Such devotion has made something of a celebrity of John Laffler, one of Goose's "innovation brewers" behind those barrel-aged delicacies. He is often the company's public face at events and tappings, like one last Friday, where he stood in front of 60 people at a time (who had paid $75 each to be there), talking them through a tasting of several of the rarest beers he has worked on.