48 - Drew Ross
The Explore84 Podcast
English - February 11, 2020 08:00 - 45 minutes - 31.3 MBSociety & Culture Business personal growth entrepreneur wellness soul body mind healthy goals explore health topics self improvement Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
On this extra-heavy edition of the podcast we talk with Philosopher, Metalhead, and cofounder of Calgary’s New Level Brewing, Drew Ross. We learn how he and his brother came to open this heavy metal brewery, and which metal legend inspired the name.
As you might expect from somebody who opens a metal themed brewery, music has played a huge part in Drew’s life ever since he was a child. From a young age his he was heavily involved in choir and also played the flute! After this phase where he laughingly self describes himself as “a f***ing nerd” Drew started collected tapes as a preteen and then acquired a taste for punk rock and metal at 14.
In University Drew completed his PhD in Philosophy and found that the job offers weren’t exactly piling up. He had applied for a number of numbers, and while he took on a few small jobs teaching online courses or tutoring he found himself feeling burnt out. Not wanting to just aimlessly apply for more jobs Drew started making a list of things he could do to try to find a new direction and was given some advice from his dad to check out the brewing program at Niagra College. While looking into Alberta’s own brewing program at Olds College popped up and he figured “even if I don’t get a job it’ll be really fun. Let’s do it!”
As we know now it turned into much more than a job, and today Drew and his brother run an incredibly unique brewery that has given Drew opportunities to meet people he never thought possible, including heroes of his from the metal world. And there’s lots more on the horizon for New Level too, and Drew runs us through his ambitious goals to convert the brewery to an entirely employee owned operation, as well as create a heavy metal beer festival.
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Get your own copy of the books and music discussed in this episode:
Viktor E. Frankl | Man’s Search for Meaning
Karl Ove Knausgaard | My Struggle
Pantera | Vulgar Display of Power
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