Draft Magazine’s article, Brewing Buddies, which is about brewery collaborations, gets to the heart of why I like beer so much. Yeah, beer tastes good and has a pleansant relaxing effect, but it’s the laid-back people and collaborative spirit that bring out the passion.

Yes, craft breweries do need to sell beer to stay in business, but the growing trend of brewery collaborations demonstrate how cool and macro-thinking many people are in the beer world. They are more concerned with helping each other make better beer (thus helping the entire craft industry) rather than hording their secrets trying to snatch market share away from the competition.

There will always be people in any venue that are more concerned about money than anything else, but it’s been my experience in the beer community that people genuinely want to be helpful and are dedicated to promoting the industry as a whole, knowing that if you increase the size of the pie, everyone’s slice can get bigger.

I believe this type of collaborative culture, like many things in the brewing world, started with homebrewers. Most homebrewers are always willing to share advice and lend a hand whenever possible, and I think it’s refreshing to see this spirit carrying on into commercial craft beer.

If only brewers ruled the world…