IT’S A DRINK OF THE PEOPLE” : WELZBACHER ON

Oklahoma Beer: A Hand Crafted history “It ’ s A Drink Of The People ” : Welzbacher On His Book

B Y L U I S R A M O S

Liquidly foamy gold, or beer as it is almost commonly referred to has been around since the inauguration of alcohol itself. Causing history to be enriched because of it.

Brian Welzbacher proudly depicts himself as a beer enthusiast who recently published his first book called “Oklahoma Beer: A Hand Crafted history ” , that deals through the turbulence of prohibition and explains the movements that has led to current laws and regulations of alcohol that we all know of, but his five-year journey was little less than easy to traverse.

“The personal fear of I don’t know what I’m doing or why am I doing this” , lurked behind Welzbachers head.

However, when it comes to the art of alcohol, Welzbacher is no stranger to it. His passion for alcohol has led him to gain valuable insight which has formed into a tributary of success.

“I have the tools, I have the content, I can do this” , confidently claimed Welzbacher as he took the mantel to write the extensive book

Ranging from his company BeerisOk.com where he designs a variety of alcohol theme wearable pieces, to his blog Oklahomacraftbeer.com in which he discusses in detail about the industry and now a local published author. Welzbacher had the credentials to be successful.

“You know working on some stories with the brew pubs and you know having some general knowledge but getting the back stories and things like that was fascinating and even talking to the people that are still there today for some of them is really cool- I mean it is pretty neat showing that it has its own unique history to people” , observed Welzbacher during his visits to local breweries.

The prohibition era in Oklahoma lasted longer than most states and the effects are still visible in current times. According to Welzbacher “the biggest thing for this state was not repealing prohibition like 1933 prohibition but until 1959, and that's where you get the 3.2% beer and so I think that's the biggest stigma put on the state was having that beer that was brewed at a lesser alcoholic value on those breweries like the major breweries like MillerCoors and Anheuser-Bush, so I think that curbed the cultural behavior so badly. We're still trying to get over that hump because you have such a new diverse class of drinkers” .

Regardless of the outcome, Welzbacher strongly believes that alcohol is more than a simple drink. “It's not about getting drunk, it's just about enjoying your time out with people; it doesn't matter what it is, but you know it's pretty nice, you try not to give it such a bad rap like it used to have” He goes on to further say “It’s always been around celebrating everything from birth to death- it’s a drink of the people” .

You can purchase Brian Welzbacher book at BeerisOk.com. For any inquiries, you can contact him at brian@beerisok.com