There's a lot going on here, so I'll lead off with a summary of what you'll find below.
- Personal reflection
- Google Photos gallery [
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- interview on The Brewing Network in 2008 just prior to the inaugural Philly Beer Week [
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- interview on Basic Brewing Radio/Video in 2013 during the National Homebrewers Conference [
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- Lappy's personal "diary" riding from Philly to Cooperstown in 2008 [
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- Iron Brewer event in Maple Shade in 2010 [
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- Dock Street reunion day in West Philly in 2010 [
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I’ve been procrastinating and dreading this since Sunday morning. Not that it hasn’t been on my mind constantly. It’s a form of writer’s block perhaps. Or just me obsessing over paying tribute best I can to an amazing guy. I swear I used to bang out posts here with ease; this has been the toughest beyond the shadow of a doubt.
It was a beautiful and casual Sunday morning routine of breakfast, pet duties, coffee, Olympics….and then one call and text, then another, and another….and lunch was barely made.
Of the numerous ways in which I’ve covered the beer industry since 2005, one where I took some of the most satisfaction, and dare I say some enjoyment in a strange way perhaps, was the year-end post honoring those in the industry who left this earthly life during the year.
There were times when a passing hit pretty close to home and times when the passing was unexpected. I’m not sure that anything has hit more close to home or has been as jarring as this one. I, and many of you, have used words and phrases like gut-punch, blindsided, devastated, gonna take a long time, sickened, makes no sense, etc.
This has taken every day of this week to write, re-write, organize, re-organize and I’m still not gonna get it as right as I’d like.
Sunday was an afternoon filled with talking with others and gathering up photos and links to share. Since then the words I would use here in this space to accompany the pictures were continuously being jumbled and fumbled around. But it’s time to get this out there for you to continue working through all the emotions along with me.
Chris LaPierre was a trusted and supportive colleague, an industry professional, and above all a genuine friend to hundreds, if not thousands. I’m certain he’d respond with a kind of honest humility that said “…oh, come on, I don’t know about that”.
And as many of you know, he was an extraordinarily avid cycling enthusiast and advocate. He used to bike from the Iron Hill location in West Chester when he worked there to Malvern where he often let me know he’d be allotting enough time to hang at The Flying Pig for at least a beer or two before the train back into the city if I wanted to stop by.
And, similarly, he was one of those texts/calls I’d frequently make when coming into Philly for one of my city walkabouts. “You around?” “Wanna meet somewhere for a beer?” “You at ‘the office’ today?” My lingering regret will be that in our last texting earlier this summer he asked if we’d come over to the Fishtown Tavern to meet him and others.
Our mutual friend from Madison, WI and I had been out all day walking and drinking the city. I had a train to catch and our friend was headed back to the hotel, so we declined….. even though we were only a mile away at Yards. I’m comforted by knowing, however, that they were able to get together the following day which was more important than me being there as they hadn’t seen each other in years.
By now, you’ve probably seen countless social media posts from individuals and organizations that were emotionally stunned by his passing but even more affected by how he touched their lives. I’m going to list out a bunch of ways that I personally would describe him here. Thing is, I’ve seen some form of nearly every attribute I list here mentioned by more than one of his friends.
- friendly and fun
- patient and gracious with his time, way more gracious than most anyone I’ve ever known
- humble and self-effacing, but serious as needed
- curious, well-studied, wise, but never condescending in what he knew that you didn’t
- interested and interesting
I’m just kind of freewheeling this here and feel like I'm spinning out, so I think that’s about where I’ll leave it for now. I’d like to go out by sharing some of the content that I’ve collected along the way. And I’m sure there will be much more sharing to take place on Sat. August 10 when I’ve just learned that Iron Hill will open their Center City Philly brewpub to a memorial event for Lappy open to the public.
Pictures
I've put up a
gallery of pictures on Google Photo. If my datestamps are accurate, they range from 2007-2020. They are at beer events, dinners, competitions, and festivals. They are with a wide variety of people and friends and, I believe capture the essence of what made Chris unique. If there are any that you'd like more context for -- dates, places, names, etc. -- just let me know.
