For those that arrived here seeking some sort of news or information regarding craft beer, the industry and the people in it; I hate to disappoint, but this is more of a story than an editorial. Nonetheless, the story is quite lovely – AND, it even ends “happily ever after”. However, don’t get my wrong. It is definitely no fairytale.

I find no more appropriate way to start this tale than with my rendition of the prologue in Shakespeare’s Rome & Juliet (I was a Thespian in my other life)….

Two beer bloggers, both alike in dignity,
In fair Portland, where we lay our scene,
From blogging grudge break to Twitter mutiny,
Where uncivil tweets makes followers get mean.
From forth the fatal loins of the Oregon Brewers Fest
This pair of star-cross’d lovers meet in real life;
Whose misunderstood piteous jest
Do with a marriage proposal bury their Internet strife.
The awkward passage of their Twitter-mark’d love,
And the continuance of affection from both,
Which, but use of black magic, could not remove,
Is now the subject of this post;
The which if you with open minds will read,
What here shall miss, our tweets shall strive to exceed.

Last month, along with 10 different craft breweries, several beer bloggers and other social media savvy friends, I helped launch International #IPADay — the world’s largest craft beer celebration dedicated to, yes you guessed it, the India Pale Ale. For the most part, the announcement of #IPADay went off without a hitch, if not exactly as planned. As hoped, hundreds of craft beer lovers, breweries, bars and retailers automatically adopted the idea and started planning celebrations all over the world.

Well, not everyone was excited about the concept. We, errrr…. *I* received some resistance from another blogger who goes by the name of Samurai Artist on the Internet. And although saying this now might insult him, which is totally unintentional yet an important part of the story, I actually had never heard of him up until then. Which now I realize, after reflecting upon how influential he is in the craft beer scene both in Portland and in the blogging realm, is a major fault on my behalf.

Either way, knowing him or not, I took great offense to his public opposition to #IPADay, which I also saw as a blatant attack against me.

I found out about Ezra’s Anti-#IPADay article as I was commuting to Berkeley. While stuck in Bay Area traffic, which resembles a parking lot more than a freeway, I spent some time sorting through email. Like any good social media savvy person (you reading this Ezra?), I receive Google Alerts daily on a plethora of things — including anything “The Beer Wench” and my name. So anytime someone mentions beer + wench or my name consecutively, Google tells me. And as fate would have it, Ezra did both — although he did not tag my site in his post.

Seeing as how I had just sat through over an hour of painful traffic, in rather gloomy weather, under-caffeinated with low blood sugar, his article did not sit well with me. In fact, it hurt me. So much so, I cried. But, in true Wench form, I rallied up and drafted a retort to all of the opposition. And naturally, true to his form, the Samurai Artist updated his original post to include further critique of the matter, in response to my retort. Needless to say, the passive aggressive brawl did not stop at the blogosphere. It continued into the depths of Twitter and Facebook, where a mini war between the supporters and haters of #IPADay was waged.

Over the weeks, as the haters developed apathy and stopped caring, the fighting subsided and, for the most part, there was peace. Well, we will call it the calm before the storm.

As fate would have it, only a few weeks after announcing #IPADay and a week before the actual event, I found myself visiting Portland to take the Cicerone Exam and attend the Oregon Brewer’s fest. Originally excited for my first ever Portland visit, I  became extremely nervous about the visit because of Portland’s unusually high resistance to #IPADay and perceived “hatred” towards me. Now, mind you, I take things very personally. Which means I actually did believe that Portlanders hated me and I actually feared making the trek. Which all seems silly no. But hindsight truly is 20-20.

But all the same, love or hate, I had no idea what to expect in Portland. The only thing that I really relied on was the fact that just about none of the Twitter personalities and bloggers in Portland had ever seen me in person, and therefore were very unlikely to recognize me. Which meant that I could go about my business, doing my thing, unnoticed, and not get stoned to death or burned at the stake.

It is important to note now that, although I consider myself to be an atheist, I have rather unique superstitious tendencies and I am oddly fascinated with black magic, stones, astrology and other weird things. A week before my Portland visit I purchased two Voodoo Dolls (hey I never claimed sanity people) at the Cincinnati airport, of all places. I bought The Equalizer — who is supposed to help me get even, and The Gladiator — who is supposed to give me strength to fight for what I believe in….

Those of you that know me know that I have a fighter personality. I fight on Twitter, Facebook and on my blog all the time. My first response is always fight, not flight. And often times, my friends and family have to step in to prevent me from making decisions that I am sure to regret — which almost never works. Needless to say, with both The Equalizer and The Gladiator in hand, I arrived in Portland ready to fight.

Whilst wondering around the Oregon Brewers Fest, I befriend some unsuspecting Portlanders. Naturally, Twitter came up, as it usually does in conversations with me that last longer than 5 minutes. Being local Twitter personalities themselves, it didn’t take them long to figure out that I was, in fact, the girl that was causing quite a stir amongst Portland beer bloggers.

Luckily, they did not feed me to the wolves. In fact, they were more than excited to aid me in my pursuit to find and confront the man that felt the need to question my integrity publicly on the Internet. They offered to bring me to him, but only under the condition that I play dumb — an act I am more than good at. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t fired up. I had already consumed a decent amount of liquid courage and my “Rowdy Routson” personality was clearly ready to jump in the ring.

The boys had no problem finding Ezra for me. But, just as I was approaching the circle where Ezra was located, I was stopped dead in my tracks by fellow beer blogger and friend, Brian Yaeger. I’m quite certain Yaeger knew I was on a mission, yet I tried to play dumb, pretending that I didn’t know Ezra was two feet away from me, even though blood was rushing through my veins just thinking about it.

Yaeger, not wanting to pass up an epic moment, picked up his video camera and captured the errr…. what we will call awkward, moment on camera.

The initial meeting was less than inspiring (sorry Ezra, my darling). I arrived feisty and ready for a throw down — or at least a challenging and heated debate. The actual result was a rather awkward silence and some witty report. I believe, and Exra correct me if I’m wrong, the first thing I said was “Why do you hate me?”

After standing around staring at one another, rather awkwardly, a few of us went off to grab what I assume was meant to be “peace” beers together, expect that I got, well, distracted by a different beer journalist — another story for another time. Or probably not

But thank goodness for social media, because what might have been an otherwise rather underwhelming encounter became glamorized online. Awkward silence suddenly evolved into romance. And well, the rest is history.

Oh, you know I can’t just leave you hanging like that. After all, I promised you a happy ending (no Ezra, not THAT kind of happy ending).

