Ladies of Craft Beer

Posted By: Theresa Carpine

One of my favorite breweries, Deschutes Brewery, is making all my dreams come true next week. I exaggerate, but I am very excited about a variety of Deschutes events taking place in my hometown and its surrounding environs between February 28 and March 3, 2012. I love that we get them for an extra day; thanks, Leap Year!

Spokane, Washington and several nearby cities in north Idaho are the first stop of Deschutes’ 2012 “Base Camp” series, a ten city tour that brings “specialty beer tastings, beer and food pairings and a celebration of craft beer goodness” to locations around the brewery’s distribution territory.

Woody, via Deschutes Flickr

I’m especially excited for the event on Tuesday, February 28th at Soulful Soups and Spirits to Celebrate Women and Craft Beer at a beer pairing dinner with Deschutes employees Angela and Gina. Beer cocktails, beer cheese soup, and a chocolate dessert with some beer loving ladies? Yes, please!

Another must for Deschutes Base Camp? Getting my picture taken with Woody, a giant traveling beer barrel and mobile tavern. Woody will be parked outside The Blue Spark on Wednesday, February 29th for Trivia Night, so don’t miss this opportunity to best Deschutes employees with your beer knowledge for swag and prizes.

Visit Deschutes Brewery Events to find all the great opportunities to drink Deschutes beer at Base Camp in the Inland Northwest and beyond.

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Posted By: Theresa Carpine

My sister Lisa suggested that we get together with our mom to bake and decorate Christmas cookies this weekend. Her timing couldn’t have been better, as I had recently received a delivery from South Durham Confection Company with samples of their cookies to pair with craft beer. So while we waited for our own sugar cookies to cool, we enjoyed baked treats from North Carolina with a variety of craft beers from across the nation.

South Durham Confection Company is a new venture of Alison Collins and Jimmy VerVaecke that combines their love of food and craft beer. Alison is a lifelong cook and began pursuing the culinary arts full-time in 2009. Jimmy describes himself as “an IT cubicle drone by day,” as well as an award-winning homebrewer and ranked BJCP beer judge.

“Together we seek to create savory snacks to pair with our favorite craft beers,” Jimmy explained in an email. “We’re starting our journey with a line of cookies infused with a variety of herbs, spices, fruit, and nuts. We wanted to get away from the traditional styles, like chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and peanut butter.

“Not only do savory cookies make a tasty snack, we believe that this is an excellent way to introduce people to many of the flavors they would find in craft beer,” Jimmy added, noting that a freshly baked cookie served with beer is a friendly option for an unadventurous beer drinker.

Four types of cookie–Blue Cheese and Rosemary, Madras and Chili Powder, Cornmeal and Thyme, and Toasted Sesame–are currently listed on SDCC’s website, but it’s the just the beginning. Alison and Jimmy have plans to develop seasonal and collaboration cookies using ingredients that are fresh, local, or “just plain interesting.”

“Much like great beer, our cookies start with just a few basic ingredients. We can alter the ratios – as a brewer might with malt and hops – and the process to create several basic types of cookie,” Jimmy said. In keeping with the spirit of homebrewing, SDCC cookies are handmade in a kitchen, not a factory, and do not contain preservatives. That also means you should eat them soon, which isn’t a difficult task.

For the pairing, Alison and Jimmy sent two batches of cookies. Toasted Sesame is described as “the classic peanut butter cookie–minus the peanut butter,” with sesame seeds, tahini, and sesame oil giving these buttery cookies their nutty character. Blue Cheese and Rosemary infuses a classic shortbread cookie with tangy blue cheese, tart dried cranberries, and piney rosemary leaves.

At the pairing party, which my brother-in-law John also attended, I took the suggested pairings for the cookies into consideration and looked for nationally-available beers while paying tribute to SDCC’s home in North Carolina and my roots in the Northwest. I managed to get some great deals on a wide selection of craft beer at Rosauers Supermarket, a Northwest grocery chain, and Bottles, my local beer and wine shop.

We started with Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale (Bend, Oregon), a Gold Medal winner at 2010 Great American Beer Festival. Mirror Pond is a reliable beer that goes well with almost any kind of food, but John found that Toasted Sesame was a bit too sweet with this dry-hopped pale ale. We all agreed that the elements of Blue Cheese and Rosemary cookies, like tartness of the dried cranberries, suited its pairing with Mirror Pond.

