Christopher is the founder and executive director of Bottleshare, a fundraising and fund distribution nonprofit organization for the craft beverage industry that provides emergency funds to members of the craft beverage industry when they experience extreme hardships that prevent them from working or producing an income.
Christopher was inspired to create Bottleshare when he received support from friends and family members after he was badly injured in a car accident. From that moment, he’s devoted himself to helping others in the craft brewing industry who need help.
The “brewstillery” movement – the creation of liquor and beer under the same roof – will inspire more barrel-aged beers, wine-inspired beers and liquors inspired by beer.
Many upstart breweries are focused on local partnerships and relationships in order to build a strong local community base.
Quotes
“I remember the day I went from being a victim to being a survivor, and it’s all about mentality. You can be (a victim), you can be (a survivor), you can be both at the same time. It’s up to you.” – Christopher
“Bottleshare gave me something to live for. Something to strive towards. Something to be a survivor for. I needed it. Not only am I helping other people, but Bottleshare is helping me on a daily basis as well.” – Christopher
“You didn’t just say, I want to survive and thrive for my own well-being, you found the motivation in helping others.” – Joseph
“I get to live a life where my daily goal is ‘who can I help today?’” – Christopher
“A gap will be bridged between liquor and beer. As we continue to see more ‘brewstilleries’ opening up, we’re going to see a lot more creative collaborations between the two liquids.” – Christopher
“One of the issues I see with local breweries is that they are underfunded and they don’t value marketing and advertising. For the most part, you don’t really see them advertising and you don’t really see them trying to build that following because they don’t have the funding or, if they do, they want to spend it elsewhere.” – Joseph