Brian “Beer Yenta” Yaeger exaggerated a somewhat peaceful meeting between two “nemeses” into a beer baby making romance on the Twitterverse. Both Ezra and I took the high road and decided to play along. And before we knew it, our relationship turned into a full-blown, hot and steamy, Lifetime movie-like romance.

My Portland romance culminated with the “first date” at the Widmer Brunch where, after a few beers, Ezra got on one knee and proposed to me.

I suck at romance writing, huh?

Well, don’t expect it to get any better. The details go as is: I made Ezra get on one knee, which he adamantly objected to until the last minute. But we all know that The Wench is virtually impossible to resist. Even Greg Koch has said that you can’t say no to The Wench. Sorry kids, it’s the truth.

Since Ezra showed up unprepared for our epic proposal, I provided him with a bedazzled bottle cap ring with which to propose. Naturally, I said yes. I mean come on now, what kind of asshole would make someone get on one knee and propose in front of an audience of people and then say no? Even I am not that big of a jerk (most of the time).

The real kicker was posing for pictures. Those that know me in the slightest know that I HATE smiling in pictures. So much so that I’m known for making the “wench face” — aka a puckery smirk. It is either that or I pose kissing a beer or kissing a cheek. I opted to kiss Ezra’s cheek, with my eyes closed. And in the 2 seconds my eyes were closed, BAM. There it was. A kiss to seal the deal. And luckily, all the paparazzi were in place to capture the moment, which will now live on forever thanks to the Internet.

In all seriousness, I am not only relieved, but extremely happy to resolve the issue between Ezra and myself. Is it love? Well kids, hate to break it to you, but it is entirely way to early to even host such thoughts. Wounds are still fresh. Yet, I have learned a lot about myself in the process — and truly thank Ezra for this experience, though it is extremely peculiar. And although Ezra still adamantly opposes #IPADay (to each there own), we have agreed to disagree — and even be friends.

And so, I would like to end this story with the closing line from Cassablanca:

“Ezra, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

Cheers!

Dear Molson Coors,

I hate you.

Sincerely,

The Wench

Frankly, I don’t even know where to begin.

Two weeks ago, Molson Coors announced the release of a new line of beers specifically targeted towards women — a concept that not only angers and disgusts me, but is downright offensive.

I first got wind of the rumored “clear beer” last year, and most definitely aired my grievances then (read: BEER WARS: The Female Edition). But I had not heard anything more on the subject until recently. And as if clear beer wasn’t bad enough… Molson Coors also announced the launch of both a pink and yellow hued beer enhanced with what I assume is artificial flavoring.

Thankfully, this abomination of a product is only being released in the U.K. Those poor Brits…

According to research done by the marketing lackeys of Molson Coors, only 17% of women in the UK drink beer (as compared to 25% in the U.S.). Honestly, I don’t know much about the U.K. craft beer scene, aside from what Melissa Cole and Mark Dredge have told me. But something tells me that the lack of women drinking beer is a deeper issue than Molson Coors is willing to admit.

Perhaps the reason why more women drink beer in the U.S. is because our craft beer industry is twice, maybe 3 times larger and more extensive than the U.K.’s. Per capita, the U.S. has more craft breweries. And craft breweries make up a much larger percentage (albeit an extremely small percentage) of overall market share in the U.S.

So what does this mean? It means the average U.K. citizen is not exposed or does not have access to as much delicious flavorful beer as the U.S. Don’t get me wrong, the U.K. boasts a lot of really amazing and talented craft breweries. But from what I understand, corporate beer dominates the market place. And let’s face it, if my options were limited to corporate swill, I probably wouldn’t drink beer either.

Using probability theory and sheer common sense, one might be able to logically deduce a correlation between the fact that the U.S. has a larger craft beer market and a higher percentage of women beer drinkers. My theory is that, despite what Molson Coors research has concluded, women in fact prefer more flavorful, artisan-crafted beverages. This is also because I also believe that women, on average, have better palates than men. But, don’t just take my word for it…

According to research done at Yale University in the early 90′s, women, on average, possess more tastebuds than men. Linda Bartoshuk, professor of otolaryngology and psychology at Yale, is one of the leading scientists researching genetic variation in the ability to taste. She is the very scientist that coined the term “super taster,” which refers to those born with extra taste receptors. According to her research, 25% of the population are supertasters, 25% are nontasters and 50% are tasters. For American Caucasians, about 35% of women and only 15% of men are supertasters.

And the buck doesn’t stop at tasting. Marcia Pelchat, a sensory psychologist specializing in food and beverage selections at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, has been credited with concluding that, on average, women have a better sense of smell than men. And according to Marcia, both taste and smell contribute to the perception of flavor, which gives a stronger argument in favor of women being better tasters than men.

And researchers aren’t the only people acknowledging this fact. Even the big beer guys are catching on…

Last year, SABMiller announced that 30% of its 1,000 advanced-level tasters are female — a number that has roughly quadrupled in 10 years. Interestingly enough, SABMiller says its empirical evidence shows that females are the superior sex when it comes to detecting such undesirable chemicals such as 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol (which is responsible for skunk flavors in beer).

So hypothetically, if women are more sensitive to smell and better tasters than men, doesn’t it seem like they would desire more aromatics and flavor in beer? And conversely, if they are, in fact, more sensitive to smell and taste, they would be more capable of detecting off-flavors and flaws in beer, which means they have a higher chance of being turned off from beers (like adjunct lagers) that are characteristically flawed. Right?

As for the new Molson Coors product, let us discuss just how asinine and horrendous it truly is…

“The 4% ABV beer is lightly sparkling and finely filtered with a delicious, fresh taste. Animée will be available in three variants: clear filtered , crisp rosé and zesty lemon.” Let us get this straight. Molson Coors is blatantly implying that women have inferior palates. Wow. What a fucking smack in the face.

Not only did Molson Coors completely remove any sort of semblance of beer from the product, they also felt the need to spike it with artificial flavors and colors. It truly makes me want to scream and cry at the same time. This must be some sick and cruel joke.

And to add insult to injury. The rose flavor is fucking pink. I fucking hate pink. And when I saw the label with the pink hops, I threw up in my mouth. Twice.

Let us review what we have learned today: Molson Coors did some research and found that only 17% of women in the U.K. drink beer. Yale research says that women are more likely to be supertasters. Research also shows that women possess a more sensitive sense of smell. SABMiller is continuing to hire more women tasters because they acknowledge the aforementioned. Yet, Molson Coors thinks that instead of creating a more flavorful and aromatic beer to attract more women, the best plan was to completely strip beer of all of its wonderful qualities and add even more adjuncts and artificiality.