Next in the line-up, we tried Flying Dog Dogtoberfest (Frederick, Maryland). I was very excited to find this style of beer (a suggested pairing for Toasted Sesame) in mid-December, as most märzens are fall seasonals. Following the Mirror Pond, Dogtoberfest offered a more balanced flavor of malt and hops, which went well with both types of cookies. My mother Joyce noted that Dogtoberfest really brought out the peanut flavor of Toasted Sesame.

We moved on to Victory HopDevil (Downingtown, Pennsylvania) and, although the piney, resiny hops of an India Pale Ale were suggested to highlight the herbal character of the Blue Cheese and Rosemary cookie, I was leery to serve it since none of my pairing partners are big fans of IPAs. Lisa didn’t really like either cookie with the HopDevil, but she surprised me by saying that the IPA was good on its own! Jimmy was right; serve beer with a cookie and your guests might enjoy a beer they wouldn’t have tried otherwise.

Our next beer was Abita Turbodog (Abita Springs, Louisiana), which was another exciting discovery at my local bottle shop. I asked the proprietor if he carried any Southeastern beers, as I wanted to serve at least one beer that might be more readily available for the Durham, NC market that SDCC serves, and he pointed me toward Turbodog. The nutty characteristics of this Brown Ale were well-matched for the Toasted Sesame. John also suggested trying this beer with a plain serving of blue cheese, rather than the shortbread cookie itself.

For our last beer, I wanted to serve something from Washington, so we enjoyed a 22 oz. of Pike XXXXX Stout (Seattle, Washington). I noted a smoky, bacon-like aroma right off the bat, and I wasn’t sure how well those flavors would suit either cookie. Lisa and John liked this dark extra stout with Toasted Sesame, and my mom thought the pairing mimicked chocolate and peanut butter, which are two flavors that always go well together. I, on the other hand, thought that richness of the stout brought out the creaminess of the blue cheese in the shortbread cookies.

After all was said and done (or drunk), our very unscientific findings (my notes towards the end of the tasting became slightly incoherent) were as follows:

- Lisa thought Toasted Sesame matched up better overall to the various styles of beer.

- Joyce thought the presentation of Blue Cheese and Rosemary was the prettiest, and perfect for the Christmas season too.

- If he was going to enjoy a cookie on its own, John would choose Toasted Sesame.

- John’s favorite pairings were Turbodog with Toasted Sesame and HopDevil with Blue Cheese and Rosemary.

- Favorite beers of the night: Lisa and I liked Dogtoberfest, John liked Turbodog, and Joyce liked Mirror Pond.

Visit South Durham Confection Company for more information and follow @durhamcookies for updates. Cheers!

Related Posts:

• Deschutes Brewery Inland Northwest Base Camp
• A Schooner is Not a Girl Glass
• Washington Beer Blog – A Gathering of the Ladies of Craft Beer, Seattle
• Cookies and Beer Pairing and Exchange Party
• Deschutes Brewery Rolls Into Seattle

Originally posted 2010-12-15 09:05:05.

Posted By: Theresa Carpine

I had a lot of time over my winter break to think about things that usually take a back seat to research papers and work schedules. How beer is organized on a menu was one of those things.

Manito Tap House Sampler

A new gastropub opened up in Spokane recently, hosting 50 tap handles. Manito Tap House has a four page beer menu organized by style; a description of each beer, location of the brewery, ABV, and price are also included. They even include which beers are “coming soon,” although it’s a bit of a tease. Just a few blocks away, Waddell’s Pub and Grill has 35 tap handles and a beer menu printed on a quarter sheet of paper with the beer and brewery name alone (IPAs are separated from other beers, but that’s the only style that’s distinguished).

Two establishments that offer a lot of beers, but two very different beer menus.

I posted a poll last week to take the pulse from other beer fans. Big thanks to everyone who took the time to vote or comment! With 77.59% of the vote, responders like beer menus organized by style best. Coming in second at 10.34% are menus organized by brewery.

Brews on Washington Beer Menu

Several commenters on Facebook noted that they also like to see beer menus delineate between draft beers and bottled beers. I thought this was standard practice, but perhaps that’s not the case. On Twitter, a few people noted that they consider characteristics like “hoppy to malty” more revealing than organization by color. I forgot to include IBUs on my poll, and that’s also a useful bit of information for beer drinkers. Knowing where a brewery is located was another factor for folks who like to support local businesses.

