Ten Years of Brewing Against the Machine—Year 3 / 2018 / DELIRIUM

Ten Years of Brewing Against the Machine—One Year at a Time
To celebrate a decade of Mad Priest we’re looking back—one year, one roast, one glorious mess at a time. This is the story of our evolution: through chaos and clarity, hustle and heresy, growth and grind. And maybe, just maybe, how we found a little balance in the brew. Each year we’ll reflect with a word that we feel encompassed who we were and what we were doing.

Let us reflect on the third year: the year of our Lord 2018 | DELIRIUM

As we flew into 2018 with that cape of idealism still strong and intact, I began to pursue any and all opportunities for growth as I could. Not just business, but also community development. With the success and enthusiasm of our events, I was hungry to get more involved. Seeing change. Being a part of the solution. This comes from the part of me that has always been a big driver; justice. It’s why the third line of our original mission statement was “Champion the displaced”. 

So on top of all the adapting we were already doing with events and the larger roaster, I just didn’t slow down. The year began with two big stepping stones. 

The first was a partnership that began the planning and build out of what would later that year become our Cherry St. location, a full blown European style cafe with coffee, cocktails and food. I suppose part of me saw it as the manifestation of our brand in a space that would enable us to develop those ideas more thoroughly. But we’ll get back to that in a bit…

In March, I was invited to join a group of 25 community thought leaders on a trip to Cincinnati, hosted and developed by the Footprint Foundation. This trip would play a significant role in several aspects from deep connections to challenging ideas for how to better our community. To this day, the people on that trip inspire me as I continue to watch the work they are doing for Chattanooga & beyond. 

It honestly made me really question what we were doing as a business. What does “development” really look like? How can we help people if we aren’t sustainable? What would it look like to look more down the road with decisions instead of my impulsive tendencies wanting something now?! I began to shift how I viewed our “social” arm and what I wanted us to accomplish in a renewed light. I am grateful for all the people on that trip and what they taught me, and how they challenged me to think differently. 

Buttttttt, I quickly fell back into the trap of my ways. So back to the fact that we had this new shop opening! And it was a full blown design and buildout unlike anything I had experience with, not to mention having to figure out how to run a bar alongside the coffee element. So in classic Michael fashion, I dove head first into learning everything I could. I attended tastings. I traveled all over to draw inspiration. I even became a Certified Spirits Specialist through a thick textbook of info and a rigorous test at the end. Patron flew me to Mexico to visit the Hacienda and learn all about Tequila. I was enamored with the spirits industry. I saw it as an alignment to what I was already doing. A crop that has all these hands touching it, processed and developed, then “roasted” or “distilled” into an end product for people. 

So I put everything I had into opening this new space. Very much at the detriment of Broad St. and our overall coffee program. But just to be clear, I had Luke (current owner/roaster of New Wave) and Tarig running the show and looking back they allowed for this to happen and their support during this season, though underappreciated at the time, is not taken lightly.

So why DELIRIUM? While I didn’t have any actual medical condition (that I am aware of anyway), I definitely feel deep in my bones that I pushed ideas, decisions and growth in a way that truly was confusing, causing an inability to see clearly around me which led to poor choices. Again, everything is a stepping stone and a learning opportunity…but, at what cost? And was it worth it? We’ll never know, though at this time in life, I would say yes, only because it led to right here and right now, which I believe is where I am supposed to be. 

But let’s be real for a second – that drive to grow and open Cherry St. paved a path that was more like a bulldozer than nice hand poured concrete smoothed with intention. My ego took me for a walk and I had no idea I was being pulled with such a tight leash. 

We opened on Halloween of that year with a bomb-ass team, all dressed in ridiculous costumes for our ribbon cutting. It was pure chaos. But it was also really neat. Particularly the people that believed in it and those I called colleagues. The drinks and food were delicious. The space was beautiful. 

Did we do it? Did we arrive?? Was this it?

Despite me becoming way too big for my britches, it would still be awhile before I realized it. 2019 was on the horizon and my over zealousness would be quickly replaced with reality.

+Michael, High Priest

P.S. Do you like what you’re reading? Do our values and our story resonate? Just share our coffee with friends & family. We’re not interested in participating in late stage Capitalism. We want to build a community of like minded people with coffee as the medium. Especially today when everything feels divided and connection feels harder to find.