As much as I would love to speak on the behalf of all women out there, I can only speak for myself. Personally, I was very much NOT a beer drinker until I discovered craft beer. When I wanted to get drunk in college, I usually opted for disgusting mixed drinks and boxed wine over yellow fizzy mass-produced beer. It wasn’t until I started to study for sommelier certification when I was 22 that I really began to respect an appreciate the complexities and nuances in alcohol. But it wasn’t until I was exposed to the amazing world of craft beer, that I became a craft beer drinker. And now look at me….

In conclusion, being both a soapbox craft beer evangelist and feminist, there is no way in hell that I will advocate or support this product. In fact, I hope that the concept fails miserably and that Molson Coors loses big money in the process. And while I watch them crash and burn, I will raise a pint of craft beer in the mist of their ashes and declare with conviction… “I AM A CRAFT BEER DRINKER”.

For more information on this subject, check out Melissa Cole’s take on Animee.

Persistence definitely pays off, especially with my awesome boss Dan Del Grande, brewmaster and owner of Bison Brewing. After a few months of incessant begging, followed by several weeks of research and development, I am excited to announce the release of “Saison de Wench” — the first beer, of hopefully many, that I helped design and brew at Bison Brewing. So without any further ado… allow me to present the official press release:

BISON BREWING RELEASES “SAISON DE WENCH”

Some people get birthday cakes, others get birthday beers.

– For Immediate Release –

July, 13 2011 –Berkeley, CA – Bison Brewing is excited to announce the newest release in its draft only “Beer of the Month” series, Saison de Wench.

Brewed in honor of her birthday, Saison de Wench is the first recipe that Bison Brewing’s Ashley Routson (also known as The Beer Wench) had a hand in developing, from start to finish. Starting with Dan Del Grande’s gold-medal winning Farmhouse Ale recipe as a base, the Saison de Wench recipe was inspired by spring flowers, rainbows and unicorns – But more importantly, using botanicals in the brewing process.

Brewed with a classic blend of specialty malts and wheat, Saison de Wench is an unfiltered, slight hazy, medium-bodied ale with a notably floral aroma and herbaceous flavor from the addition of herbs, flowers and spices.

Rose, the flower of June, served as the main focus of the recipe, with over 10 pounds of dried organic roses used in several stages of the brewing process. Floral aromatics were enhanced with the addition of hibiscus, which also gave the beer its pinkish hue and slightly tart flavor. To further increase tartness with a zesty lemon flavor, lemongrass was incorporated into the recipe. Last but not least, in order to enhance the spicy phenols from the yeast, Saison de Wench was spiced with pink peppercorns, a spice made from dried berries that yield pepper-like characteristics.

“ Whimsical notes of rose petals, hibiscus and peppery spice dominate the aroma. Balanced by a soft malt sweetness and moderate hop bitterness, Saison de Wench is refreshingly tart with a dry, spicy finish. Although delicious on its own, Saison de Wench pairs beautifully with delicate seafood dishes, ceviche, sushi, shellfish, fresh cheese, charcuterie, summer salads and chilled soups.” – Ashley Routson, Director of Awesomeness at Bison Brewing.

As with all of Bison Brewing’s “Beer of the Month” release, Saison de Wench is extremely limited and only available on draft. It is recommended that orders be placed as soon as possible. For all press inqueries and orders, please contact Ashley@bisonbrew.com.

Cheers,

The Bison Brewing Team

Judging by the title of this blog post, one can correctly assume that The Wench is about to start a, somewhat alcohol induced, rant of the, always expected, very bitchy nature.

A few people in my close personal circle have heard my incessant complaints about this subject for years, but I have held my tongue (and my typing fingers) on this topic for entirely way too long.

Many things in this world piss me off, but nothing frustrates me quite like the hypocrisies with craft beer in the restaurant industry.

You see, my roots in craft beer originated in the restaurant industry. Like many lost souls who find themselves working in restaurants, I graduated college with no clear goals and aspirations. And when in doubt, wait tables… right? Unlike many front of the house employees, I developed a sincere interest for culinary techniques and the artistry behind cooking. But like most restaurant employees, I developed quite a liking of booze. However, my constant pursuit for flavor stimulation in the kitchen carried over into my beverage habits, and I began to appreciate and study the nuances of wine.

It wasn’t until I developed a love and understand of wine, that I began to develop respect for alcohol. But this isn’t a sap story about my love for wine… so let us move on.

My enthusiasm, knowledge and passion for cooking, serving, and wine ultimately landed me a job as a restaurant manager — a job that changed my life completely. The owners of my restaurant put me in charge of all things beverage — which was cool since I was studying for my sommelier certification and I loved coffee and tea. The hard part was the beer. Before then, I never drank beer. Even in college I preferred hard spirits and if I did drink beer, it was shitty-ass corporate beer, brewed with adjunct ingredients, that I purely used as a vehicle for drunkenness and debauchery.

The owners of my restaurant were focused on sustainability and making healthy choices that positively impacted the planet. One such environmentally conscientious decision was to only offer craft beer. No mass-produced yellow fizzy beers for us. Only beers brewed from the highest quality ingredients by true artists of the craft. And it was here that I learned that, not only was craft beer superior to mass-produced beer, it deserved a righteous place on the dinner table, along side all of the other fine beverages — especially, wine.

It took many, many years of denial and protestation before I was finally able to admit that beer was, in fact, the finest beverage of them all. And don’t get me wrong, I live in Napa for a reason. I drink wine almost every day of my life. I love my wino friends, wine bloggers, wine makers… but at the end of the day I am fully confident when I say…

the complexities and nuances in craft beer surpass those in wine.

And this brings us to the main topic of discussion: craft beer & the restaurant hypocrisy.

Now, there are several things about the restaurant industry that piss me off, in regards to craft beer. But my greatest pet peeves are:

______________

Great Restaurants with Sub-Par (or non-existent) Craft Beer Menus

I live in Napa Valley, hypothetically the home to some of the most discerning palates in the world, and yet I am constantly disappointed, if not appalled, by the lack of craft beer on the menus of our most prestigious restaurants. For most, the beer menu is an afterthought — if even a thought at all. They see beer as a blue-collar beverage, barely worthy of gracing their menu. But, they acknowledge that they need to carry it, even though it has the lowest profit margin, and end up selecting sub-par mass-produced non-craft beers.

The hypocrisy?