The two pieces of information that should be included with each beer are the brewery’s name and style, especially if a beer’s name doesn’t reveal the style right away; only a hardcore beer fan might know right away that Deschutes Brewery The Stoic is a Belgian-style Quad…or even what a “quad” means in terms of beer.

If you have the time and resources to provide as much information as possible about your beers on a menu, that’s my recommendation to serious beer bars. If your menu isn’t as informative, make sure your staff can answer questions about different styles and breweries.

What’s your preference for a beer menu layout at your favorite beer bar? Leave a comment to let us know!

Related Posts:

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• How Do You Want Your Beer Organized on a Menu?
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Posted By: Stevie Caldarola

From a press release from Deschutes Brewery:

Pushing Forward with Passion: Deschutes Brewery Names Two New Brewmasters

Two brewers who have been critical in the success of the Bend, Oregon brewery step into new, expanded roles

27 October 2011 – Bend, Oregon –Deschutes Brewery has promoted Cam O’Connor and Brian Faivre to two newly formed brewmaster positions. The two, who have been instrumental in the development of such game-changing brews as Hop in the Dark, Red Chair NWPA, Gluten Free Ale, the soon to be released Chainbreaker White IPA, and others, were chosen for their abilities to both innovate and lead.
“Pushing boundaries and experimenting with new beers is what defines us as a company,” said Gary Fish, president and founder of Deschutes Brewery. “Brian andCam have been instrumental in creating many of the new beers that have been brought to our fans over the last few years. The fact that we were able to promote from within the brewing department is a testament to the strong team of brewers we have here at Deschutes, and we are looking forward to seeing their creativity continue in their expanded roles as brewmasters.”

Cam (pictured right in the brewhouse) was the first brewer at the Portland pub when it opened in 2009, has been responsible for crafting many of the exclusive experimental beers served there. He has also worked on labors of love like Hop in the Dark, which wasn’t released formally until it had gone through 22 rounds of tinkering. He joined the company in 2004 after spending a couple of years with Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. Cam holds a bachelor of arts in biology with a minor in chemistry, and has completed the University of California Davis Master Brewer Program.

Brian (pictured right with hop bales) has been with Deschutes Brewery for five years and worked in various roles in the brewing department, most recently as assistant brewmaster for production technology. With a background in computer science and software development, Brian brings this precision to the brewhouse – optimizing recipes and developing operating procedures. He holds a bachelor of science in computer science and has also completed the University of California Davis Master Brewer Program.

