Featured Beer Blogger: RICK BLANKEMEIRE

DRINK WITH THE WENCH PRESENTS:

The Beer Blogger Interview Series

Curious what goes on in the minds of your favorite beer bloggers? Well, The Beer Wench is and she has embarked upon a mission to interview as many beer bloggers that she can — from all over the world. Are you a beer blogger? Do you want to share your story? Send me an email!

INTRODUCING: RICK BLANKEMEIRE

AUTHOR OF: DENVER CRAFT BEER EXAMINER

Beer Blogger Interview

Full name: Rick Blankemeier
Twitter handle: @ricoblank
Name of blog: Denver Craft Beer Examiner
Current location: Denver, CO

Background “Snapshot”

1. Where did you grow up? I was an army brat, so pretty much all over.  We settled in southeast Denver by way of Frankfurt, Germany when I was 6.
2. What sports if any did you play growing up, through college and beyond? I was on various little league basketball teams throughout elementary and middle school.  Marching band was a huge part of my life all throughout my high school and college career as well.  A lot of people don’t consider marching a sport – I suggest hauling a 10 lb saxophone in 90 degree heat wearing a wool uniform the equivalent of 4 football fields and then let me know if that’s easy.
3. How old were you when you had your first beer? I think I was around 12 or 13 when my Mom gave me a sip of some random light American lager and I thought it was disgusting.
4. If you can recall, what is the story of your first beer? Where did you have it? What style and brand was it? My parents and I went on a vacation to Munich when I was 16.  We had to stop at the Hofbrauhaus, of course, and I ordered my first dunkel.  It was so weird to actually enjoy a beer at that point.  I’ve had sips of random light American lagers to that point and thought they were just terribad.  This dunkel was amazing and I think that sowed the seeds for my eventual beer geekdom.
5. Where, if applicable, did you go to college? What did you study? What additional activities, organizations, sports did you partake in during college? I went to college at the University of Colorado for a bachelors and masters in chemical engineering with a bioengineering emphasis.  I was in the marching band all throughout my tenure there.  Both for the good times for our football team and the very very bad times.

Craft Beer Epiphany

Every craft beer enthusiast has at least one pinnacle craft beer experience that completely changes ones perspective on beer. I refer to this mind-blowing moment as a “craft beer epiphany.”

1. What was your first craft beer epiphany? Recall as many details about it as you can: This is a hard question because I think I had a series of moments that led up to my “epiphany”.  One moment is walking into my first liquor store after I turned 21 in 2003 and seeing all of the variety of craft beers available to buy and not knowing where to start.  Another moment is when I had my first beer in Germany.  Choosing one experience that really got me going on craft beer as a hobby and passion would be going to my first Great American Beer Festival.  I mean, waiting in line for two hours, walking up the stairs to the great convention hall and entering the doors to rows and rows and rows of breweries gave me goosebumps.  The roar of the crowd when someone drops their plastic tasting cup, the waft of pretzels and hops – no wonder I became a hardcore craft beer geek after that.  Mostly, it was the feeling all around.  You never see anyone sad or mopey at the GABF.  It’s the very definition of gemutlichkeit – good feelings, good times, good fun.
2. Have you have additional craft beer epiphanies since the first? Detail as many of them as you wish: It was the second GABF I ever went to.  I found the American Homebrewers Association table and they had a carboy of some wheat beer bubbling away as a demonstration and I was “oooh’ing” and “ahh’ing” over the process since I’m a chemical engineering nerd as well.  My girlfriend took notice and bought me a homebrew kit for my birthday that year.  I’ve been homebrewing ever since.

Beer Blog Background

1. How long have you been writing your beer blog? Since October of 2009, so not very long
2. What inspired you to start writing your blog? I was missing creative writing – or at least writing about something I cared about instead of progress reports for my day job.  Plus I really just wanted to put my passion for beer and homebrewing into words rather than talking my friends’ ears off all of the time.
3. Why did you choose the name of your blog? Well, it was chosen for me, but I definitely wanted to call myself the Denver Craft Beer examiner instead of just a beer examiner.  I only wanted to cover good beer.
4. What are you personal goals for your blog? What do you hope to achieve with it? My main goal is to get Denverites more excited about all of the options we have in the greater Denver metro area in terms of good craft beer and expand their palates to include styles of beer that they didn’t know existed.  I like to throw in any unique craft beer events happening around Denver to get people more involved with their local breweries. I also want to entertain a bit since beer education should be fun and not a chore.
5. What is one of the coolest things that happened to you as a result of being a beer blogger? I was invited to participate in a day of brewing with the AC Golden Brewing Company.  They may be owned by Coors, but they do make tasty lagers for sure.  And I’ll jump at any chance to brew on the big system and express my beer geekiness to its fullest.
6. What are you top 3 favorite beer blogs/beer websites? Well, besides The Beer Wench of course:  Beer Advocate, The Beer Scribe, and Craftbeer.com

