Jim Koch, 66, CEO, Boston Beer Co.
What kind of exercise do you do?
In summertime I’m in Dartmouth a lot, on my bike or in my kayak. Biking, you can go 50, 70 miles without being on a busy road. Kayaking, I’ll paddle into wetlands and marshes where you literally do not see anything made by human activity. Mostly osprey, egrets, herons, piping plovers, deer, and wild turkeys. It’s kind of another world.
What else?
Once a year my daughter and I climb Mt. Washington. In winter, I exercise indoors and cross-country ski. I’ve had multiple knee surgeries since 1974, so I try to keep up with physical therapy. My doctor said I’d be [using] a cane in my 50s. “No, I will not,” I said. Since then, I’ve run marathons, climbed big mountains. I’m fine.
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Did you play sports as a kid?
No. I grew up on a family farm in southern Ohio. You worked. However, I was an Outward Bound instructor 40-some years ago, at multiple schools. We did everything from high-altitude backpacking and mountaineering to desert travel, snow travel, whitewater rafting, and flat-water canoeing.
When do you normally exercise?
First thing in the morning. Bike, elliptical, erg, rowing machine. Working out, I’ll listen to Great Courses lectures, which are wonderful tools for learning and growing. Plus it’s hard to read a book while you’re oxygen-deprived.
Have to ask. Is regular exercise doubly important for someone who drinks as much beer as you do?
[laughs] My solution is, eat less food. My dad was a brewmaster, and he never had a beer belly. He used to tell people, “Well, there’s food in the beer, but there’s no beer in the food. So stay away from the food.” It worked for him. Me, too.
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JOSEPH P. KAHN