Meet the Western Craft Sales Manager:

Jesse Clark, A Brewer’s Partner

 

By: Living a Stout Life

 

About Malteurop Malting Company (MMC)

We are a collective of craftsmen devoted to making exceptional malt. We are innovators, designers, scientists, farmers, brewers and artists. We are your link from farm to beer, and we want you to know us as a vital part of the craft beer community.

 

Our business is craft. Our craft is malt. Our malt is your business.

 

Meet Jesse Clark

Jesse Clark is officially MMC’s Western Region Craft Sales Manager, working with breweries in Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Alaska, and Hawaii. And while that title is true, he sees himself as more of a brewery partner, working with each brewer to give them what they need.

 

“I realized pretty quickly that I was much better with management and sales, and I really liked the interaction and problem solving. I see the relationships as a true partnership.”

 

What is your educational background?

Jesse, like many young adults, wasn’t quite sure what he was heading off to college for. Knowing only that he wanted to experience life away from his parents and have a good time, he had aspirations of being an athlete. But a couple weeks into college football, he recognized that football wasn’t his passion and developmental psychology was more to his liking. His classes transitioned into psychology and science courses.

 

Realizing this still wasn’t quite right and not knowing what he was going to do with his degree, an old dream of opening a restaurant near his hometown of Sarnac Lake, NY kept resurfacing. Working his way through high school and college in the restaurant business, he loved cooking just as much as trying to understand why he loved cooking. 

 

After college, Jesse moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, where he worked in human services with adults with disabilities. Never losing his love for the restaurant industry, he jumped on an opportunity when a friend offered him a chance to assist with packaging at a nearby brewery. From there, his career began its transition into the world of beer. It all fit together.

 

“When I got into beer I realized these brewers are the chefs of the brewery and this is rad. I wanted to understand why they were using the ingredients they were using. Why does that temperature matter as far as flavor profiles? Why do all of these matter? There’s a lot of science behind it that I thought was pretty cool.”

 

How did you decide to be a sales representative for a malting company?

That nearby brewery was Big Boss Brewing Company. After going through several transitions with new owners, Jesse was invited to help run the brewery on a part time basis. This quickly turned into a full time position.  Liking where craft beer was heading, Jesse resigned in 2007 from his human services position and ran the day to day operations of Big Boss Brewing Company for the next ten years.

 

Always seeking knowledge, but wanting to stay in craft beer, Jesse moved from the brewery world to the malting world. This ultimately landed him at his current position with MMC.

 

“That was my start in the beer industry. I wasn’t a trained brewer. I learned a lot. I brewed a bit, but I realized quickly that the way I could help our brewery grow was in the management sales role.”

 

What are some of your career accomplishments?

While working at Big Boss, Jesse and an associate developed a private tour program, giving participants an in depth and interactive experience.  From there, he began developing ideas for larger events alongside the marketing person, such as Casktoberfest, a local beer festival that encouraged brewers to be creative utilizing casks. They were also the first place in Raleigh to allow food trucks sparking a food truck expansion to other breweries and businesses in the region.

 

Jesse is now excited to create programs and events within the malting industry. “I am excited about the process of rising up through the malting industry and getting quality products to our brewers and collaborating with everyone in the industry to keep people excited about the products and the industry.”

 

How do you work with the brewers to give them what they need?

Jesse has been on the other end of the supply chain for ten years. He understands the trials and tribulations that brewers go through. Whether just starting up or running the day to day operations, brewers lean on each other. From that, and working with representatives and vendors in the industry, he quickly learned what is helpful and what is not. Now, he transitions that into knowing what brewers need from him as a sales representative.

 

“I don’t see people as my customers, I see them as my partners, and I’m here to consult anyway I possibly can, outside of malt, too. If I have something to share, I’ll share it. That’s where my passion comes from in this industry. It’s not sales numbers or getting a contract. Those are great, but really to help as many brewers and distillers as I can, that’s my goal. I really truly want to help our customers and prospective customers succeed even if I don’t get to sell to them. They are what drives us. Without them there is no us and vice versa.”

 

Where do you see the future of malting heading?

Now more than ever, brewers need to pivot and be creative, along with the malt industry. In the past decade, Jesse hasn’t seen a lot of innovation when it comes to malts, but there’s more of that currently, especially at MMC.

 

He’s excited to talk with brewers about the new products coming out of MMC, with many of them being created for specific styles of beer.  Different varietals, flavor profiles, small batch malts.  A lot of the malting industry is going to be innovation focused.

 

“MMC sees further down the road for our brewers because our brewers have to see further down the road, too.”

 

What’s your favorite style of beer and why?

West coast IPAs are Jesse’s favorites, and he jokes that he needs to explain that answer. “I don’t want to be cliché or cheesy but I don’t like west coast IPAs because I live here, I liked them on the east coast, too.”

 

He wasn’t always an IPA fan, but at the time he was exploring them more, he was also testing the waters on bourbons. “They give you a similar mouthfeel and profile because they open up your palate, and I wasn’t used to that. Now that I live out here in hop mecca where everybody produces good IPAs, it may be cliché to like IPAs, but it’s true.”

 

What beer is currently in your fridge?

Jesse also loves a good helles lager. “There’s not much better to me on a hot day than a super crisp, clean helles.”

 

One could easily guess that when opening up Jesse’s fridge, you’ll find a few helles lagers standing proudly next to those west coast IPAs.

 

If you were a beer, what beer would you be and why?

To many, working at a brewery is a glamorous job. You get to drink beer and have conversations about beer all day long.  What’s hard about that? In reality, though, it’s a hard job. Brewers are cleaning, canning, and brewing. They’re getting dirty, sweaty, and hot.  It can be quite laborious more times than not. Knowing this, Jesse’s answer makes a lot of sense.

 

“Definitely an IPA. Working at a brewery, you need a bit of a backbone, and the west coast IPAs have a bit of a backbone, but also there’s a bit of a bite to IPAs which I think you also have to have, a bite. Because you have to stand your ground and stay true to you. Sometimes you need that edge.”

 

There are people behind the product, not just the product. So what three words or phrases define you, Jesse?

It took Jesse no time at all to come up with this answer.  Family, outdoors and drive are three words that help define who he is. He loves family time with his wife, his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, and his dog. And as an avid hiker, backpacker, canoer, and kayaker, spending time outdoors is one of his passions outside of the brewing industry.  And then drive combines both his personal and work life. “Drive to do the best you can for the people that you’re serving.”

 

And in the end, that is Jesse. A person with drive to do the best he can for the people he serves. A family man, outdoor enthusiast, and craft beer aficionado. A partner.

 

 

Cheers. To the farmers. The maltsters. The brewers. The Innovators.