These restaurants fly in fresh fish, over-night. These restaurants source ingredients from only the best, most coveted, local producers. These restaurants will pay an arm and a leg for their food ingredients, because they want to provide the most fresh, highest quality and amazing tasting ingredients possible.

And it doesn’t stop there.

The wine lists are extraordinary, the liquors are top shelf. And the beer?

The beer lists are uninspired, unoriginal, underwhelming and extremely disappointing.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, turns me off more that going to a prestigious restaurant with an acclaimed executive chef, with one of the most amazing menus and wine lists in the world… and witnessing them serve mass-produced corporate beer.

When I lived in Florida, I worked at a pretty fancy corporate wine concept. The whole place was run like a tight ship. Only the freshest, perfectly plated food made it to the guests. Our wine list was spectacular. We had super high-end spirits. But the beer? Only one beer on the menu was craft, and even that beer was the best seller of the largest craft beer producer. The sad part about the entire company was that the beverage director was one of the ONLY Master Sommeliers in the world. We are talking about a man that has a better palate than 99.9% of the world. I can throw his name around the wine industry and most know of him, if not know him personally.

I cannot complain, though, for working under him. His server training program was of the utmost level. When it came to wine studies, I had everything at my disposal. My company paid for my Certified Specialist of Wine training and certification. It also offered to pay for the sommelier test, which although I never took, is pretty expensive. They wanted us to excel and were prepared to give us all the tools necessary to make it happen.

One day, during a race that our restaurant sponsored and I volunteered to help with, I approached my Master Sommelier and addressed this very issue, my biggest frustration, with him. His, oddly expected, response was that the people who would come to our restaurant and drink beer would not be interested in fine craft beer. In other words, our restaurant was a fine dining establishment and “wine bar” with a sophisticated clientele who appreciated wine, and anyone who would dare so much as drink beer, well they were blue-collared and only liked yellow fizzy mass-produced swill.

To this day, I love that man. And he was a big supporter of me after I left. But, I cannot deny my sincere disappointment.

It is not cool, no matter how much you argue the case, for a Master Sommelier, a man with one of the most amazing and most discerning palates in the world, to neglect and dismiss craft beer.

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Untrained, Uneducated Staff

Along with local, sustainable, and artisan, craft beer has become a buzz word and growing trend across the world. And although few people outside of the very small niche market actually know what the term craft beer actually constitutes, many restaurants have attempted to embrace the trend, incorporating craft beers into beverage menus.

So you got the memo that craft beer is “hot” and you went to your distributors and ordered some buzz craft beer brands and put them on your menu. And now you think you are hip and cool and trendy. Heck, you might think that you are innovative because you were the first person in your town to do it.

I see it in Napa, I see it in San Francisco, I have witnessed it in Chicago, L.A., NYC and pretty much every big city in the U.S. A great beer list is virtually useless if you and your staff are uneducated.

Now, I am not insisting that all front of the house restaurant employees develop an extensive understanding of the brewing process and the entire spectrum of ingredients and flavors in beer. It is necessary, however, to understand the basic flavor profile and a few details about the brewery for each of the beers on your menu.

Sales & Marketing 101: If you want to sell a product, you have to know your product.

The hypocrisy?

I have seen several restaurants go to extensive lengths to train employees on food menus and wine lists. Heck, I worked for a restaurant that used to test us on every menu change.  We had written exams that required us to list every single ingredient in every single dish, every single house cocktail as well as rattle off tasting notes for all the wines. But beer? Forget about it. Beer is typically the LAST priority, and using the word priority is a stretch, on most restaurant menus.

Now, I don’t expect bartenders and servers to know more about beer than me — after all, craft beer is my career, greatest passion and my raison d’etre. I do expect, however, for the person serving me to know details about the beer that they are serving. And I don’t mean being able to tell me “yeah, it’s good.” Where is the beer made? What is the style? What are the characteristics of that style? Can you give me the basic flavor profile? And even better, what food on the menu do you recommend pairing with this beer? And even better than that, why do you recommend pairing this beer with that dish?

Sounds easy, right? Well, it is. And witnessing restaurants neglect or refuse to train and educate staff on craft beer really REALLY irks me because 1. it is lazy and 2. it is disrespectful to the craft beer industry.

Would you order a cocktail from a bartender who doesn’t know the difference between a Cosmopolitan and a Manhattan? Me neither….

The greatest barrier to converting people to craft beer is LACK OF EDUCATION. Most consumers are not educated on craft beer, but most beer drinkers have potential to be converted. Education = confidence + empowerment. And a confident and empowered consumers = sales.

If you work in a restaurant that sells craft beer and has an untrained staff, but you do not know where to begin when it comes to education — PLEASE do not hesitate in contacting me. I have several tools at my disposal, as well as have developed (and currently revising) an extensive server training program.

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Improper Glassware & Serving Temperature

“Glassware is key nowadays when it comes to beer. It’s not imperative, but would you drink wine out of the bottle? No, you’re going to pour in it a glass. The same treatment and respect should be done for your craft beer. When you do that, you get the opportunity to have full enhancement of the aroma and the flavors in that beer.” — Julia Herz, Brewer’s Association

Many regions and varietals of wine require special glassware designed to enhance the wine experience. This is also true for beer, except the range of beer glasses is way more extensive than wine glasses. In Belgium, virtually every beer produced has its own glass. In wine talk, this would be the equivalent of each and every single winery in France developing its own glass for each of its wines.

I cannot express my pure and utter frustration upon being served a craft beer in an improper glass. The biggest examples of improper glassware presentation = Imperial styles in pint glasses and High-gravity Belgian beers in pints glasses. Pint glasses, in most situations, are not the appropriate or preferred vessel, especially with beers boasting high levels of alcohol and extremely complex flavor profiles.

Carrying all the proper glassware can be very daunting, expensive and time consuming. For the most part, two or three different styles should suffice for most craft beer menus, unless of course you specialize in Belgian styles. The basic glassware types, with recommended beer styles, can be found here at CraftBeer.com.

As with wine, craft beer presentation requires a properly cleaned glass.  Glassware must be completely free of oils, soap residue, and pretty much all foreign materials. Bottom-line: beer must be poured into SPOTLESS glassware. (To learn how to properly clean glassware, check out this guide from the Brewers Association.)

Sure, you can pour the beer behind the counter so that I cannot see whether or not the glass was clean. But the beer will not lie, and I will find out. Beer poured into a properly clean glass forms a proper head and creates residual lacing as the beer is consumed. There are several ways to test for a clean glass. The Brewers Association details them here.

