Got to meet Glenn Bracket at Sweetgrass

We were heading back home yesterday after a week in Yellowstone and had the chance to drop in on Sweetgrass Rod Co in Twin Bridges, MT. I had no idea what to expect. Was there a public shop? Would it be open? Who would be there? I told my wife before we went in that if we were very, very lucky maybe Glenn Bracket himself would be around. When we arrived the shop said "open" so we went in. A nice older woman said "sure, we'd love to show you around...my husband is right in back...GLENN, COULD YOU GIVE THESE FOLKS A TOUR?" Glenn? Himself? Glenn came out, we had short introductions and then over the next 1-1/2 hours Glenn showed us the entire shop, his tooling, the bamboo, rods in every stage of production and talked bamboo rod making with the enthusiasm that only a legend like him would have. He even showed us pictures with him and other cool folks like Russell Chatham. Toward the end after getting the tour and casting some awesome rods I realized we hadn't seen how they apply their varnish which is a very interesting step to me. So I asked to see his varnishing room and he took us right in. Rods were hanging all around us and there were three dip tubes in the center of the small room with pulling lines coming down from ceiling hooks attached to small, slow motors. Essentially the same as my home-made setup in my garage. He even wraps the tubes in electric blankets to warm the varnish, just like mine too. I was amazed by the visit and his friendliness and easy willingness to spend so much time with us. It was a great experience. If you ever want to purchase a Sweetgrass rod know that the guys who build them are not only some of the best in the world, they are also about as nice and cool as they come.