Beer Talk

1. What are your top 3 favorite beer styles? I like any good beer that’s well made – with the exception of chili beers, I have problems with them.  If you held a gun to my head and made me choose my top 3 beer styles, then I tend to gravitate towards Double IPA’s, Porters, and any sort of Belgian beer.  Recently, I discovered the Black IPA style of beer and I think that’s my new fad beer du year.
2. What are your top 3 favorite breweries? Russian River because Vinnie is a genius.  Odell because they’re the best brewery under the radar.  Finally, Oskar Blues because they took a chance with cans and revolutionized the craft beer movement (plus they make great beer).
3. If you could work with or for any one brewery, which one would it be and why? I would have to say Rodenbach in Belgium.  I would love to learn how to make crazy wild ales and lambics like they do so well. Wild ales fascinate me to no end due to my background in bioengineering and I think they’re just delish.
4. Are you a homebrewer? If yes, what is the most unique and interesting beer recipes you’ve brewed as a homebrewer? The craziest beer I ever made was a kiwi and raspberry kolsch.  I added kiwis after flameout and raspberries during secondary fermentation.  It wasn’t sweet, but the kiwis and raspberries made their presence known.  I tried my hand at oak aging and decided to soak oak cubes in bourbon for a week and then add to the secondary.  The base beer was a dry stout, so it came out tasting more like whiskey than beer.  My friends who are whiskey geeks absolutely loved it.
5. Do you have any beer certifications (BJCP, Cicerone, Siebel, American Brewers Guild)?? If so, what are they? I’m a Certified Beer Server in the Cicerone cert. program and I’ll be taking the Cicerone test the next time it comes through Denver during the GABF.
6. What is your favorite beer and food pairing? American Barleywine and Rochefort or Stilton cheese.  I like that combo because, well it’s delicious, but more importantly it’s a combination that wine cannot hope to match.  Ever.

The Personal Side

1. What is your current day job? I’m a process development engineer for a Canadian-based natural gas company.
2. If you could change your career at this very moment, without any restrictions on what you could do, what would you want to do and why? This is easy.  I would own my own brewery and farm to grow hops and barley on.  I like the idea of a terroir-based brewery.
3. Are you married? Children? I have a girlfriend of 4 years and we’ve been living together for 2 of those years.  I haven’t driven her insane by my beer geekiness yet, so hopefully we’re good to go for another 4 years.
4. Outside of beer and writing, what are some of your other hobbies? Besides homebrewing, I enjoy hiking around the beautiful mountains of Colorado with my wonderful girlfriend and I also play a fair share of video games.

Off The Beaten Path

1. If you were a style of beer, what style would be an why? I’d have to say an Oatmeal or Sweet stout.  I’m best experienced when I warm up to the crowd.  I like to think I’m enjoyable by nearly everyone, but have a depth of flavor that many people don’t realize.
2. You were caught smuggling beer illegally, which has now been made punishable by death. Right before you are sent to the executioner, you are offered one last beer. What beer would you chose and why? Sink the Bismarck by BrewDog.  I want to go to the chair with an expensive beer in my gut and drunk.
3. If I contracted you to brew a beer (or design a beer recipe) called “The Beer Wench” — what style would you chose and what, if any, extra ingredients would you add? I would definitely make the “Beer Wench Saison” since pretty much everyone loves a well-made farmhouse ale.  I might add some coriander and black pepper to add to the spicy clove character of the yeast.  Unfiltered goodness right there.
4. If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be? Oh man, I’ve been trying to answer this question since I collected Marvel cards as a kid.  I would have to say telekinesis/telepathy like Jean Grey.  Of course, the ability to move things with my mind would make me incredibly lazy.  I always thought that Jedi Knights should have all been overweight slobs.
5. What is one of the craziest things you have ever done and lived to tell the story? My girlfriend and I went on a rafting trip down the Arkansas for Memorial Day weekend.  That in itself isn’t crazy, but I think our raft guide was drunk or hungover.  Our raft flipped twice and it was during the spring melt when the river levels were crazy high.  I wrenched out my shoulder twice trying to grab onto anything on the shore to pull me up.
6. What are your thoughts on bacon? Bacon is like the Force.  It surrounds us with its tasty goodness and binds all living beings together in saturated fat.

SPECIAL THANKS TO RICK FOR AN AWESOME INTERVIEW!

CHEERS!