“Temperature is actually something that many beers need to scream loud and clear about. Because if you listen to your beer, it doesn’t want to be served totally cold. Most beers, beyond light American Lager and Pilsners, want to be served warmer at cellar temperatures.” — Julia Herz, Brewer’s Association

The factor in beer presentation that is almost always neglected is beer temperature. Would you serve a Sauvignon Blanc warm or a big Napa Valley Cabernet at white wine temperatures? I don’t think so. As with wine, not all beer is created equal. If you are a restaurant that has chosen to carry special styles that require service at special temperatures, you need to recognize and honor temperature ranges.

Despite what the average beer consumer, brainwashed by admen and mega-corporation ad campaigns, think — most beer should not be served ice cold. Why would people be brainwashed into thinking this? Because bad beer tastes much better ice cold. Your taste receptors are numbed by the cold and you actually can’t get a good impression of the flavors in that beer. RateBeer.com has an excellent and comprehensive guide for proper beer serving temperatures.

Now don’t even get me started on “chilled” glassware. Unless you are serving a mass-produced light lager made with adjunct ingredients, chilled glassware is not only unnecessary, but undesirable. Not only is it an unnecessary step in beer service, it can always adversely impede the beer drinking experience. For more on this topic, visit the section on Glassware Temperature from the Brewers Association.

Not to mention, chilling glassware is the biggest cop-out when it comes to cleaning glassware.

And last but not least, my final grievance of today (and trust me, this is not all of them…)

______________

Improper Pouring and Poor Presentation of Craft Beer

Case Study #1: To date, I’ve had two rather disappointing experiences with beer service at a new, super trendy downtown Napa Valley waterfront establishment owned by a pretty well-known Food Network star chef (how is that for subtly?). The service there is impeccable and the food is top notch. The draft beer, although partially craft, is uninspired and typical of the area. The bottle list seems to rotate a bit more, so they have that going for them

One night I decided to order a Belgian beer in the bottle. First mistake: the female behind the bar poured it into a pint glass, almost always the improper glass for any beer from Belgium. The second mistake she made was to treat it like wine. Instead of pouring a full glass of beer, pouring straight down towards the end, allowing the CO2 to release from the beer and give it a nice foamy head… she opted to tilt the beer, slowly pouring out 1/3 of it, carefully making sure not to agitate it and allow a head to build. She placed the glass and the partially poured beer in front of me.

First of all, if you are only going to partially pour beer, then you better give me a smaller glass. Second of all, WTF. I took the bottle and I proceeded to finish it off with a nice hard pour, creating a desired amount of head.

Case Study #2: I was excited to learn that a recently Michelin-rated (but not starred) restaurant in downtown Napa had Orval, quite possibly my favorite beer in the world. And not only did it have the beer, but it had the proper glassware. Call me naive, call me assuming, but I figured that a place which not only carried ORval, but it’s proper glass, would also know how to make the proper pour.

Sadly, my assumptions were proven wrong.

For those unfamiliar with the wiles of Orval, it is a bottle-conditioned Trappist ale that gets spiked with brettanomyces (a wild yeast strand) at bottling. The bottle is specially designed with a “yeast catcher” in the neck, which prevents yeast from being poured into the glass. Orval requires a very attentive pour, which allows it to develop a large, billowy almost meringue like peak of foam which raises above the glass (but does not flow over). This pour is easily to obtain with practice, and should not intimidate anyone. ‘

Now, I can handle a sub-par pour, but what I will not stand for is the yeast to be poured into the glass, which is exactly what to obviously untrained server did. The experience almost turned me into a beer nazi. I wanted to strip them the right of serving Orval until they learned how to give it the respect it deserves.

If there is one lesson that should be taken away from this experience, it is DO NOT POUR YEAST FROM BOTTLE-CONDITIONED BEERS INTO THE GLASS WITH THE BEER. And if you are curious to know what happens when you do so, specifically with Orval, feel free to watch my video tasting with Orval where I discover first-hand just what yeast does to the flavor…

If there is one things, just one thing, on this entire list of grievances that I will encourage all restaurants to learn above all else — it is how to properly pour beer. Everything else is just gravy on the cake. A great resource is, once again, the Brewers Association.

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I wish I could say that the rant ends here, unfortunately this is only the tip of the iceberg. However, have faith in knowing that these grievances were not done in vain and that I have set out on a personal mission to change the current state of craft beer in the restaurant industry. Stay tuned.

“Artie, I think I want to start a blog.”

“Ashley, stop thinking.”

And on that fateful day in October 2007, I stopped thinking and started writing.

My first blog (hazy stars) was inspired by Artie Isaac, my employer and my most influential mentor at the time. My sincere desire to work for Young Isaac was a direct result of Artie and his blog, Net Cotton Content. Even before I first met Artie, and way before I started working with him, I followed his blog very closely. I read many of his suggested books. Having so much admiration and respect for the man, it was the natural progression to work with him.

I have the theory, that if you want to become more intelligent, talented and successful, you need to surround yourself with people who are more intelligent, talented and successful than yourself. Artie was such a person, and in my regretfully brief year working with him, I learned several valuable lessons that have helped mold me into the personal brand that I am today.

Three important lessons I learned from Artie were:

1. Self-branding: The man is a master of self-branding. When people “buy” services from him, they aren’t buying a product, they are buying the person.

Oddly enough, my first blog post ever was about myself-branding mission.

Although my original blog was a hodge-podge of political, environmental, marketing, and Ohio related material… I ultimately made the decision to start a themed blog.

And as the story goes, I originally wanted to write a wine blog. Intimidation (from the wine industry) played a huge part in my decision to forgo “Confessions of a Vinophile” and launch “The Columbus Beer Wench.” Now, I’m sure if I told Artie that I was intimidated he probably would have said something like: “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

Either way, as fate would have it, on February 7th 2008, The Beer Wench was born. And I’ve been branding myself ever since.

2. Creativity: Artie says it best on his site: “Every child is a prodigy until told otherwise.”

“I think Picasso said that. You were once a child, so this goes for you, too… You can return to the prodigy you once were, simply by changing the way you talk to yourself. Once we stop hindering our creativity, we become more creative. So, I’m not only teaching people how to become more creative. I’m also teaching people how to teach creativity. I’m especially teaching people how to teach themselves to be more creative.” — Artie Isaac

3. Goal-setting: In his Teaching Creativity class at The Ohio State University, Artie challenges his students to set consider: “For what am I investing all this time, money and effort? What is my goal?” During what is now a decade of teaching creativity, Artie has guided the goal development by challenging students with a special assignment. Which brings us to where we are today…

The Assignment: Write hypothetical newspaper headlines describing your achievement of four goals  — one each for four aspects of your life: personal, family, community, and business. Today I encourage all my friends to read about this assignment and complete it for yourself: click here.

