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: JOHN BIDWELL

AUTHOR OF: THE BUSINESS OF BEER

Beer Blogger Interview

Full name: John Bidwell
Twitter handle: businessofbeer
Name of blog: The Business of Beer
Current location: Denver, Colorado

Background “Snapshot”

1. Where did you grow up?

Denver, Colorado

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

Hockey growing up, cross country in high school, and I played rec-league inner tube water polo and kickball in college – those are the sports that really separate the men from the boys.

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

19

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 a Keystone Light at a beer pong table at some random party.

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 Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado (home to New Belgium, Odells, Fort Collins Brewery, and a few other small brewpubs). I studied business (shocking). I was the assistant director of a computer lab on campus and I was Vice President of Alpha Kappa Psi (the business fraternity).

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:

My craft beer epiphany came before I ever drank a beer. My Business Ethics and Social Responsibility professor at CSU sat on the board of New Belgium Brewing and would always use NBB for examples in his class. It was in this class that I first heard about all the awesome things that they were doing from a business practices standpoint. At that point I really had no interest in drinking beer but I knew I loved what NBB was doing as a company. Once I started buying beer, it was pretty much a no-brainer as to which companies I wanted to support.

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

My next major craft beer epiphany was moving back to Denver. While living in Fort Collins, I was a very narrow beer drinker – 75% of what I drank was New Belgium. If you’ve ever been to Fort Collins, you would understand why – New Belgium DOMINATES that city. Everybody has friends who work there, the Liquid Center (their tasting room) is like the living room of the city, and the fat tire cruisers are all around town. While it is an incredible site to behold, I was sheltered living there. Since moving to Denver I have been exposed to many more great breweries.

Beer Blog Background

1. How long have you been writing The Business of Beer?

Since November 2009 – I’m a newbie

2. What inspired you to start writing your blog?

What interested me about the industry in the first place were the business practices and employee cultures at breweries. I threw around the idea of writing a tasting blog or a beer news blog, but in the end it came down to my passion which lies on the business side of beer.

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

My blog name isn’t very fun or creative but I feel it’s very concise and to the point (how business-like of me). It gets the job done.

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

For me, this blog is mostly an education tool. I have learned so much in the last few weeks from talking to brewery owners and other beer bloggers than I could ever learn from reading books on the topic.

For my readers, I hope it can provide a different take on an aspect of the brewing industry that I find fascinating. There aren’t many beer websites out there that talk about strategy, marketing, and entrepreneurship – my personal goal is to have The Business of Beer become the premier website for people who are looking for this type of content. With this in mind, I just launched a series (shameless plug) called ‘The Startup Dialogues’ where I interview people who are in the process of starting a brewery and we talk about a different aspects of the business (from branding to differentiation to legal hurdles) in each post.

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

Interviewing brewery founders has been really fun. Recently I spoke with Garrett, the founder of Maui Brewing Co. They’re doing some cool things in terms of community involvement and sustainability – go check out their website.

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

I really enjoy Fermentedly Challenged (written by a fellow Coloradan). I also enjoy Monday Night Brewing’s page – it’s fun watching them progress. Finally, I’d have to say Appellation – it’s well written and Stan (the author) always has interesting things to say.

Beer Talk

1. What are your top 3 favorite beer styles?

In no particular order: Wit, Porter, and Saison

2. What are your top 3 favorite breweries?

I’m going to have to go outside the lines here and give you my top 3 favorite breweries in terms of the beer they make, and then my top 3 favorite breweries in terms of the business operations they run.

Favorite Beer (in no particular order):
1. Breckenridge Brewery

2. Left Hand

3. Oskar Blues (ok, I’m a little Colorado centric)

Favorite Breweries:
1. New Belgium Brewing

2. Full Sail

3. Stone (ironically I don’t really like any of their beers)

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

I know it’s the popular answer, but I have to go with New Belgium – among all the other awesome attributes of working there, I really want that bicycle that they give their employees!

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

Not a homebrewer yet, might get into it to learn a little more about the process

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

Cicerone certified

6. What is your favorite beer and food pairing?

I prefer my beer and food separate, thank you very much.

The Personal Side

1. What is your current day job?

I’m a management consultant

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?

Well I know a fair amount of my coworkers read my site, so I can’t say anything incriminating! In all seriousness, I love my current job and I’m not really looking for a career change. We do have a big contract at one of the big 3 American breweries (I can’t divulge which one) – if I could somehow get on that project it might be fun.

3. Are you married? Children?

No and no.

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

I spend some time helping out at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. I also really enjoy road trips, making ice cream, the ocean, and photography.

Off The Beaten Path

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

I’d be a macro lager because I’m pale and unappealing to the ladies

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 choose New Belgium’s Sunshine Wheat. It’s not necessarily my favorite, but there is something incredibly comforting about it

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?

It would be a bacon brown ale brewed with a heaping helping of pork.

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

Teleportation would be pretty boss, I suppose

5. What are your thoughts on bacon?

My roommate makes it several times a week and now our whole apartment smells like bacon ALL the time, but I’m definitely ok with that – it’s like a manly Febreeze.

SPECIAL THANKS TO JOHN FOR AN AWESOME INTERVIEW!

CHEERS!