Interviews
I have two pieces of evidence to submit here that demonstrate Lappy’s selflessness and willingness to go over and above. If I needed a quote. If I needed a picture. If I needed contact information for someone. If I needed a second set of eyes on something for accuracy before I published. I'm not mentioning this to enhance a guy’s legacy, I truly cannot recall ever hearing him brush me off and not enthusiastically help get me what I needed as quickly as possible without leaving me hanging or brushing me off.
In 2008, I’d spent some time at the Celebrator Magazine anniversary event in the San Francisco Bay Area and mentioned that anytime they’d like some help getting an East Coast/Philly guest on their show to reach out and I’d be happy to help. Less than a month later, I get a call at something like 3 p.m. eastern time that there was a last-minute cancellation for their live Sunday night show (beginning at 8 p.m. eastern). Could I help? I called Lappy and gave him a rundown of the format and he said without hesitation that he’d be happy to. He was on the air at 9 p.m. on a work night for a little more than hour talking about himself, Iron Hill, the industry, homebrewing…handling it like the pro he was.
Check it out at this link to the Brewing Network's archive (a 75-minute in-depth conversation beginning at 50:20)
Then, in 2013, the National Homebrewers Conference came to Philly. The guys from Arkansas at the excellently produced Basic Brewing Radio & Video reached out and asked about the city and region and I suggested I show them around. I picked them up on a weekday morning and had them out to Iron Hill’s Maple Shade location at 8 a.m. for our first stop of the day where Lappy, naturally, said “of course! wait, what time? yeah, sure I’ll be there, it’ll be fun!” He proceeded to show the team around, provide plenty of samples, and give a interview.
Check out the audio interview here at this YouTube link (a 33-minute full-length interview beginning at 9:04) and
a short video here at another YouTube link (a 1-minute segment beginning at 1:42)
Cycling
Now, I’d like to share with you one of my most favoritest things I think I can imagine I’d ever done in my little space of the beer world. The year was 2008 and the event was the annual Belgian beer blowout weekend-long festival at Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, NY. Lappy and 5 others decided August was the perfect month to set off on a 6-day bike ride from Philly to Cooperstown for the festival.
Well they did and they provided me the exclusive host platform to chronicle their journey in near-real-time format. Each night, Chris would gather photos taken and the words he’d written about their experience. The next best thing to being along on the ride (though, honestly, how many of us could’ve done even one day!?!) was following along with their adventure. I almost felt childlike in my anticipation of how each day’s story would be told. Here’s a bit of Lappy’s journalism degree at work on display for us, ha!
So check out these two links —
one as they were getting ready to set off and one that serves as
a “directory” of Chris' journal entries and pictures from each day.
Miscellaneous
Here are two last things I’d like to share with you from my years of covering the beer scene. First there was the Iron Brewer event that Iron Hill conducted each year with Lappy’s guidance.
This link focuses on 2010 in New Jersey.
And, finally, there was Dock Street where Lappy cut his teeth back in the 90s. Dock Street’s position is securely cemented in Philadelphia's craft brewing history beginning in the 80s and Lappy moved up from server to brewer there. Through the years, they’ve had a number of locations and quite a number of brewers pass through its doors.
Back in 2010, they hosted a reunion of brewers at the West Philly location. It wasn’t necessarily a public event, but they brewed, they drank, they reminisced and I was honored to have been informed to stop by, participate, and help to document the significant day.
Here's a link to my feature on the event.
When you think of the Dock Street and Iron Hill brewing families that Lappy was a member of in Philly (not to mention Harpoon in Boston), you think of the number of years in operation, you think of all the brewing and other staff that he interacted with, you think of how the industry has exploded more than 10x over since he started out, it makes you appreciate just how many he has taught and inspired along the way of passing mash paddle from brewer to brewer. It makes the outpouring of love and gratitude we've all been seeing on the social networks not that surprising at all.
RIP Lappy. Thanks for the beers and the cheers. We raise our glasses to your short but immensely impactful life now and look forward to that time when we can do it together again.
© Bryan J. Kolesar and The Brew Lounge, 2024. All content is owned and uniquely created by Bryan J. Kolesar. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from Kolesar is strictly prohibited. Excerpts, images, and links may be used with advance permission granted and only provided that full and clear credit is given to Bryan J. Kolesar and The Brew Lounge with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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