OK... I just sent a letter of interest to 23 Belgian breweries. Actually, I did nine of them yesterday and the rest today. But I hand wrote the addresses on each one and signed all the letters. My hand is a bit tired from writing. I will print out some more letters tonight and mail them tomorrow, as well.
There are 39 Flemmish breweries that I am contacting. I narrowed the field by first making a spreadsheet of all the breweries including addresses, type of beers made, and the ratings on beeradvocate.com (if any). Then I used viamichelin.com to find out how far each brewery was from central Brussels, which I also put into the spreadsheet. Then I sorted by distance and got a list of breweries up to 50 miles away, as that is as far as I'm willing to travel. Out of that list I picked the ones that I'm most interested in, based on reputation or type of beers brewed. Lastly, I've categorized them by language (French or Dutch). For my first round of door-knocking, I'm focusing only on the Flemmish breweries because I will have a much easier time learning Dutch, so the language barrier won't be as big of an issue. If I come up empty-handed from those 39, then I'll knock on the other doors, making sure to knock in French. However, there are only 13 Walloonian (French-speaking) breweries within range.
That's my game-plan, at least. First, send out this letter of interest. Then, closer to our arrival, I will e-mail the ones that have e-mail addresses. After we are settled in Brussels, I will start visiting each one. With any luck, one or two will have contacted me before then to either tell me to shove my letter up my *** or ask me to please stop by when I am in town.
For grins, here's the letter:
Brouwerij So and So
Flemmish St. 999
3000 Vlaamseland
Dear Sir or Madam:
Foremost, I would like to apologize that this correspondence is in English. Please forgive me for the presumption, but I am still learning to speak Dutch and I don’t feel confident with it yet.
That aside, I am contacting you in hopes that you might have an opening in your fine brewery. I am relocating to Brussels, Belgium from Oregon, USA on September 2nd. I have been a home-brewer for several years and a lover of great beer since I first was permitted to drink it. I have some experience working in a professional brewery in Arizona, USA. I am a fast learner and cannot escape my absolute love for the brewing arts. I am also certified as a beer judge by the Beer Judge Certification Program in the U.S. and an active member on Beeradvocate.com. Belgian beer is the finest in the world and it is my hope that I can work in your brewery and learn all there is to know about it.
Though I come to you with limited professional experience, I also bring a never-ending thirst for knowledge, a strong work ethic, and some skills outside of beer brewing that you might find useful (such as web-design, network administration, writing, photography and videography).
I would also like to add that though I have lived in the states since 1984, I still hold citizenship in Denmark. So, I am legally able to work in Belgium and my native languages of Danish and Swedish help me greatly in learning to speak Dutch and Flemish.
In closing, I would like to ask you to strongly consider me as a candidate if you are currently hiring or have been in need of another hard-worker. My promise to you is that I will work hard to overcome the language barrier (if there is one) and that I will be a valuable employee.
Sincerely,
R. P.
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