Naturally, I have taken it upon myself to complete this assignment as well. And I’m not going to lie, it is an extremely hard challenge… even for the “most” creative.

The Wench’s Headlines

Personal: This one was hard to narrow down to just one goal. I have a plethora of personal goals, but the assignment requires something newsworthy. This goal might shock some of you, but go big or go home, right?

“Routson becomes 1st Certified Cicerone and Certified Sommelier in beverage History”

Family: This one is pretty hard for me (actually, the hardest of the four). Jokingly, I would love to say “Anthony Bourdain Weds the Beer Wench” — but, let’s not kid ourselves. Anyways, this one is pretty selfish. Essentially, I’m asking my parents to develop an alliance with me in my career path….

“Parents forgo Retirement and Join forces with Craft Beer Industry Daughter”

Community: Another though category. What community do I focus on? My craft beer culture? My local community? My peers? My Twitter community? All of the above?

“Through Education and Advocacy, Social Media Maven Ashley Routson is Changing the Landscape of the Artisan Beverage Culture”

Business: This I had to think about really hard. In my world, business and personal goals overlap. Most of business goals are also personal goals. Here are two goals that I’ve thought seriously about in recent days (both are very lofty, so beware):

“Craft Brewers Conference Announces Routson as Key Note Speaker”

“Routson Named New President of The Brewers Association”

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Well, what are you waiting for? Get your creative juices going! Complete the assignment and either post your answers on your website/blog/facebook and link back to me… or simply leave your responses in my comment section! Good luck!!!

Even the Miss USA pageant doesn’t end with the crowning of the victor, so we decided that our “20 Most Eligible Bachelors of Craft Beer” needed to include some special awards as well.

Since the men were all judged on three separate measures (please read the rules and criteria on my previous post), we decided it was appropriate to award the winner of each measure a special title. Something special for the man who scored the most on the personality scale, the most on the talent scale, and the most on the appearance scale, and so on.

But that’s not all folks. Why not ride this wave out as long as we can, right? Miss Jess Hunter, Assistant Editor and Staff Writer at Denver Off The Wagon, and I decided to add a fun twist to the competition by adding a few superlatives… super high school style (oh come on, you know, the things you vote on for the senior year book).

Enough with the words… on with the show!

THE “SPECIAL” AWARDS

Mr. Craft Beer: NOAH REGNERY

Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all? According to the results, this guy is the complete package. He walks the walk, he talks the talk. He has the look, the swagger, and now the bragging rights of “The Most Eligible Bachelor of Craft Beer.”

Runner-up: Matt Bryndilson

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Mr. Congeniality: MATT BRYNDILSON

Brewers are not exactly known for having the best social skills, that is why they work all day in a brewery, after all! This award goes to the most congenial, charismatic and inspirational “contestant”. This person scored the highest on the “personality” measure.

Runner Up: Jamie Floyd

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Mr. Photogenic: KELLY RYAN

Let’s face it, brewers are not the most glamorous men in the world. And the pretty ones definitely stand out. This award goes to the winner of the beauty pageant. This person scored the highest on the “appearance” measure.

Runner Up: Matt Dauffenbach

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The Rockstar: GREG KOCH

There are all sorts of levels of talents in the craft beer industry. Brewing skills, marketing, public relations, sales… all are very important to the success of a company. This award goes to the one who rocks the Casbah. This person scored the highest on the “talent” measure.

Runner Up: Garrett Oliver

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THE SUPERLATIVES

Best Dressed: GARRETT OLIVER

Don’t get us wrong, brewers boots, dickies workshirts, tie-dye and plaid are all adorable in their own respects. But there are only a select few men in the beer industry worthy of the adjective: dapper. And we think Garrett Oliver is the swankiest of the swank.

Runner-up: Matt Bryndilson (the man makes lederhosen look sexy…)

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Sexiest Brewers Beard: JASON YESTER

Ladies don’t deny it, beards are sexy. Being badass enough to sport an epic beard in addition legendary dreadlocks = pure WIN. When it comes to facial hair, Jason Yester is the cat’s meow.

Runner-up: Eric Salazar

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Best Pearly Whites: DYLAN LINTERN

Never trust the men with killer smiles (you know the kind: glimmering white teeth, adorable dimples), because they can con you into about anything… including drinking Schlitz out of a can in a dive bar at 4 am… but I digress.

Runner-up: Matt Dauffenbach

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Best Twinkle Eyes: ADAM AVERY

Pictures do not do this man justice (Come on Adam, when you gonna get better press photos?). One look into his eyes, and you will be captivated for… well, hours. And probably days. Maybe even months. But not like I would know…

Runner-up: Tyler King

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Class Clown: JAMES WATT

There is a saying that goes: Don’t take life too seriously, you’ll never get out alive. The dynamic duo over at Brewdog definitely live by this motto, as evidenced by their rather brilliantly insane marketing gimmicks and feats in brewing. Oh and penguin costumes? ‘Nough said.

Runner-up: Matt Dauffenbach

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Biggest Jock: CHAD MELIS

Working in the beer industry can be a slippery slope. Consumption of beer everyday, typically with copious amounts of food, can be quite detrimental to one’s girlish figure. But, there are some men out there dedicated to fitness and keeping their body beach-ready.

Runner-up: Adam Avery

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Biggest Flirt: COLIN FERGUSON

Don Juan, Casanova, Dracula, George Clooney — they all have it. The word is CHARISMA. We are talking about the snake charmers who can talk the pants… errr boots off just about anyone. And Colin is one heck of a Ladies Man.

Runner-up: Dr. Bill Sysak

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Most Plaid-Tastic Flannel-i-cious: JASON OLIVER

Plaid is the new black. And it takes a real man to pull off the plaid-flannel combination. In fact, it takes a really burly manly mountain man. That or a brewer. Either way, it is one heck of a fashion statement.

Runner-up: Joe Mohrfeld

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Biggest (Internet) Geek: Shaun O’ Sullivan

They may be worshiped by many, but let’s not kid ourselves here. Brewers are geeks. And their fans are geeks. And the winner of the biggest geek award goes to Sully, the man rarely ever seen NOT on some sort of technological device doing something on the Internet.

Runner-up: Greg Koch

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Well folks, thanks for playing. And thanks for getting excited about brewers that get some of us ladies in the beer industry excited. Now… who wants to help make the calendar?

