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: CHUCK VOELTZEL

AUTHOR OF: FERMENTATION NATION

Beer Blogger Interview

Full name: Chuck Voeltzel
Twitter handle: @MichBeer
Name of blog: Fermentation Nation
Current location: Detroit, MI 

Background “Snapshot”

1 Where did you grow up?

The City of Champions – Pittsburgh, PA

2. What sports if any did you play growing up, through college and beyond?

Baseball and a little hoops when I was a youngin’. Now I’m mostly into mountain biking, hiking and maybe a round of disc golf.

3. How old were you when you had your first beer?

16 (?)

4. If you can recall, what is the story of your first beer? Where did you have it? What style and brand was it?

It was an Iron City Light that I snagged from the fridge during a family cookout. I clearly remember thinking how crisp, nicely carbonated, and deliciously bitter it was. There is nothing like the first time!

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 school at Oakland University in Rochester, MI. I majored in Sociology, then Environmental Science, but somehow received a Bachelors degree in Business with a focus on Human Resources Development, and a minor in Labor Law.

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:

1993 – in the parking lot of a Grateful Dead show at Buckeye Lake Amphitheater in Ohio. A dreadlocked hippy named Chip was trying to come up with gas money back to Vermont and sold me 2 beers out of his cooler for $5.00. I grabbed 2 that I had never heard of before – a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (which I thought tasted like soap) and a Samuel Smith’s Taddy Porter (which I described as tasting like coffee mixed with dirt).

I cannot say that I fully enjoyed either beer, but it was an epiphany in the respect that it opened my eyes to flavors that I had never associated with the mass produced lagers that I thought of as “good beer” at the time. What a long strange trip it’s been!

2. Have you have additional craft beer epiphanies since the first? Detail as many of them as you wish:

I have at least one every year. Whether it is discovering an affinity for a particular brand, or just having my mind blown by a beer that redefines my perception a particular style. I also have a soft spot for beers that defy categorization. Most recently I have become smitten with Sours – Wild Ale, Lambic and Gueuze.

Beer Blog Background

1. How long have you been writing your beer blog?

I have been doing Fermentation Nation for about 5 months, but have been contributing to beer web sites and blogs off and on for about 12 years.

2. What inspired you to start writing your blog?

Our incredible craft beer community here in Michigan is the inspiration. I feel like we have something really great going on, and Fermentation Nation is my contribution to promoting it.

3. Why did you choose the name of your blog?

I chose Fermentation Nation because I wanted to make my own catchphrase to describe our whole subculture of beer geeks, bloggers and brewers.

4. What are you personal goals for your blog? What do you hope to achieve with it?

My personal goal is simply to promote Michigan breweries, and enjoy 3 of my favorite things all at once – craft beer, writing, and photography. The larger goal is to build a local online community, and hopefully see that spill over to the offline world with things like tastings.

5. What is one of the coolest things that happened to you as a result of being a beer blogger?

Meeting cool people has been the best part, but scoring a free pint every now and then has been a really nice perk.

6. What are you top 3 favorite beer blogs/beer websites?

• The Hop Press
• Beer & Nosh
• Appellation Beer

Beer Talk

1. What are your top 3 favorite beer styles?

That is a really hard question – kind of like asking which of your children you love the most. This week it is Saison, aged American Barleywine, and Wild Ale

2. What are your top 3 favorite breweries?

Right now I am loving just about everything made by Jolly Pumpkin, Shorts Brewing , and The Livery .

3. If you could work with or for any one brewery, which one would it be and why?

Jolly Pumpkin because I just like their style. Having 100% of their beer matured in oak barrel’s with all the wild yeast and other critters really intrigue’s me. Bonus would be never having to wait in line again at a Perseguidor release.

4. Are you a homebrewer? If yes, what is the most unique and interesting beer recipes you’ve brewed as a homebrewer?

Yes. My most interesting brew was a molasses stout that blew a clogged airlock, leaving a Jackson Pollock style pattern stained on my wall.

5. Do you have any beer certifications (BJCP, Cicerone, Siebel, American Brewers Guild)?? If so, what are they?

No

6. What is your favorite beer and food pairing?

I could live on cheese, beer and bread, so literally any combo of the 3 is a winner to me. I’m also a big fan of drinking malty beers like Marzen with Mexican food and American Pale Ale or IPA with Thai and Indian.

The Personal Side

1. What is your current day job?

Human Resources – Recruiting in the automotive industry

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?

I would work in the craft beer industry, perhaps as a brand rep or in some sort of sales or marketing capacity. I think that it would be a great way to marry my skill sets with something that I am both knowledgeable and incredibly enthusiastic about. (email chuckvee@yahoo.com for my resume!)

3. Are you married? Children?

Not married yet, but have an adorable beer/book nerd girlfriend who I refer to on my blog as The Princess of Ales.

4. Outside of beer and writing, what are some of your other hobbies?

Camping, travel, cooking, independent music and film, going to concerts.

Off The Beaten Path

1. If you were a style of beer, what style would be an why?

I would be Biere de Garde because i’m French in heritage, balanced, low on bitterness, a little funky, and made in a single unique batch by skilled artisans (my parents).

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?

I would take it full circle and ask for an ice cold Iron City Light, maybe with a Russian River Supplication chaser.

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 brew a Flemish Oud Brune aged in pinot noir barrels, “ dry hopped” with rose petals, and bacon.

4. If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?

To be able to fly at the speed of light, so I could zip around the world visiting breweries and beer festivals and beer release parties … and I guess I would also work on humanitarian efforts if I had time.

5. What is one of the craziest things you have ever done and lived to tell the story?

I once rolled my car 5 times, had my legs shredded by a deaf cat named Snowball, had my gall bladder removed on New Years Eve, flipped over the handlebar of my bike during a 30+ mph downhill, was caught swimming in a Lake Michigan riptide, and accidentally caught my hair on fire during a blind date. I swear that beer was not a factor in any of these things.

6. What are your thoughts on bacon?

I have been a semi-vegetarian (no land animals) for 20 years, but bacon has driven me close to the brink on more than one occasion.

SPECIAL THANKS TO CHUCK FOR AN AWESOME INTERVIEW!

CHEERS!