On a recent trip to Boston and the surrounding area I was keen to hit up
some of the more sought-after breweries like Trillium and Lamplighter, but
also a few places that were fundamental to the still-underdeveloped scene
in the area, like Cambridge Brewing and the business of today's guest,
Suzanne Schalow of Craft Beer Cellar.
Suzanne was the voice in the desert for awhile in Belmont, a short drive
from the city, in a commuter town that has a lot of questions about craft
beer when she and her partner Kate first opened their doors 16 years ago.
Fundamental questions that we're all still trying to answer in different
ways, like, "What is craft beer?"
And earlier this year, as Suzanne lead the business into a national
franchise model, she encountered a few unknowns, like how to talk about and
manage quality with her franchisees—and who makes a decision about quality.
It seems simple in many ways that a retailer would have a strong point of
view in their curation process, but like defining craft, defining quality
presented a host of issues as well.
So speaking with Suzanne and her new brand manager John Thompson, it was
clear that while we were at the end of one long phase of the Craft Beer
Cellar's story, a whole new chapter was about to begin.
