What's in a title?

From Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/brewershirts 

When you hear "brewmaster" what comes to mind? In the craft beer industry today we might automatically think of a person with credentials, perhaps a deep formal education in brewing, chemistry or the like. With that background, the person would essentially learn the true art of craft brewing.

The definition of a brewmaster from Merriam-Webster is "a person who supervises the brewing process of malt liquors." Excellent, it's far more simplified than all the hype. I believe the main requirement for a "brewmaster" if I had to associate the title with a definition is simply a passion for making great beer and enjoying what you do. Everything else will follow suit including the improvements and tweaks to the recipes. If you love what you do, then you're good to go and anything can be learned. In order to do or have, you gotta "be" something first. In our case, we are happy and love making beer. We don't have tons of awards, formal education in brewing, but there is experience, know how and pure passion for our product, our company, and most importantly, our customers who totally rock! Without their feedback, support and comments, we would not be where we are now. We are also so thankful to have supportive networks of friends, family, employees, community, the city, Historic Manassas, and fellow brewers (homebrewers and professionals) and fellow business owners. 

What matters most in the end is whether people enjoy your beer. Pure and simple. If they do, then great and if not, then make adjustments accordingly. Does one need a formal education or some fancy title to be great at what they do? Absolutely not! The founders of GREAT companies dropped out of high school and college and many started billion dollar companies out of their garage. (Microsoft and Apple)

We at BadWolf Brewing Company could quite possibly be in the category of nothing more than "glorified homebrewers". That's cool, no seriously, who the hell cares where you came from if people enjoy the beer! One thing remains true and that is brewing is not just a science but it is an art and there is plenty of wiggle room to bend the rules to make new and exciting beers! Titles are the least of our worries. So relax people, it's just beer!