Both Brian and Cam have played critical roles for the past several years in the ongoing success and growth of Deschutes Brewery. In their new roles as brewmasters, they will continue to help guide the development of the company’s future.

~~~~~

For more information, visit Deschutes Brewery’s website, Facebook or Twitter.

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Posted By: MThrasher

Summer may be drawing to a close but the fun is certainly not over for the craft beer lovers in Seattle. Fremont Oktoberfest is next weekend and Deschutes Brewery is starting it off right by kicking off the party with a keg load of amazing activities quite literally with its “giant traveling beer barrel” Woody, a party on wheels which is a mobile bar rolling in their delicious beer complete with music and disco ball for the dancing!  In my mind, I’m already there.

Woody and Erik Frank in Seattle - 2010

As I sit and sip a fabulously rich and tasty Inversion IPA, I’m pondering the great list of events that Deschutes is going to be at in the next ten days with their great finale at the Fremont Oktoberfest.  Events start on Friday, September 16, with the Base Camp Kick Off Party at Malt & Vine featuring the famous Woody who will then be traveling up to Lake Sammamish for the StarCrossed Cyclocross Race.  The team at Deschutes admittedly love cycling (they host races at their HQ!) and they’ll be on hand Sunday too for the Rapha-Focus Gran Prix Cyclocross Race to quench all the crazy cyclists and fans at the races.  Personally I love to take a nice bike ride and will leave the insane downhill stuff for the hardcore athletes.  The last sport I participated in was a bowling match with my 9-year-old son.  Apparently they read my mind because their next event on Monday they’ll be at Garage Billiards “Bowling to Bend” and bringing a taste of Oregon to Capitol Hill.

Talk about non-stop party, I’m not even halfway through the events.  It’s a two-for Tuesday with an End of Summer Shindig at Super Deli Mart on 35th Avenue with another visit by Woody and then a little action at Rendezvous for some Burlesque & Brews with the Atomic Bombshells and an intimate tasting before the show with a special Reserve Series Deschutes Brew.  Woody will be back on the street Wednesday at the Brave Horse Tavern for some BBQ and games in South Lake Union from 3-7 p.m. and then Nectar Lounge is going to be featuring Deschutes craft brews along with live music.

"Thanks, Seattle!" Postcard

These people must have fallen off the promotions team and into a keg of their own brew when they planned a whirlwind tour and events at three establishments on Thursday.  There’s the Jubelale 2011 Sneak Peek & Art Tour at Pete’s Wine Shop, a Small Plate Social at The Deluxe Bar & Grill and finally closing out the night with Deschutes & Honky Tonk at Sweet Lou’s.

So many temptations, so little time… but I certainly plan to make my way to one of them.  All of the complete event details can be found at Deschutes Brewery Events.  It’s great to see a local favorite grow into such a fantastic collection of craft beers and I for one am excited to taste what new tastes are in store for us to enjoy.  Black Butte Porter and Inversion IPA are my current favorites but I have been pleased by their famous Mirror Pond Pale Ale in the past.  They have so many great beers, you’re sure to find one you enjoy or two or three.  I’ll happily taste my way to a new favorite!

End the summer right and join Deschutes in “pitching a tent” with their Base Camp campaign and come visit Woody throughout Seattle and follow me to the Fremont Oktoberfest next weekend to wrap it all up – under the disco ball.

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Posted By: Theresa Carpine

At The Hop Shop recently, I overheard a brief exchange between two patrons, one male and one female. The male patron commended his friend on her choice of beverage—I believe it was a Lost Coast Tangerine Wheat (which I also recommend)—but he followed up his observation with “But you’re drinking out of a girl glass.”

Schooner of Deschutes Black Butte Porter

She was drinking from a schooner. Or, at least, it’s what I call a schooner. In different parts of the world, a schooner might be a goblet or a tall glass. But in Washington (state), a schooner is generally understood to be a 10-12 oz. beer glass with a wider mouth than base. Or some kind of boat, I guess, but that’s the extent of my sailing knowledge.

I’m assuming that he called it a girl glass because it’s smaller than the 16 oz. served in an American pint glass, the most common vessel for beer in the United States. Did he think she ordered a smaller size because she was worried about calories or bloating? I expect that kind of talk from big beer companies, but this was a craft beer bar! It’s a pretty narrow-minded perspective, especially when I saw a different man at the bar drinking out of a schooner during my visit.

There are several reasons why a beer might be served in glassware besides an American pint glass and none of them have anything to do with gender.

Beer Advocate provides a through explanation about why different types of glasses should be used for different styles of beer. A tulip or pilsner glass might hold less beer than a manly 16 oz. pint, but the glass is intended to enhance the aroma, head retention, and taste of the beer.

The friendly bartenders at Jones Radiator also reminded me that they receive limited quantities of certain beers, like Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron, so they portion it out by only selling schooners. Otherwise they’d 1) run out before many of their customers could get a taste, and 2) have to charge an arm and a leg for a pint.

And speaking of quantity, I think it’s important to remember that craft beer emphasizes quality. It’s not how much you drink; it’s how much you enjoy it! I’d much rather have 10 oz. of a finely-crafted beer in a schooner than a tankard of a cheap macrobeer.