Ladies and gentlemen,

welcome to the main event.

After weeks of nominations and eliminations, the 20 Most Eligible Bachelors of Craft Beer (2011) have been determined.

The basic qualifications were as such:

1. Must work for a craft brewery (all positions considered)
2. Must NOT be married (other relationship statuses accepted)

Many men were evaluated, and only 20 made the final cut.

The judging criteria were as follows:

1. Industry Talent
2. Personality
3. Appearance

20 men were scored and ranked — but only ONE man will take home the crown of “Mr. Craft Beer 2011.”

Without any further ado, let me present the winners of….

THE 20 MOST ELIGIBLE BACHELORS of CRAFT BEER 2011

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# 20 — Mr. James Watts

Founder, BrewDog

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# 19 — Mr. Dylan Lintern

Vice President, NOLA Brewing Company

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#18 — Mr. Chad Melis

Marketing Director, Oskar Blues

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#17 — Mr. Jon Carpenter

Brewer, Dogfish Head

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#16 — Mr. Eric Salazar

Brewer, New Belgium Brewing Company

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#15 — Mr. Colin Ferguson

Beer Jockey, Great Divide Brewing Company

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#14 — Mr. Tyler King

Brewmaster, The Bruery

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#13 — Mr. Jason Yester

President & Brewmaster, Trinity Brewing

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#12 — Mr. Jason Oliver

Brewmaster, Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company

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#11 — Mr. Matt Dauffenbach

Sales Manager & Evangelist, Tallgrass Brewing Company

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And now for the top ten most eligible men in the craft beer industry … drum roll please….

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#10 — Dr. Bill Sysak

FOH Beverage Supervisor, Stone Brewing Company

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#9 — Mr. Adam Avery

Founder & Brewmaster, Avery Brewing Company

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#8 — Mr. Jamie Floyd

Co-founder & Brewmaster, Ninkasi Brewing Company

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#7 — Mr. Greg Koch

CEO & Co-founder, Stone Brewing Company

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#6 — Mr. Garrett Oliver

Founder & Brewmaster, Brooklyn Brewery

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#5 — Mr. Joe Mohrfeld

Brewer, Odell Brewing Company

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#4 — Mr. Shaun “Sully” O’ Sullivan

Brewmaster & Co-Founder, 21st Amendment

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#3 — Mr. Kelly Ryan

Brewer, EPIC Beer

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#2 — Mr. Matt Bryndilson

Brewmaster, Firestone Walker Brewery

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#1

MR. CRAFT BEER 2011

NOAH REGNERY

Head Brewer, Pizza Port Brewing Company

Photo Credit: Facebook

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Well, there you have it. The most eligible bachelors of craft beer in 2011. But before all you ladies start bombarding these fine gentlemen with emails, facebook messages, text, tweets, etc… take heed because, unfortunately, many of them are in committed relationships.

BUT WAIT FOLKS. The fun DOES NOT stop here. As with the Miss America Pageant, we have decided to give some of these boys “special awards”… stay tuned for Mr. Congeniality, Mr. Best Dressed and more!

Some of you (okay maybe just my Dad) might have noticed my lack of blogging in the past few weeks. This is partly due to the fact that I am now gainfully employed by an awesome brewery, whose website and blog have taken priority over my own. It is also partly due to travel; the mayhem of beer festival season is upon us… And the last reason I have been so “quite” on my site is because I have been putting a lot of time an energy (yes, I am dead serious) into the research and development of the inaugural list of “20 Bachelors of Craft Beer.”

The idea was developed from conversations that are constantly brought up in personal circles, often behind the scenes, but sometimes publicly on various Social Media platforms. Let’s face it; when humans are attracted to other humans, we tend to vocalize it to our peers (and in my case, the Internet). And as much as I try to fight gender stereotypes, I must admit that the ladies of craft beer do, in fact, gush over the men in the industry.

Now, you must be asking yourself why on earth a self-proclaimed feminist would want to glamorize the boys in the biz… therefore upholding gender stereotypes and further creating a “delineation” between the sexes. Why not a “20 Most Eligible People of Craft Beer” contest instead? Touche, my friends. But the answer is pretty simple: I am a woman in the industry which means I carry with me a certain bias. It is easier for me, personally,  to evaluate men on a subjectively objective scale. And since I was a principal in the development of this operation, it is important that I remove as much bias as possible.

Now having said that, it is important to clarify that, while I may have spearheaded and organized the operation, my opinion only contributed to a fraction of the actual outcome. Allow me now to discuss the process:

This was not a “people’s choice poll”. Instead, we opted for a “pageant-like” competition. Unlike most pageants, the participants did not enter themselves and were not required perform a certain set of tasks on which we judged them.

In order to even qualify for the “pageant”, the men were required to 1. Work for a brewery (not necessarily as a brewer) and they 2. Could NOT be married (other relationship statuses were accepted).

Nominations were collected by a select group of women, who then put them all through several elimination rounds until we narrowed down the list of Top 20. And then, a secret panel consisting of 10 women from all areas of the industry and areas of the world scored each of the 20 “contestants” on 3 different measures.

It is extremely important to note the key word in the competition was

“E L I G I B L E.”

Appearance, although a factor, was not the most important measure. Even Miss America is required to have a talent and prove that she contributes value to the greater good of the world (World Peace FTW!). And so, all of the men on the top 20 list were individually scored on the following three separate measures:

1. Industry Talent: Although many of the men excel at other hobbies, this measure strictly speaks to the “industry impact” that these individuals have made. This can be evidenced by number of medals won, books written, movements started etc… The main question is: are they important and relevant in the craft beer industry?

2. Personality: Let’s face it, brewers (although adorable in their awkwardness) are not known for being social butterflies. In fact, most are extremely socially awkward and truthfully, some are complete pricks. However, a select few stand out from the crowd. These are the speakers that can steal a room, the men that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and the men you find yourself drawn to like a moth to the flame.

3. Appearance: Being in the beer industry is less than glamorous, and those who make it look glamorous deserve a little bit of credit. Drinking beer for a living can adversely affect one’s health and physical fitness. But there are some men who have gone above and beyond to ensure that they keep their beach-ready physique. And well, then there are those that are just adorable in their own awkwardly geeky ways.

Not all the men on the list excel at all three measures. Some might have a lot of two, but none of one. This is why each person was scored on each separate measure, instead of scoring them on a simple scale from one to ten.

Whew. Now that we have gotten all that out of the way… It is time to announce the 20 Most Eligible Bachelors of Craft Beer, right?

