What's going on here? [music] We've got some people dancing in the back.
Guess what? I'm the beer Santa Claus.
Yes. I came here with 50 beers cuz it's 50 years of Oktoberfest. Can I beer all of you?
Free beer is the best beer, right?
Well, free good beer is the best.
Can't you tell how intelligent and beautiful they are?
Do you know who he is, then?
No. Oh my gosh, are you famous? [laughter] Well, I don't know. No.
He's the founder and CEO.
I started it in my kitchen.
You know your stuff, then. Enjoy. Enjoy.
I don't have a full beer. I was... [laughter] I look to get some lederhosen myself.
It's a trip. They're leather. So, you're wearing leather shorts. So, you better get some great boxers to go under them.
Yes, definitely. Underwear is important. Underwear is important.
Um so, 50 beer We're doing 50 beers for 50 years. What has made Oktoberfest in Cincinnati so successful over these 50 years, do you think?
You know, it They the Chamber of Commerce started it 50 years ago, the tiny little event.
And, you know, it just engaged the whole community. All those German-American leagues that are still here, they got engaged with it. And then, you know, brewers like me think America should have an Oktoberfest.
And cuz this is the second largest Oktoberfest in the world right here in Cincinnati. And Cincinnati's always been a beer town.
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, you obviously have Cincinnati roots. What was your uh growing up in Cincinnati, what was your experience like?
It's a great place to grow up. Great place to go to school. And I still remember, you know, my first grade, my second grade, my third grade teachers [laughter] at Kilgour in Mount Lookout.
Oh, yes. Yes. Uh you went to Indian Hill High School, right?
Yeah, my mom was a teacher.
Oh, that's that's So, your mom was your teacher?
No, thank god. [laughter] Well, she was my teacher, but not...
Not like your actual teacher.
No. No, but I would ask people, "Hey, did you have my mom?" They said, "Yeah, she was really strict." [laughter] Imagine being the son. I got enough of a dose.
Uh what was your experience like at Indian Hill? Cuz high school, where you go to high school is very important in Cincinnati.
Yeah, I mean I didn't realize it at the time.
And it was very small then. It was one building.
started and then now it's a much bigger proposition.
It was tiny back You know, I started there in the '50s.
Yeah, that was a while ago.
Yeah. Uh so, you grew up in a family of brewers. Uh how was that? You're sixth generation? Is that right?
Well, um you know, my dad got out of brew master school in 1948. [music] There were a thousand breweries in the US. There used to be lots of breweries.
When I started Sam Adams, that thousand breweries had dwindled to about 60.
Which meant a thousand brew masters jobs became 60.
So, he eventually couldn't make a living as a brew master.
And when I told him I was going to leave my good job and start a small brewery, he said, "Jim." And I thought he was going to like family tradition, makes me feel so good, put his arm around me, which he kind of did, and then he said, "You know, in your life you've done some stupid things. [laughter] This is by far the stupidest. The big guys will just chew you up and spit you out on the floor, if not the urinal, [laughter] like a zit." And uh I finally he finally got his head around what I was trying to do, which was not compete with the big American brewers. They would kill me, but to make great beer, rich, flavorful, traditional beer in the United States. And that was before the craft beer thing started.
That term didn't even exist 42 years ago.
We had to, you know, not only build a business, but create an industry.
Want a free beer? Hey, how are you? Hey, I'm Jim Koch, brewer of Sam Adams.
Well, it's my pleasure. Can I pour you a good beer?
I would love to. Thank you. Appreciate you. Thank [laughter] you so much.
This is now the largest selling Oktoberfest beer in the world. Outsells any of the German beers.
I've been to Munich and I've been to Oktoberfest, the real Oktoberfest.
Yeah. Well, I call this the real Oktoberfest. Enjoy your Oktoberfest beer.
Yes, yes. The recipe was given to you, though, out of your What was it was your great-great-grandfather's? Is that correct?
Yeah, had it up in the attic.
My family does not have cool things like that in their attic. I'm jealous.
I know, I didn't know he had it. Um it was in this old trunk of my he was into cars, so he had like 1954 Motor Trend magazine, [laughter] stuff like that, and he dug in there, and he came out with it and said, "This is the best recipe we have."
Your great great grandfather had a successful brewery in St. Louis, and this was his beer.
So, what I was able to do was, you know, bring back a time in the 1800s when American brewers made rich, flavorful lagers.
And that kind of degenerated into lighter and lighter, more refreshing beers.
So, I was able to like get in a time machine and go back 100 years and say, "This is what the small, independent brewers of America 100 years ago made before everything got, you know, mass-produced and mass-marketed."
And that was kind of the magic of craft beer, and we were able to help start this whole craft beer revolution. Today, 10,000 brewers in the United States.
more brewers than any other country in the world.
Do you like the title that people give you as the father of the of craft beer?
[laughter] Well, um it's an honor. I, you know, I try to be worthy.
And I got to do something that is about as good as you can get in this life, which is prove your parents wrong. In a good way.
they have [laughter] to bail you out, but because they're actually proud of you.
Yeah. Yeah. Uh, how do you think Boston Beer Company and Samuel Adams has evolved over the years? I guess as a company and a beer.
Well, the beer hasn't really changed. So, the beer is, you know, 6 weeks after Samuel Adams came out it got picked as the best beer in America.
It went on to win that 4 years running. And so, I was like, I have magic here. It was just I I really did not fully understand how powerful having a unique, really delicious product can be. The whole company, when we got picked as the best beer in America, the company was two people.
people. And we've obviously grown from there,
but I've never forgotten that experience of making the best beer in America. And I strive to do that every day.
I love the beer. If I weren't working, then yes, I would love to get back.
working, but I'm I can still drink, but All right.
Thank you. I love the Sam Adams products.
Sure. Thank you. Appreciate it.
You guys, you look like you need a beer. [laughter] I am the beer Santa Claus. Your prayers Perfect. Can I pour you a Samuel Adams? I I'm the brewer. I started the company. Yeah. Oh, perfect.
Now, what kind is it? I haven't started yet.
The Oktoberfest. Look around. What else could it be?
We're in visiting from California.
OH, AND YOU YOU SHOULD SEE A sauerkraut pot and see what the handle is on the sauerkraut pot.
It's the same amount of sauerkraut pot that's in there.
That is beautiful. I've never seen one.
We put 10 ingredients in there, right?
It's all top secret except for that.
