The AV Nerd. Primetime Brewers attracts all sorts of nerds. Really, we are all beer nerds. The latest nerd to be grilled is a self-professed AV nerd, family guy, dart thrower, redneck from Oscoda, MI, and California skateboard punk. George Lawlor, its your turn.
Ever been to George’s house? You should check out his garage. It is over the top. The walls are lined with screens and control panels. Everything that may be in a Buffalo Wilds Wings is condensed into a 2 stall garage, but with much higher tech goodies. You can watch someone shooting darts with your own eyes, or you can turn your head a slight 90 degrees to watch it on the big screen projector covering the wall. Touch screen controls for lights, music, TVs, beer control, etc. He even has a big screen devoted to the tap list on his self-closing tap system. I wonder if we can get a slow-mo replay of that last dart throw.
Let me explain the ridiculousness that is his garage man cave. Jorjé works as an Audio Visual Engineer for Herman Miller. He travels around the globe installing and updating show rooms and conference centers for Herman Miller. His employer must always have the bleeding edge tech in their facilities. So George comes in and keeps everything better than up to date. We won’t mention where he gets all his toys. I am sure you can figure it out. After doing this for 12 years, he picked up some tips on how to pimp out his space. As part of his job, he must keep abreast of all the latest tech gadgets. He kept talking to me awhile about stuff that means nothing to us dumb normals. I changed the subject.
George is also a family man. His wife of 18 years, Lori and their 2 teenagers tolerate his beer habit. When he isn’t keeping the family away because they can’t stand the stink of brewing in the garage, he spends much of his time at Football, Basketball, and Girls Lacrosse games. His kids are involved in travel teams and school teams. Now, with a new driver in the house he needs more time in the brew-garage-dart-stadium slamming darts and throwing beers. When he is throwing darts or brewing, he is in his own little world and can block out the stress.
George started buying fancy beers because he was a crabby old man way back then. His roommate would have parties and strangers would come drink George’s garbage macro beers. So he started buying stuff he had never heard of from D. Schulers so that these party mooches wouldn’t touch his beer. Eventually he developed a taste for these fancy beers and discovered that he likes pale ales. In fact, if he could only ever drink one beer for the rest of his life, it would be Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. The gold standard for American Pale Ale.
Mr. Lawlor got into brewing around 2014 because a friend had a kit and shared some. He thought, if his friend can do it, so can he. He was drinking craft beers at the time and decided to make his own. Naturally, his favorite style to brew is Pale Ale. He claims to be an expert at brewing Pale Ales. He can’t be wrong. Since getting involved in competitions, he is a regular Gold Medalist with his Pales and IPAs. Many of us have enjoyed his good stuff.
This doesn’t mean those hoppy beers are the only thing he is into. He also is constantly in pursuit of making a Flanders Style Sour. He keeps refining his recipe and process, but is never totally satisfied with the result. George also is getting into lagers. He recently finished his first real lager. Because he is a tech nerd, he didn’t feel confident jumping into that kiddie pool without the proper controls and tech to operate a lager chamber. Now that he has a touch pad control and constant up to the moment data on what is happening in that lager fridge on his phone, he has taken the plunge.
George is a generous guy too. If you ever are going down 68th street and happen to see his purple Honda in front of an open garage, stop in and he will share a pint with you. If you get the word he is having a game or a fight on the TVs, don’t miss it. In fact, he says if he was suddenly unimaginably wealthy, he would build his brew barn in a warmer climate and fly everyone out whenever they wanted. I’ll keep that in mind George.
Even though he is a dual citizen between PTB and Brewsquitos, and he hasn’t been to a PTB meeting in a grip, we are still happy to have him in the scene. It’s fun to go to brewery and listen to him talk down about their AV setup. Cheers, Jorjé--DT
