Like Father, Like Son!

In 1986 I was so impressed with a beer that F.X. Matt made that I wrote him a letter. It was their ‘Season’s Best’ a once a year brew that came out for the Christmas Holidays. At the time I was heavily into making my own beer and if you’ll pardon my immodesty, I was pretty good. I forgot all about it until a couple of weeks later I received a wonderful letter from F.X. himself. It wasn’t a form letter or a sales pitch but a very warm and personalized response to my letter. I was so impressed that I kept the letter in a frame down in my old practice room which in the years to come would become a combination of ‘The Mummy’s Tomb ‘and The Crypt Keeper’s Lair’. A couple of weeks ago Dave Walker and I played outside at The Sherwood Inn for a Bar-B-Q coupled with a Saranac tasting for their new brews. Tho F.X. died years ago one of the new presidents of the Brewery, his son Fred, was there to give a talk on the history of the brewery and to meet and greet. I brought the letter with me and introduced myself, told him my story and asked him to sign the letter as well. He read it, was visibly moved and thanked me for sharing my story with him about his Dad. After his talk, he went from table to table to meet the people and to answer any questions. I asked him “ why don’t you make Matt’s beer anymore”? He said that next year they might introduce it on a limited basis. Like his Dad, F.X., Fred is a class act. Here he is at one of the tables. The new brews are all excellent by the way.