This past week I got to meet and speak with Matt Hall, a brewer for Yards Brewery, located in Philadelphia, PA. Matt has been working for Yards for just over five years. He explained to me what his daily routine consists of when he goes into work, what he loves about what he does, and the challenges that he sometimes faces. He provides excellent insight to what life is like as a brewer.
Over this past week, I got to talk to a fellow craft beer blogger, Carla Jean Lauter. Carla is 33 years old and lives in Topsham, Maine. She grew up in Syracuse (Upstate New York), but moved to Maine in 2009. She started her craft beer blog, “The Beer Babe“, in May of 2007. Carla has always loved to write. She likes science writing and nonfiction writing so much that she decided to minor in journalism and also wrote for the university newspaper while she attended college. She attended the University of New Hampshire where she received a B.S. in Marine and Freshwater Biology, and then she received an M. S. in Environmental Science/Environmental Education at Antioch University New England (New Hampshire).
Carla didn’t become interested in beer until after college when her friends started telling her about good tasting beer instead of the nasty, cheap beer you find at college parties. When she was 25 years old, she lived in a house with 5 room mates. There was a beer store around the corner from their house, and so Carla began going to the beer store each week to pick-up a six pack of beer that her and her room mates hadn’t tried yet. They would all hang out and drink beer and discuss their opinions about the beer. They wouldn’t keep track and so they never really knew which ones they liked and didn’t like. This sparked curiosity in Carla about all the different beer styles there are and this is when she decided to start her own blog to record and share her beer experiences. She chose the name, “The Beer Babe”, because it was memorable and she thought it would keep her anonymous, like a restaurant critic, she said. She soon realized how kind and welcoming the craft beer community is and started receiving invites to breweries, events, and gatherings, with her being known as, “The Beer Babe.” She came to know that she was one of the only people concentrating on New England beer and also one of the very few female beer bloggers.
Two of the most challenging things that Carla faces while maintaining her blog are: time and money. She wishes that she could attend every beer event, dinner, and visit breweries across the world, but for financial and times reasons, she unfortunately can’t. Her beer blog is not her only job, she works during the day at a job she loves and so that job is top priority. Her blog originated as a hobby, but became a second job because she is now paid to write. Generally, the hardest thing for her is that she has many ideas to post, but not enough committed time. If she does not have a deadline to work with, she struggles keeping her postings to a regular schedule.
The most exciting part of running her blog is that she gets to sample some really creative beers and talk to amazing people. She loves being able to bring attention to breweries and beers that not many people know about, but should. She said it’s exciting when people out of her local area talk to her about her writing. One of the things she likes the most, is when a brewer is talking about a new beer or project they are working on and how their face lights up when when they are discussing it. She said the best “beer adventure” she has been on so far, was her recent trip to Carlsberg Brewery in Copenhagen, Denmark. She said, “It was fantastic, and made me realize how much beer history there was before the U.S. craft beer boom!”
Carla thinks that blogging is a way for people who, are subject-matter experts or want to start conversation, to have a voice. She says bloggers can go more in depth on a subject or from a different angle than what you would find in a standard newspaper. Journalists are trained to make sure they have their facts right before reporting on them, and bloggers are not trained for this, but should be held to this as well, in Carla’s opinion. She also believes that it’s best to maintain a professional attitude and stick to informing instead of incorporating too much opinion. As as whole, she believes that blogging is a way to let more voices in, and that she hopes that it will support, but not replace, traditional journalism.
Carla gave three main tips of advice for new bloggers:
This was a pleasure getting to speak to Carla, another female craft beer blogger. She gave some truly awesome information and advice. Her current favorite beer is Foundation Brewing Company (ME) – Epiphany (Double/Imperial IPA), which sounds like a beer I’m going to have to try. Go check out her blog!
Don't Worry, Be Hoppy 