature drew people to him and many people became his friends within moments of meeting Danny. Danny was ready to leave this Earth as his body shut down, so please consider this a time of joy that he is finally free from the pain of his pancreatic and stomach cancer.

Danny’s eldest son Josh, a Southern Sun Pub & Brewery server, is going to try to pick up the mortgage on the United Empire Gold Mines property in Sunshine that was Danny’s home since 2002, so hopefully that gem of history will host more gatherings of Danny’s and Josh’s beery friends. There have been requests for donations on the Brookston Beer Bulletin site and here in Colorado. His estate will receive benefit funds from a Feb. 11 auction of cool brewery stuff to be held at Backcountry Pizza in Boulder, and any surplus from the Boulder Strong Ale Fest to be held at Avery Brewing in March. Monies donated to these funds will help preserve the amazing beer storage area Danny built in the mine, which is featured in the most recent issue of All About Beer, was the subject of a great 2008 New York Times piece available at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/dining/25beer.html, and was the location of legendary Belgian-Style beer parties.

Danny and I were best friends. We hit it off drinking beers from 1 to 6 a.m. while sitting on a hillside overlooking the Shenandoah River at a Greenpeace staff training event in Harper’s Ferry, WV in 1990. Lawrence Daniel Williams was born in 1959. After growing up in the South (mostly North Carolina) and Germany, he moved to Boulder in 1991, started homebrewing in 1992, and began volunteering as a competition steward about 15 years ago.  He developed a deep knowledge and passion for craft-brewed beers. Whether he was working on the GABF or doing an educational beer tasting for back-of-house staff at a CBC hotel or helping the formation of a women’s beer appreciation group, he touched the local and national beer communities many times in many ways. I have been tipped off to the beers from many great breweries by Danny, and he was a key piece for educating me on what some of our member companies are up to. I miss him deeply already. And I am sure many of his close friends inside and outside of the brewing community feel similar sentiments.

Cheers to you, Daniel Q. Williams.

P A U L   G A T Z A 

See you Saturday!

we have a date for BCTWC 2012. It’s Saturday January 28th 2012! There are 29 breweries on the list and this year promises to be one of the best ever. We will have most of the ususal suspects and, of course, you will be able to purchase beer samplers of the etire line-up. I am super excited. Here’s the official announcement:

Belgium Comes to West Chester 2012

Click here to view the embedded video.

Fun Saint Bethardus Facts:

Most monks make their own cheese. Saint Bethardus makes his own cheesecake, which we think is much better.

The Rule of St. Bethardus

• Sustenance for the soul

• Beer is food, the consumption of which leads to enlightenment
• Strong beer good, weak beer bad. 

• The eating of meat is holy, and bacon is the holiest of all meats, so thou shalt eat bacon at every possible opportunity
• Thou shalt not leave the kitchen with an empty stomach, or an empty hand.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Legend of Saint Bethardus.

Here it Iron Hill West Chester, we have our very own patron Saint. Saint Dan Bethardus. St. Betherdus is a larger than life man with larger than life appetites. He worships here at the kitchen of the holy Eat-Sencion where he heads the crusade for flavor in beer and food! Much as the rule of St. Benedict has governed monastic life for thousands of years, so has the rule of St. Bethardus governed the life of Iron Hill Brewery for over a decade. When not hanging with his Brothers Basil, Rosemary, and Tyme, St. Bethardus spends his time contemplating food, feeding the hungry, providing drink to the thirsty and distributing wares to those in need…as in ‘where is my beer!’. Soon we celebrate the Birthday of our patron saint in the same way he would, by drinking and eating! Today we are brewing his namesake beer: St.Bethardus Abt 8. More soon, but check out Chef ‘Brother’ Dan Bethard in action masing in his very own Abbey Style beer. Release party is scheduled for Friday, June 17th so save the date!