RICH’S CORNER
Rich Buceta // Founder and CCO
AN ODE TO THE HARDEST WORKING MEMBER OF OUR TEAM- THAT’S NEVER TAKEN A DAY OFF IN NEARLY 10 YEARS.
Hello once again devotees of pint-sized greatness,
In my line of work, I have spent considerable time with all manner of machinery, both large and small. Pumps, solenoids, mechanical valves, forklifts, mills, motors, hydraulics, compressors, augers, etc… it comes with the territory. There is one truth regarding these tools of the trade – they break. Often! In my early days in this profession, and especially once I started SingleCut, it seemed downright cruel at times.
When we first opened our doors I wore many hats, a necessity when you start a business, and I was stretched quite thin. Long hours + too much on one’s plate = fatigue (and the occasional grumpiness, I suppose). Mind you, I am not asking for violins to start playing in sympathy, nor am I complaining. I am fulfilling a lifelong passion doing what I do, there are so many highlights and highs in general to doing this so I’m good, but it isn’t all a bed of roses. While there’s an expression that says “If you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life”, I have to tell you – that is pure bunk!
Let me be clear – I absolutely love my job, especially today with all the experience I’ve attained, the strides we’ve made as a company, and especially the extremely talented and hardworking team we enjoy. But everyone works in this business, and very hard at that. It ain’t easy, and you really have to put your back into it all the time to achieve mastery. So when an unexpected pump breaks down at 2am (generally seen as the grumpiest hour of the day), you’re the only one in the brewery, and must get the beer transferred and clean the fermenter in time for tomorrow’s 6am brew… it’s not what anyone would term “good times”. What stops this sort of calamity from making you just want to chuck it in? It’s the feeling of satisfaction that comes with believing in what you do.
So may I suggest the expression be updated to read: “If you love what you do, you will still suffer at times, but at least will feel satisfied”.
But let’s go back and summarize my main point: Things break, generally at the worst moment, and that’s just the way it goes. Except… for one very notable exception, which I have to highlight, as it does boggle my mind.
As you no doubt are aware, we are a music-oriented brand, and a significant part of this DNA requires that we spend considerable time curating the environment in our Tap Room – the soul of the brewery. This means playing vinyl and only vinyl (now this is something we love and is never work). Now we’ve been doing this from day one back in 2012- and get this- – with the same turntable that has not once ever broken down. Now there’s a headline for the National Enquirer that no one would believe- But it’s true! Especially remarkable since this is an automatic turntable, meaning it has more parts, motors, servos, etc to break. Behold the magnificence of the Denon DP-300F.
We calculated that if you equated the distance the spinning platter on our QNS turntable has travelled since 2012, it would have circled the globe!* Not just musically (we play a wide mix of genres) but literally. Can you believe that? We did the math (see small type below). It’s phenomenal. That is clearly one very satisfied turntable! Mind you we have gone thru numerous styli (the needle) but that’s normal wear and tear.
So be sure to toast the hardest working member of our team the next time you visit our QNS Tap Room (and our North Tap Room and soon to open Manlius Tap Room, also feature this beast of burden).
’Til next time, cheers – Rich
RICH BUCETA
Founder & Chief Creative Officer, SingleCut Beersmiths
*Assuming an average of 10″ on a disc (a 12″ disc that spins until it terminals at 5″) at 33 1/3 RPM put us at 87ft/min or 5232ft/hr. In our 9.5 Years at SingleCut Tap Room, open Wed-Sun for an average of 48/hrs/wk:124,080,391ft or 23,500mi of distanced traveled. Can you beat our math? Let us know- RPMs@singlecut.com
