A One Pint Stand Is My New Craft Beer Blog-Same Craft Beer Voice

This is the first of what I hope will be many articles that I am writing about craft beer at A One Pint Stand. My dream of having my writing and podcast living at one place is finally being realized. The decision to leave Beerploma was not easy.

However, the prospect of being able to write what I wanted and on my terms became more and more appealing as the years went on. I have spent the past 8 years developing my writer’s voice, earn the trust of readers, and create relationships in the Minnesota craft beer industry.

It Is Time

Now, it is time to take on the challenge of building my own A One Pint Stand audience. I will deliver the same content-filled with narrative, humor, and heart. I see the coverage of craft beer, both locally and nationally, as something that has become watered down. Instead of narratives filled with substance, many beer influencers are satisfied attempting to tell a craft beer story with a reel or a picture gallery lacking in context to truly engage the viewer.

My hope is that A One Pint Stand can fill an ever-growing void of substance. I believe that there is space for all types of beer promotion and coverage. I also believe it is fair to demand more from our beer storytellers. A visually appealing filter on Instagram is not an apt substitute for illustrating the passion behind a brewery’s brand and story with genuinely thoughtful words or videos.

How Did I Get Here?

In 2014, I began writing for Beerploma, a local Minnesota craft beer blog. I quickly assumed the role of Editor-in-Chief and began learning what my beer writer’s voice was. At Beerploma, I established myself as a trusted and knowledgeable voice in the local craft beer scene. I helped grow Beerploma from a small, niche craft beer blog into a place where people gravitated for craft beer information. The built-in audience for my writing was substantial and loyal. As my writing became known, I established relationships with many people in the Minnesota craft beer scene.

I Had Help Along the Way

Eric Wentling

I mentioned earlier that I was a craft beer geek who had never previously written about beer. There were people who definitely helped me find my writer’s voice. It will come as no shock that these people were beer bloggers, themselves. Eric Wentling, a masterful homebrewer, decorated BJCP Beer Judge, and the writer of Jack of All Brews, a beer blog that I followed closely, played a major role in my development as a beer writer. We would bounce ideas off of each other, laugh with one another, and, eventually, we would both write for Beerploma.

Eric and I even started a podcast called A One Pint Stand. When I started writing for Beerploma, he was ensconced in the local craft beer scene. He was never shy about writing about his experiences. His palate for beer is peerless. When we would taste beer, he would always avail his knowledge about what we were drinking in a way that was helpful and never condescending. I would always come away from our meetings feeling like I always learned something new about beer. Eric brought his concept of “Best of” lists to Beerploma and those articles would become the chum that would attract the vociferously opinionated sharks on Beer People. It was so much fun doing those lists and comparing and contrasting them as we each penned our own. Eric and I would do a lot of traveling in the summer and wrote a lot about our adventures.

Beerploma would not be nearly what it is today if it were not for Eric and his wisdom and friendship. He taught me that if I want to write intelligently about beer, I have to taste beer and understand the styles and nuance of the beverage.

Paige Latham Didora

Another instrumental influence in my development as a beer writer was Paige Latham Didora. Paige writes like Monet paints. Each word that is typed is like a masterful brush stroke on a canvas. Paige’s blog, Alcohol By Volume, is a wonderful place to really be educated about beer, be transported to beer, and to be inspired by words. Like Eric, I read much of what Paige wrote before we became friends. Paige convinced me to attend several of the Beer Blogger and Writer Conferences.

Paige is smart, funny, and kind. She is respected, revered, and followed by people all across the country. She has imparted countless nuggets of advice and wisdom over the years. Our little web series A Second Sip will hopefully make an appearance, again, in 2023. She has supported me and along with her wonderful husband, Rick, urged me to not fear the unknown of starting my own blog.

The Travelling Pint

The Travelling Pint, also known as Tiffany Martin, really help me take the plunge to start my own blog. I met Tiffany in Milwaukee at the Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference in 2017. We became fast friends and had a blast the following year at the Beer Now Conference in Virginia. We share a love of all things Star Wars and she and her husband, Bernie, hosted me for my 2022 summer beercation. She is a mainstay in the Ontario craft beer scene and urged me to do my own thing.

Will Matthews

Will Matthews, a childhood friend and beer geek, invited me to write for Beerploma in 2014. I think that taking a chance on someone without any writing experience is brave. Will has such a love for beer and exploration. I enjoyed many of our beer conversations over the years. I always had fun with the Brew Madness event and will continue to follow that in the future. Ultimately, Will’s vision of what Beerploma should be differed enough from mine that it made it easy to see the sign from the universe that it was time for me to go my own way. However, the exit was amicable and we still maintain a friendship.

I’m So Excited For What’s On The Next Page

The opportunity to continue to write about the Minnesota craft beer industry is something that has added so much joy to my world. For all of you brewery folks who have invited me into your breweries, brewpubs, and beer conversations, I cannot tell you how enriching those acts of hospitality have been for me. A One Pint Stand will continue to be a voice for promoting quality in beer, inclusivity in beer spaces, and most of all, doing my best to do an admirable job of telling your stories. More importantly, I look forward to forging more friendships with the people I meet in and around craft beer. I find that the stories about beer are easy to write when there is a genuine connection with the people I interview.

Writing about the people in the industry, the events that showcase the wonderful fermented creations, and the places and people I discover along the way gives my life so much purpose. Just like the line from the poem, The Riddle of Strider in Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. which reads, “Not all who wander are lost,” I hope to continue to wander onto your screens and into your ear buds as I share with you my wonderment of great things I find in this craft beer world. Cheers.