Panels, Discussions, and Reflections for Tampa Bay Beer Week
And the hits keep coming…
This week has been a wild one for the craft beer lovers of Tampa Bay, and even more so for the intrepid folks putting on the amazing events around the area. I have been privileged to get to participate in a few while at the same time preaching the craft beer gospel to anyone who will listen. Now there is an idea… a street-corner craft beer preacher. I think the idea has merit…
Anyway, I digress…
Monday night I got to be part of the inaugural Beer Bloggers Summit held at the Pour House in Tampa’s Channel District. I was joined by fellow blogger Carol Dekkers and beer blogger/writer Gerard Walen, and the panel was moderated by Florida Beer Company’s Tom Barris. In attendance were several interested parties, including my old writing buddy Rick Andrews and new blogging friend, Carlos Hernandez. We discussed blogging about beer, identifying your goal as a writer, and developing your “theme”. We talked about some of the pitfalls and some of our own personal approaches to the writing form. It was a small but friendly crowd and i am hoping this is just the first of many to come.
photo courtesy of Carol Dekkers
Wednesday, you may have caught my appearance on Daytime TV with Cyndi Edwards, where I gave her a little education on Beer Week, the growing craft beer industry here locally and on the larger scene, and even did some tasting. She openly admitted that she was “not a beer drinker”, but we all know what that really means: she just hasn’t found the right one yet. In fact, of the five local brews I brought, she really did like two of them: 7venth Sun’s Graffiti Orange and Southern Brewing & Winemaking’s Moonraker Raspberry Chocolate Imperial Stout. You can watch the spot here.
Wednesday evening I joined Tom Barris again at the Brewers’ Tasting Room along with Adam Harold from All About Beer Magazine for a “Beer 201” tasting and education seminar. This was my first time at BTR and I loved it! Maybe someday I’ll get to brew a batch there… As a side note, I got to try my friend Brian Cendrowski‘s first commercial brew, a blood orange wit that was delicious! Tom and Adam did a great job talking about beer styles, history, and the elements of tasting beer. It was a lot of fun.
Thursday morning I was back on the air, this time with Studio 10 and Jerome Ritchey and Roxanne Wilder. This is a show I have done a number of times before, but this was the first time with Roxanne. I love all the folks at Studio 10, and Jerome seems to know exactly how to lead me with questions that take us in to some of the important stuff. None of it is rehearsed, and we only talk for a few minutes before we go live. Roxanne, too, and I appreciated her going into some of the personal side about me and how I developed into a beer lover. We talked Beer Week, beer vs. wine, and the ongoing battle in Tallahassee over ridiculous growler and beer laws. The video of the show is available here.
Thursday night I was in my own backyard at my favorite watering hole: The Ale & the Witch. In a coordinated effort with the good folks at 7venth Sun Brewing in Dunedin, the Witch put on the same ten taps that were at the brewery, and then tapped a special brew later that evening. While I always love my time there, the arrival of Devon & Justin from 7venth Sun as well as numerous folks from Brown Distributing and Brad Dahlhofer (co-founder and CEO of B. Nektar Meadery) made it into a very cool evening.
Ale & the Witch owner Brett Andress with 7venth Sun owners Justin Stange and Devon Kreps
And now… the weekend awaits…
Tonight I will be on a panel of beer folks at Southern Brewing during their Leftover Party and will be joined by John Holl, editor of All About Beer Magazine as well as the author of The Craft Beer Cookbook. It should be most excellent, to say the least.
Cheers!
Beer for the Daddy 
It was great meeting you! 🙂