As a woman who loves craft beer, I should not drink as much as my male counterparts (or anyone who happens to be twice my body weight) for various health and safety reasons, so I’ll continue to be a responsible beer drinker by ordering schooners from time to time. Just don’t call it a girl glass; statements like that say more about you than me.

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Posted By: Theresa Carpine

Join Ladies of Lagers and Ales (LOLA) at Saraveza (1004 N Killingsworth St.) in Portland on Saturday, July 23, 2011 from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. for a celebration of the many female brewers of Oregon.

All beers on tap have been brewed by female brewers. The scheduled beer list is as follows:

Deschutes Brewery – NW Supercritical (Bend, OR exclusive “steam beer”)
Oakshire Brewing – Red Hot Rye Chili Beer (Red Chili infused Line Dry Rye)
Bend Brewing – HopHead
Natian Brewery – Meooow Blonde Ale (Guava infused Blonde ale made with champagne yeast)
Lucky Labrador Brewing – Hellesaurus Rex
Hopworks Urban Brewery – Saison du Soleil
Heater Allen Brewing – Coastal Common
LOLA/Lucky Lab Collaboration – Kolsch
Breakside Brewery Collaboration – Beerscht (Beet Beer)

At 7 p.m., two special beers brewed by LOLA–a Hibiscus IPA, brewed at Coalition Brewing, and a Urthel Saison–will be tapped. The lady brewers will be on hand to discuss their brewing roots and beers. Expect beer gear raffles, and enjoy a delicious Saraveza menu of handmade pasties, famous deviled eggs, and Sugar Pimp cupcakes too.

LOLA is a social drinking group for ladies that love craft beer in the Portland area that occasionally gathers to brew beers, take brewery tours, and run for beer. For more information, follow @LOLABeer or email LadiesofLagersandAles@gmail.com.

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Posted By: Theresa Carpine

In one week, I will be on my way to Portland, Oregon to attend my first Oregon Brewers Festival. Sounds like it will be an understated affair…just me, 84 breweries, over 2,000 volunteers, and 78,000 thirsty women and men hanging out in Tom McCall Waterfront Park from July 28 to 31, 2011.

Oregon Brewers Festival - Photo by HMS Photographic

Celebrating its 24th year, OBF is one of the nation’s longest running craft beer festivals. In 1988, Art Larrance of Portland Brewing Company, Kurt Widmer of Widmer Brothers Brewing, and Nancy Ponzi of BridgePort Brewing founded the festival, hoping to capture the atmosphere that Art had encountered at Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany.

From the beginning, OBF has been a celebration of solidarity among craft brewers as festival attendees sample a variety of beers. While many participating breweries this year can be found in states that touch the Pacific Ocean, several breweries are making the trek across the country to share their beer with the discriminating tastes of Portlanders and beer travelers.

Eighty-six beers are available for tasting this year, along with 50 specialty beers in the Buzz Tent (follow @OBFBuzzTent for festival updates of what’s on tap). Along with one brew from each participating brewery, Deschutes Brewery is serving a gluten-free version of their NWPA and a joint project of Widmer Brothers and homebrew club Oregon Brew Crew, Collaborator, is also on the docket.

Oregon Brewers Festival - Photo by Timothy Horn

Oregon Brewers Festival - Photo by Timothy Horn

Festival goers will also enjoy live music, beer-related vendors, beer memorabilia displays, homebrewing demonstrations, and an assortment of foods, as well as chance to meet beer writers and publishers. Crater Lake Soda Root Beer Garden offers complimentary handcrafted root beer for minors (accompanied by a parent) and designated drivers.

Admission into the festival grounds is free. Purchase of a 2011 souvenir mug ($6) is required in order to consume beer. Mugs from previous years will not be filled. Beer is purchased with wooden tokens ($1 each). A full mug of beer costs four tokens; a taste costs one token.

Visit Oregon Brewers Festival for details and follow @oregonbrewfest for updates.

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Posted By: Theresa Carpine

One of my favorite go-to breweries is Deschutes Brewery, the sixth largest craft brewery in the nation.

Current Mirror Pond Pale Ale

I’m always excited to try one of their special edition offerings, like the 23rd Birthday Reserve Series Black Butte XXIII and the hoperrific Hop Henge Experimental IPA. I’m never disappointed when I pick up a six-pack of Mirror Pond Pale Ale and I’m always eager to share this award-winning beer with friends.

As Deschutes continues its distribution eastward (currently available in 17 states), the Bend, Oregon brewery is releasing new packaging and label designs for four of its year-round brands.

The new design, maintaining the brewery’s signature oval shape and original artwork, features a smaller border and displays the beer name and style in a banner across the oval for increased readability.

The redesign was tested last year on Deschutes seasonal beers Twilight Summer Ale and Red Chair Northwest Pale Ale with positive feedback and an early sell-out of both brands.

New Mirror Pond Pale Ale Label

“This project is really an evolution of our existing labels,” said Mark Hegedus, director of sales and marketing at Deschutes. “It retains brand recognition, while also positioning our products better at the retail level. We were pleased with the response to our test labeling and packaging last year, which is why we have extended the redesign to our year-round brands.”

Keep an eye out at your beer shop for the new labels on Mirror Pond, Black Butte Porter, Inversion IPA, and Obsidian Stout. More examples of the new labels can be found at Deschutes Brewery – Packaging on Flickr.

Visit Deschutes Brewery and follow @DeschutesBeer for more information.

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Posted By: Stevie Caldarola

