When you think of beer brewing, you might not consider that there are actually a lot of similarities to purchasing horses. This is especially true regarding precise specifications and attention to detail.
Just as Hercegovacka Pivovara’s brewmaster takes care to ensure that each ingredient is the right quality and amount, so too should people be careful to make sure that each part of their purchase agreement for a horse has just the right specifications for a successful purchase. Otherwise, just as improper amounts of hops can ruin a beer, if not properly worded a horse purchase contract can lead to issues down the line.
Beer brewing and contracting have similar antecedents. Beer has been around since the Mesopotamian era, thousands of years before written contracts developed. However, those first contracts were used to ensure accuracy in business transactions among the same peoples who brewed beer.
It’s very common for the same person to prepare beer and contracts. In many cases, such as with Hercegovacka Pivovara, the same person does both. What this means is that the same care that goes into ensuring that all ingredients are used correctly on a regular basis goes into making sure that all parties involved have similar expectations in a contract. In much the same way that it’s common for beer recipes to require specific ingredients to be added in precise amounts after certain time periods have elapsed, and with numerous other specifications, it’s important in a contract that everything is clearly stated.
Just like a detailed schedule is important in beer brewing, so too is it for contracting. As beer is brewed over a period of days, extending to a month or more, so too is a contract negotiated over weeks or longer. Just as watching a beer brew allows the brewer to catch problems before they cause issues, negotiating a contract also allows each party to catch mistakes before they become real problems.
It’s naive to think that a beer is only tasted once before it’s ready. It’s tasted numerous times while it’s being made, just as a contract is reviewed many times before it is signed. Just as a brewer must regularly taste their product to ensure it meets specifications, so too must a buyer of horses read through all terms of the purchase contract multiple times to ensure that all details are correct.
An established beer brewing process, just like an established process of reviewing a contract, involves regular quality control. Each of these processes requires people to regularly review things to make sure that mistakes are caught and corrected. Just as a brewer must adhere to a set way of brewing beer, so too must a buyer adhere to a set way of purchasing a horse by using a horse purchase contract.
A recipe for making a great beer requires consistency. It’s the same in contracting. Just as a recipe requires that the same amount of hops and barley be added to a beer with every batch, so too must each party to a contract be consistent in all aspects of the deal. Otherwise, bad things can happen.
Just as a beer must adhere to international standards on various levels, so too must a contract be legally compliant on various levels and in various countries and jurisdictions throughout the world. Just as a beer must be brewed in a certain way to be sold in certain countries, so too must a contract adhere to certain laws and regulations.
Just as each element of a beer must be stated clearly on the label, so to must a contract be clearly worded. Everything from the beer itself to the printing on the label must be clearly stated, just as must a contract.
When we look back at beer and horse contracts, we see that they are complex, but have been refined over many years. Just as a beer recipe has evolved over centuries, refining it to a point that the beer actually tastes good and has the right kick, so too has a horse purchase contract become far more reputable and accessible.