Quench Your Own Thirst: Business Lessons Learned over a Beer or Two

Koch, founder of the Boston Beer Company and brewer of Samuel Adams beer, offers a worthy history of his company’s origins and the road to capturing a very respectable 1% of the American beer market. Koch was born into a family with five generations of brewers and became a successful management consultant. In 1984, he decided to resurrect the family brewing business using a recipe dating back to the 1860s. Within four years, the company was experiencing exponential growth. Koch both chronicles the company’s success and explores issues that many entrepreneurs wrestle with, including determining which kind of business to enter, and getting started once that decision is made. He recounts his struggles to get financing and find the right name; Liberty Tree, Sacred Cod, and Whipping Post were among the candidates before he finally settled on Samuel Adams. Other turning points include taking the company public, sustaining attacks from industry giants such as Anheuser-Busch, and handling the difficult departure of his founding partner, Rhonda Kallman. This is an engaging and well-written blend of stories from a beloved company’s founding and sound guidance on surmounting common dilemmas faced in business and in life. Agent: Jim Levine, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency. (Apr.)