Here is the assignment from Ding’s Beer Blog, “So, where do you see yourself? Are you simply a cog in the commercial machine if you work for a brewery, store or distributor? Are you nothing more than an interested consumer? Are you JUST a consumer? Are you a beer evangelist? Are you a wannabe, beer ‘professional’? Are you a beer writer? All of the above? Some of the above? None of the above? Where do you fit, and how do you see your own role in the beer landscape?”
If the game is to put a person into a box (a very American thing to do, and one I loathe) then technically, I am a craft beer blogger/writer.
That being said, I think that description is a bit of a moving target. When I first entered the Los Angeles beer scene, I knew no one and knew beer even less. I would not want to re-examine those first posts. Scary stuff finding your voice.
Now, I (certainly) hope that my writing is snappier and that I play to my strengths more because I now know more beer people and know more about beer. Though don’t ask me to blind taste test, I fail those miserably.
What I am trying to get to in a roundabout way is that you can be a beer blogger but that isn’t enough information. The stereotype box is too big. Yes, I am a white male of a certain age but I also promote more now than I did before. You can call it cheerleading if you want and I won’t deny it or run away from the name. I also write about Los Angeles beer more now.
So, to be more specific, I blog about craft beer from a male perspective with a focus on Los Angeles. But I am also a native Oregonian so you will see plenty of PDX talk on my blog. So even an expanded definition will ultimately miss something.
Plus it doesn’t take into account that I can be opinionated. So am I more op-ed than promoter? Some days, yes.
So I may be on the guest list marked as media but I am also a consumer, a salesman and when I am feeling grandiose, an influencer. And that is the key to craft beer people. They aren’t just one ticked off box. They are brewer/educators. Delivery/home brewers. Breweries/pubs.
Don’t try to pin us down.