Tag: writing

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A Toast to NaNoWriMo

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It is that time of year again, when I take fingers to keyboard and attempt to write a coherent novella under the umbrella of NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month.

I did it, that first year, because my sister and a nephew or two were doing it. But now I find it a taxing but rewarding way to force myself to write. Maybe not any better or any clearer but to set the mind to thinking about stringing words together in new patterns. Not that I would force anyone to read the drivel. Probably wouldn’t make for the basis of a bad screenplay.

It can be hard to blog consistently. Just look at the beer blogs that don’t have any new posts. Not even cut and pasted press releases! Inspiration needs to be found at times and also re-charging needs to be done. Otherwise it can become a chore.

Raise a glass then to all those who are giving it a run and maybe spread a little hashtag #NaNoWriMo love to those who have added another deadline to their lives.

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the ethics of this blog

After winning the Canfest 2011 trip and I reading this article about ethics by Pete Brown, I was reminded that I need to re-iterate the standards of this blog to either re-assure or horrify whoever is kind enough to read it.

1. I do receive the occasional free beer. But ALL beers get reviewed on their taste ALONE. I will endeavor to always note if I have received a beer for free but if I forget or am too hasty on the publish button then note that the default applies.

2. The same goes for any beer event I cover. Due to the kindness of the people in this industry and the fact that I blog for free (at this point), expensive events that are out of my financial reach are sometimes accepted in order to attend and write about them. But they do not get free passes if poorly run.

3. All editorial decisions are mine and mine alone. No one holds sway over anything I write. If there seems to be more positive coverage about a brewery or a beer it is due to the fact that I like what they are doing, they are in close proximity to me and I visit them regularly or that they have regular PR that I feel is important or noteworthy.

4. Currently, the advertising on this site is a test to see if it generates revenue. How I utilize ads may change in the future or they may disappear all together. Whichever way the winds blow, I will make sure that ads look like ads and are not hidden or embedded anywhere.

5. I also write a weekly post for FoodGPS about beer and I compile the Weekly LA Beer Blast for that blog. I carry all of my standards to wherever I write. I do this and my blog simply to educate people about craft beer and to promote it as much as I can.

6. There is blatant “homerism” to where I grew up – Portland and where I live – Los Angeles. You, as the reader, will have to read between any lines when I post about either place.

Thank you for wading through the boilerplate. We can now resume regular posts.

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Flight of the Passing Fancy

Zak Avery one of the leading lights of great beer in Great Britian has opened up a writing contest. I love entering contests so here is my entry. The theme is beer and time.

Flight of the Passing Fancy

Buckhorn in a ten ounce stubby bottle.

Leads to…. Thomas Kemper Weizenberry

Leads to…. me at the Crown City brewpub in Pasadena, California

Leads to…..grander travel to St. James Gate in Ireland and Andechs in Germany

Finally the curiosity turns to passion and blogging.

All of us at one time or another has wanted to go back in time to re-do a certain event. Especially if we came up with a cutting remark for the school bully AFTER being punched. There are some pivotal points that I would like a do-over on. But when it comes to beer, I would only like to add one thing to those times spent at the bar or brewery. I would like to go back and appreciate it MORE.

I am 40 going on 41. Thanks to a technically illegal start to drinking beer (if you can call Buckhorn beer), half of my time on earth has been spent drinking mostly good, a few spectacular and even fewer horrible beers. My journey has seen the fall of regional breweries, a famine of decent brews, the rise of micro-breweries, followed by a contraction that seemed permanent, then a fiery burst of growth that I am in the midst of enjoying now.

But that macro level view of the passing years is not what I remember most about the wide world of craft beer. What really fascinates me, as I grow older, are the varied beers that not only my palate experienced but also provide snapshots of where my life when I was enjoying that beer. I sincerely hope that it also is indicative of an evolution in my appreciation of beer.

Oh, how I would like to go back and speed that evolution along. I could tell my younger self to stop complaining about the changing label art on the Thomas Kemper WeizenBerry bottles and just enjoy the fruit bomb of a beer. Because in a few years, that beer would be no more and then the brewery would be no more. Folded up into Pyramid and just a footnote in craft beer history.

I would talk more with the people brewing the beer at Crown City and let them know that their oasis in a dry Los Angeles of the mid ‘90’s was really appreciated. I should have said it while Crown City was still packing them in. Because in a few years, they would be gone just shortly before the craft beer craze swept through Los Angeles.

I could go on and on but I need to spend the time fully enjoying this strange beer from Epic Ales that is in front of me as I type this. Coffee and cardamom combined into a fragile base beer. Does it work? Maybe. Only time will tell.

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new beer magazine…

…I can’t get enough of them. There is such a large world of beer that I need all the content that I can get my hands on. Into the void comes, Beer Connoisseur magazine.
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Beer reviews. Great contributors like Stephen Beaumont and Carolyn Smagalski. But most importantly good content!

Support great beer writing! It pairs well with any style of beer.