As the president of Ladies of Craft Beer, I get the pleasure of meeting many amazing women who are a part of the craft beer industry. Each woman has great stories and amazing insight into the world of craft beer. This has inspired me to start a “Women in Beer” interview series. Whether brewing, blogging, selling, marketing, or advocating craft beer, women from all over the industry will answer the following ten questions to share with your their thoughts and experiences with craft beer. I hope that these little glimpses into the minds of these great women will inspire you.

Cheers!

Veronica Vega is a brewer at Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon.

1. What was your first beer experience?

My parents drinking Tecate and occasionally at that. My mom always felt the need to declare a healthy reason as to why she was enjoying one: “This will perk up my appetite.” or “One beer during a meal is very good for digestion.” I wasn’t introduced to craft beer until I went to college in Northern Ca. On road trip I took to Big Sur, I bought myself a six pack of Sierra Nevade Porter. It was me, my dog,and my pickup truck,a stick of salami,box of crackers and that six pack. I had found heaven.

2. What or who inspired you to start brewing?

After moving around for biological fieldwork, I discovered Bend OR and wanted to stay forever. I got my foot in the door with a position in tasting room at Deschutes Brewery and I fell in love with the company and the industry. I thought I wanted to get a job working in the lab. A cellaring postition came up the same day I read a “Oregon Women in Brewing” article in Beer Northwest. With that whisper of inspiration, I became completely convinced that all of the goals I had and the success I wanted in my career could be accomplished in brewing. I knew it was the breakthrough I was waiting for.

3. What is your favorite beer to brew and why? What is your favorite beer to drink (yours or others) and why?

A beer I have never made before… Favorite beer? If it’s hoppy, one that’s fresh and cold and follows an adventure. If it’s not, one that stimulates conversation and excites me into thinking that if we are having this much fun over one than two would be better.

4. What is/was your favorite beer event to attend, and why?

Not really a beer event but I love attending our District Master Brewers Association Meetings. It’s the only place you’ll see people in a convention room listening to technical talks at 9 am with beer on the tables. The breadth of experience and wisdom some of these people have is inspiring. It also gives us an opportunity to talk for hours and hours and hours and hours about our craft without feeling like we are annoying our spouses or friends.

5. Have you taken any tasting and/or brewing courses? What are your thoughts on such courses?

I am a member of the sensory panel and as such continually train through FlavorActiv. We are involved in many sensory projects such as shelf life studies and flavor match between brewhouses. I consider it a very important part of my job. Through the sensory program I am able to stay in tune with what is going on with all of our brands on a daily-weekly basis. With training I have seen improvement in my recognition of off flavors and my ability to describe other attributes.

As far as brewing courses, I have completed 1 of 3 Modules for the Diploma in Brewing from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling. Coursework, review sessions and exams are held at UC Davis through their Master Brewers program. I can’t say enough about the importance of education and the empowerment that it provides. I hope this will be just the foundation to a career of constant learning.

6. What advice do you have for anyone interested in getting into brewing (personally or professionally)?

Do you like cleaning? You better. Do you have a positive attitude? That helps too. You gotta be able to roll with the punches. If you are passionate about brewing all you have to do is convince yourself and the right people that it is possible.

7. Do you homebrew? If so, what’s your latest creation?

I encourage other fermentations at home. Pickles, sauerkraut, yoghurt, kombucha, cider etc. I consider myself a consultant to my friends that homebrew. That way I can still be involved with the fun and not have to clean my kitchen on the weekends after cleaning the biggest kitchen ever all week. My husband usually has a beer on tap that he’s made at home. Right now its a fresh hop ale.

8. What has been your hardest challenge in the brewing industry? What has been your greatest success?

Believing 100% that I could do this without ever doing it before. The greatest success was convincing people to take a chance on me. Since then I have had uncountable micro-successes. The best thing about success in brewing is that it’s shared.

9. Tell us your most fun beer story.

That would have to be over a beer. Otherwise, all I can think of are mistakes that I have made that as memories are now funny. At the time, not so much.

10. What is your take on the craft beer industry? What is your favorite thing about it? What could stand improvement?

This is an exciting time to be a part of craft beer. There is growth everywhere, healthy competition, collaboration and innovation. Our consumers are hungry (or thirsty?) for knowledge, new takes on styles, and they want to talk about it. What could be improved is facilitating that conversation. Again, education. Beer can be talked about (or not talked about) in the simplest of ways and can be broken down in the most complicated. How do we share the history, the science, the art, the sociology, the complexity that is beer? How can we share our story and insight as brewer, brewery, beer geek to others outside of the industry. How do we engage our community into wanting to know more?

Have a question? Email me here:[contact-form 6 "Untitled"]

Originally posted 2010-11-11 09:05:24.