Yeahhhhhhhhh, about that.

Do I have the results? Yes….. BUT, I need some time to properly organize them and present them. So please bare with me and, *cross your fingers*, the big reveal will happen within the next day or so… STAY TUNED!

What are the GREAT beer brands that are using Social media well? In your opinion, what breweries use social media the best? Can you give me a list of the best beer brands on Twitter? What breweries “get” social media?

I have been asked various versions of those questions more times than I can say. And naturally, I have my opinions and thoughts on which breweries I think use social media well, as well as opinions about who does it wrong.

But, I am social media geek and a snob, so I am curious to see what everyone else thinks. This is why I have decided to launch the “Top Ten Social Media Breweries” Awards.

The nomination round is the first step. I have developed a list of questions on Survey Monkey with multiple choice answers and some essay style responses to capture what it actually means for a brewery to be “good” at social media.

The last part of the survey calls for the nomination of the top ten social media breweries. The call for nominations will be open EXACTLY one week from tomorrow. The call for nominations will end on MONDAY MARCH 21st. After nominations have been made, I will create a final list of the Top 20 breweries on social media. And then a final vote will be placed. The voting will be open for EXACTLY one week. And the top ten social media breweries will be announced soon after.

My goal is to get as much feedback from as many people possible, to make the results really legitimate. The more people that get involved, the better the results will be. So please pass along the link! And may the best brewery win!!!

Click here to take survey

This morning, Jay Brooks of Brookston Beer Bulletin tagged me in what I will call a pseudo chain mail style post circa 1990. Unless you were born in the 90′s (and if so, why on earth are you reading my blog?), you are probably familiar with these types of emails. Your friend send you a list of questions, you have to fill them out with your own answers and then pass it on to a certain number of friends otherwise you will face 10 years bad luck…

Not one to pass up an opportunity to talk about myself (who are we kidding here), it was only natural that I accept Jay’s challenge to fill out the questions and then tag some of my favorite fellow bloggers to carry the torch…

The theme of the challenge is “7 Things You Don’t Know About Me” — which, for me, is an extremely tough challenge considering I am pretty loud on the Internet and don’t hide anything. But after a lot of contemplating and a pint of beer, I was able to scratch up a few answers.

7 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT THE WENCH

1. My natural hair color. But no worries, I don’t know it either. I do know for certain that I am a natural blond. Or at least I was once…

2. I ran the Olympic Torch in 2002. My parents actually bought the torch, which means I own a legit Olympic torch that still has char from the original flame. Pretty rad once in a lifetime experience, if you ask me. But then, nothing compares to actually competing in the Olympics. And I’m proud to “boast” that several of my past teammates and fellow athletic colleagues from Ohio State have competed and medaled in the Olympics.

3. My wing span is 6 foot 1. My arms and fingers are abnormally long (my arm is literally the SAME length as my leg). And I have a theory behind why this is, which brings us to answer number 4…

4. I didn’t it puberty until I was 16. I know this is an awkward statement, but we are all adults here. I have a theory that, like many athletes, I stunted my growth as a child. My metabolism was super fast. Much to my teacher’s dismay, I was also hyperactive and could not sit still for the life of me. Combine this with hours of  training and hours of hardcore competition a week (mostly swimming, some track and field). It didn’t matter how much or how often I ate, my body did not produce enough energy to grow. My doctors always predicted that I would be taller than my parents, who are both 5’11. According to the “Golden Number” theory, height has a direct correlation to arm span. In conclusion, I am supposed to be somewhere between 5’11 and 6’1, but I am only 5’8. And I really do wish I was taller.

5. I have lived in 10 different places in 4 different states in the past 2 years. The gypsy lifestyle can be both exciting and depressing. My transient path, although rich with friends, is actually very lonely. My lifestyle is a pretty solid representation of my personality. It takes a lot to hold my interest. I hate hitting success ceilings and barriers to growth. I get really antsy when I am not being intellectually stimulated or challenged, which usually results in an immediate change of my situation (i.e.: job change, relocation). Thankfully, I am in love with my current job and am blissfully happy with living in the SF Bay Area… so maybe this gypsy wench will get a bit more grounded.

6. I don’t date. Oddly enough, I have never been in a serious relationship with another person. One could probably deduct from my inability to sit still or live in one place too long, that I have a fear of commitment. This would be a half correct consumption. I was an awkward ugly kid, driven by athletic and academic success. Boys were not interested in me, and I was not interested in them. I saw them as a deterrence to my success. And being in a relationship never became a priority in my life. My parents actually thought I was a lesbian for some time because of my disinterest in dating. But now my mom just tells people I’m asexual — and I’m not even kidding.

7. I am a dancing queen. Those that know me in person are already aware of this fact. Dancing music of preference changes just about as frequently as my lifestlye does. I have ballroom training, with a heavy emphasis on swing. I have taken over 10 weeks of country line dancing lessons. Right now, I’m really into salsa (and for a white chick, I’ve got skills). In the past, I was really into electronic. And naturally, I love dancing to 80′s, disco, reggae, and pop music. I think I love dancing almost more than anything else in this world… it probably falls 3rd in line. 1. Ohio State 2. Food & Beverage and 3. Dancing.

Well, that is the best I could come up with at this time. Now for the fun part, what other bloggers should I  loop into this self-promotion scheme?

The first nomination goes to my mentor:

• Stephen Beaumont, Blogging at The World of Beer

The next few go to some of my dearest (beer blogger) friends:

• Tatiana Peavy, A Strong Fuggly Brew
• Chad Yakobson, The Brettanomyces Project
• P.J. Hoberman, Starting A Brewery
• Alex P Davis, Bike. Bus. Beer.
• Stephen Johnson, New Brew Thursday
• Carla Companion, The Beer Babe

And now for some wine bloggers:

• Amy Corron-Powers, Another Wine Blog
• Thea Dwelle, Luscious Lushes
• Joe Roberts, 1 Wine Dude
• Gabriella Opaz, Catavino

And last but not least, brewery blogs:

• Greg Koch, Stone Brewing Co.
• Ryan A Ross, Karl Strauss
• Daniel Del Grande, Bison Brewing Company
• Mariah Calagione, Dogfish Head Brewing Company

And even though I already named 15, I’m going to go out on a limb and challenge:

• Gary Vaynerchuk, Wine Library TV

As with the chain emails of the past, this chain blogging post carries with it SEVERE circumstances for those who ignore its tag. No folks, not 7 years bad luck or 10 years bad sex. My threat is public humiliation and tauntings from The Wench. Cheers!