In this post I want to highlight some beer bloggers that are taking a very active role, beyond their writing, in creating a vibrant beer scene that they become an influential part of. Please allow me to explain this better...
As I mentioned in a recent post, I was in Kansas City organizing an exhibition in a gallery where I have will
an experimental beer event take place. I've done a few of these and am also organizing a project called Beers Made By Walking here in Colorado Springs, and it will also take place in other cities next year. Well, this got me thinking about why I organize these events. There are a number of reasons why, some of which I've explained on the blog here a few times, but one that maybe has only been unsaid and implied is that I really want to contribute to the building of a more informed and interested local beer drinking scene. I actually blog about beer as a supplement to the events that I create, blogging keeps me informed, keeps me knowing what's going on, and allows me to think through some of the ideas that are going on in my head when I'm planning various events. Even though it's a supplement, blogging is still a huge important part of what I do.
Well, there are a few other beer bloggers I've run into that are doing some similar things (but not the same things) and I just wanted to briefly mention them. Now, this is by no means an exhaustive list, these are just some people that come to the top of my head...people that I've actually met. Plenty of beer bloggers are active in their beer communities by reviewing beers, contributing to magazines, volunteering at festivals, writing books, making videos, etc. but I think what I'm trying to highlight in this particular blog post are the bloggers who are attempting a more direct engagement with their readers, and with the general public, to
create events that can be experienced and enjoyed in a very firsthand manner. If I've left anyone out, feel free to add to the list by posting a comment below about yourself or the person you know.
Ezra Johnson-Greenough
Ezra is the founder of
The New School Beer Blog and is well known in the Portland area for organizing all sorts of events. Some he's started himself, others he has led or had a big hand in for various breweries, sometimes with other beer pals (like Lisa Morrison and Jacob Grier) these include but are by no means limited to:
Portland Fruit Beer Festival,
Night of the Living Ales,
New School 1 Year New Years Eve Anniversary Party,
Brewing up Cocktails (events involving cocktails made with beer) in Portland, San Francisco, Vancouver BC, and Seattle, and
Biketobeerfest 1, 2 and the upcoming 3 (for this particular event he's not the main person in charge)
Zenia Brink and
Carol White
Zenia and Carol write for the
Beer Drinkers Guide to Colorado, a site well known in Colorado for the map they create with other members of the BDG2C crew. What I really dig, and what I'm specifically thinking about in this post is the program they organize called
Sisterhood of the Suds, mostly in the Colorado Springs area on a bi-monthly or so basis.
Angelo De Iseo
Angelo writes for
Brewpublic, a blog that puts out about five or so posts about Oregon beer every day. Like Ezra, he's a well known face in the Oregon beer scene (until he shaves his beard off). He's organized a number of events including but not limited to Division Street Brewpublicrawl, Killer Beer Week, Microhopic Beer Fest, Wine Barrel-Aged Beer Fest, and Whiskey-Aged Beer Fest. An ongoing list of all those and more
can be found here.
Robbie Pickering
Robbie's my pal over in Glasgow, Scotland, and writes the
I Might Have A Glass of Beer blog. We met when I organized the Pub School and Market Gallery Pub in Glasgow and he's since taken on the organization of an entire
Glasgow Beer Week, which I believe is incredibly ambitious and will really help contribute to changing the way beer drinking is looked at in that city.
Lisa Morrison
Lisa is the only one on the list that I've actually not met. She's known as the
Beer Goddess and has a radio show called Beer O' Clock, and contributes writing to some beer publications, blogs for the Hop Press and just finished a book,
Craft Beers of the Pacific Northwest.
Hoppy Housewives is a type of class that she organizes where she talks about pairing beer with food, as well as a beer herstory, or women's role in the history of beer. I've always wanted to go, but never did make it. She also raises money for non-profits through events like
Fred Fest, Sasquatch Brew Am, and others that I've included in the comments below.
Mark Dredge
Finally there's Mark Dredge who writes the
Pencil and Spoon blog in England. I met him through the Beer Blogger's Conference in Boulder last year. He's had an enormous hand in organizing the
European Beer Blogger's Conference in London that actually starts in the next day or two.
When looking at this list, in most cases the events themselves almost seem to be extensions of that persons writing. They are creating events that address or fulfill something that maybe they've been thinking through or writing about. Please leave comments about your experiences with any of the above events, or also leave info in the comments if there are people who write beer blogs and also organize events in their communities. I'm increasingly interested in this.
Cheers to all my fellow beer blogging and event planning pals.
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