Remembering Anthony Canecchia: A Pioneer and Friend in Brewing

Written by Andy Ingram, Co-Founder of Four Peaks Brewing

I’m heartbroken about the news of Anthony’s passing. Anthony meant a great deal to me. He was brewhouse employee #2 at Four Peaks, only behind me.?

I will always remember the first time I met Anthony. It was very early on, and I was getting crushed by the workload in the brewery. I needed help and reached out to a friend who owned a local homebrew shop asking if he knew any eager people who might want a job in a new brewery. He did indeed and sent Anthony to the brewery the next day. He was quite a sight - skinny as a rail, long, scraggly black hair that landed somewhere above his butt, leather boots, torn jeans, and a very confident smile. It was a working interview, which meant I worked while I interviewed him, and after about 45 minutes of struggling at some task I said, “The job’s yours, starting tomorrow… But you have to cut that hair”. A legitimate safety concern, but also a test to see how much he wanted the job.?

“What time?”, he asked. “I don’t care when you cut your hair”, I said. “But we start at 5am.”?

The second time I saw Anthony was the next morning at 4:58am with a shaved head and that same smile. When you work together so closely with someone on a difficult, seemingly never-ending task, you bond with that person. I grew to see Anthony as a brother, of sorts. And sometimes (if you knew Anthony…) as the brother that I wish I never had... Anthony was a constant fixture in the brewery during those years and we owe a lot of the early success we had to him.?

After his time at Four Peaks ended and especially during his rise at San Tan, people had the impression that we were somehow enemies. Nothing could be further from the truth. Of course, we were both competitive brewers in the same market but we never lost that professional respect nor that feeling of camaraderie we had for almost 30 years. There was always time for a beer at a festival, a hug during Beer Week, some nice words during a visit to his pub.

Sometimes we’d miss each other at events and I always thought, well, I’ll catch him next time… But I won’t now, and that hurts. I hope Anthony knew the respect everyone at Four Peaks had, and has, for him. I’d like to think after so long that he did. So, out of this sad moment, maybe it’s a great reminder to tell those in our lives who might not know how much we care, that we do. Godspeed, Friend. You’ll be missed.

Andy Ingram