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: CHAD POLENZ

AUTHOR OF: CHAD’Z BEER REVIEWS

Beer Blogger Interview

Full name: Chad Polenz
Twitter handle: Chad9976
Name of blog: Chad’z Beer Reviews

Background “Snapshot”

1. Where did you grow up?

Schenectady, NY

2. What sports if any did you play growing up, through college and beyond? what does this have to do with beer?

How old were you when you had your first beer? can’t remember exactly. I know I would ask my dad for a taste of beer when i was a kid but I never liked it.

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

Oh, this is a long story. Although on the heels of the last question: I never really liked beer until I was into my mid 20s. Even as an underage youth at parties or whatever I’d drink half a Coors Light and get sick of it.

4. 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 SUNY Morrisville 1996-97 and got an associate’s in journalism. In 2001 I enlisted in the navy and did 6 1/2 years active duty. In 2008 I went back to school full time at the University at Albany and got my bachelor’s in English. I am currently working on my THIRD degree in networking through ITT Tech.

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:

I don’t think there was ever a specific moment or ephinany. Like I said, I never liked beer because my only exposure was to crap with the word “light” or “ice” in the name. After I turned 21 and went to bars with my friends I’d always try to find the least worst beer they had and for a while I thought Guinness was awesome. After I joined the Navy and I was able to go see other countries on the other side of the planet I’d try their beers and be like “wow! this tastes way better than the stuff I’m used to!” When I got home I hit up the Navy Exchange “Package Store” which had a pretty decent selection and I’d make it my goal to try a new beer (especially one I’d never even heard of) every time I went. For a while I was convinced Sam Adams, Saranac and Magic Hat were the best beers on the market (and considering that I bought them at a market I guess I was right).

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

After I got out of the Navy and moved back to NY I was delighted to find that there was a beer store only a few miles from my house that carried over 1200 beers from around the world AND they would let you mix your own six pack! I befriended all the guys that worked there and they would give me advice on what to buy and what to avoid. Thanks to Westmere Beverage Brew Crew I was able to discover Dogfish Head, Stone, Rogue, Southern Tier, Brooklyn, Unibroue, and a ton of Belgian beers.

Beer Blog Background

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

Well my “blog” is pretty new. I’d been writing reviews of various things (mostly movies) for epinions.com since 1999. In May of 2008 I just kind of got a hair up my ass one day to give beer-reviewing a shot since I was becoming such a fan of craft beer I thought I’d write about it to “spread the word.” In October of 2008 I got another hair up my ass to start doing video reviews on YouTube and was pleased to discover there were a few other beer vloggers on there as well. It didn’t occur to me to put all my text reviews and video reviews in one place at ChadzBeerReviews.com until 2010.

2. What inspired you to start writing your blog?

Well, I’m a writer by nature and I’m a very opinionated person too. I actually made a living as a film critic before I joined the Navy but after I joined I didn’t have the time or opportunity to do movie reviews anymore. Plus I was getting sick of movies but I knew I wanted to review SOMETHING and since I was discovering craft beer at the time I thought I could write about that.

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

Because I’m not a very creative person at all. “Chad’z” is a nickname I’ve had since high school and even when i was doing my movie reviews back in the 1990s my movie-review web site was called “Chad’z Movie Reviews.” LOL

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

Well, my YouTube page has been growing expotientially over the last six months or so – I’m not entirely sure why. I guess people like my videos the best. And honestly I do want to make “partner” on youtube and I think I’m coming pretty close to doing that. I’m thinking once I hit 500 beer reviews I might be able to shop them around to publishers for some kind of a book/dvd combo of my video reviews.

I mean, my basic goal of blogging and vlogging is to get the word of craft beer out there but if I can make a few bucks in the process (or basically break-even after my expenses) that would be pretty cool. In a perfect world I would be the next Michael Jackson – a guy who gets paid to drink and review beer but I doubt that will happen.

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

Being able to meet a lot of cool people both on the internet and in person. I’ve traveled quite a few times to meet and review beers with other beer vloggers. I also got to not only meet, but HIRE internet superstar (or at least I consider him one) Brentalfloss (best known for his 8-bit video games “with lyrics” videos). There are still many other beer vloggers and bloggers out there I would love to meet but I don’t always have the time or the money to travel to see them.

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

Oiy, there are so many to choose from it’s hard to narrow it down to my top 3!

My #1 would be my friend Jay (aka Jays Beer Reviews) since he is the one that twisted my arm to go to Brew Crew and get into REAL craft beer and showed me how the supermarket stuff I liked, while better than Bud, Miller and Coors, was really just yuppie drink. He does very informative AND entertaining video beer reviews.

#2 would probably be Gary & Melissa “Imasofat”. They are a husband & wife duo that are craft beer loves but don’t consider themselves critics or connoisseurs or whatever. But they make really funny videos AND they’re able to effectively and accurately describe and review their beer in the process. I met them once and they are awesome!

For #3 it would be about a 20-way tie for my favorite blogger so let’s just say Beer Advocate because it’s such a great resource for beer lovers.

Beer Talk

1. What are your top 3 favorite beer styles?

India Pale Ale; Pumpkin Beers; Chocolate Stouts

2. What are your top 3 favorite breweries?

Southern Tier, Rogue, Dogfish Head

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

Any of the good ones!

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

No. I dont really have the space in my apartment for the equipment or the time to do it.

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

I’m currently in the process of applying for a few of these. Not sure how long it takes or what it entails.

6. What is your favorite beer and food pairing?

Not really big into food pairing because I’m not a foodie. I do like a really hoppy IPA with something spicy or pumpkin ale with pumpkin pie.

The Personal Side

1. What is your current day job?

Full-time student. Part-time Navy reservist.

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?

Own my own beer store (or a chain of them!)

3. Are you married? Children?

nope, nope

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

I collect (well, READ, really) Batman comic books. I have too many to count. I also collect Beastie Boys merch (bootlegs, rare international releases, vinyl, etc). I like sports a lot too, especially football, hockey and baseball.

Off The Beaten Path

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

No idea

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?

Probably Southern Tier’s Choklat – it’s super tasty and at 11% ABV it would give you a nice healthy buzz.

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 think Middle Ages already brews that beer.

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

See my answer to the “hobbies” question – LOL!

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

Fighting in the second Gulf War.

6. What are your thoughts on bacon?

I save it for special occassions.

SPECIAL THANKS TO CHAD FOR AN AWESOME INTERVIEW!

CHEERS!