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Friday, June 22, 2007

The New Gig

After years of wanting to hit the big time, after many submissions sent with no answer whatsoever (even "Piss off!" would have been nice), today I made the mainstream.

Today is my debut as the beer columnist for Conde Nast Portfolio's content website. (Portfolio is Conde Nast's new business publication, a magazine intended to compete with Fortune and Forbes.) I took over the First Draft column from Ken Wells, who wrote Travels with Barley and wrote frequently about beer for the Wall Street Journal before joining Portfolio as a senior editor last year. Ken decided he had too much on his plate to do the bi-weekly column, and was gracious enough to recommend me as a replacement.

I have to thank Ken for the recommendation, but we all owe him some thanks for this accomplishment: Conde Nast Portfolio is one of the few major publications in America that has a regular beer column...and no wine column. I like that. Kind of starts to even things up a bit.

Anyway, today's column is about the influx of fast money that helped frag the craft beer segment in the late 1990s...and may soon endanger it again. A cautionary tale. I'm going to have some fun with this. Stay tuned. (Do I really look like that picture?)

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good for you Lou, and your face sketch is much better than the one on BeerAdvocate. Very classy, and congratulations again. Please keep doing this blog, it is one of the few I check everyday. Cheers.

Aaron
(leftmindedrighty)

DempseysArmy said...

Nice article Lew! Congrats!

Love the little "Lew Cartoon" likeness too, LOL!

Will you change you BA avatar/website avatar fromt he "wild and cray" cartoon Lew to the "suave and sophisticated" Lew cartoon?

Steven said...

Congrats Lew!

And no, you don't look like that illustration anymore, did you give them an old picture?

Anonymous said...

Nice job, Lew! It is nice to see a focus on beer rather than wine.

Did they do that picture of you with an Etch-a-sketch?

cheers!
Mo

Dan Bengel said...

Good job young man! I always knew you would make the big time. Now about those crumbs.....

Alan said...

Congratulations, Lew. Every step you are taking in the normalization of discussing good beer makes waves.

Alan
A Good Beer Blog

Lew Bryson said...

Thanks, folks, I appreciate it. I don't think I can use the sketch, actually: it's their property. But it's NOT an old picture, it's actually from a picture Peter "Beer Appreciation" Cherpack took of me at the first Session Beer dinner at Ortino's, back in March.

Tony said...

Way to go Lew.

Tony
Vecenie Dist. Co.
Pgh. Pa.

Anonymous said...

Nice piece to open with in a financial mag! Congratulations.

I think the illustration looks more like Norm from This Old House/Yankee Workshop, but hey, when you're getting one of those classy little illustrations next to your byline, it can't be all bad!

Anonymous said...

Our local beer boy makes the big time....congrats Lew!

Looking forward to some informative and at times contrarian
viewpoints on the wonderful world of beer.

Cheers - Richard

Lew Bryson said...

Steve,

Thanks. That's what my sister said: "OH! You get one of those line drawing pictures! How cool!" I've arrived, I guess.

Lew Bryson said...

Richard,

You know me, brother: "Contrarian" is my middle name!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Brother Lew. Keep fighting - uh, writing - the good fight.

YFGF!

Anonymous said...

Congrats Lew!!

I guess the lesson is to keep pluggin' away...

Unknown said...

Congrats, Lew!

Good to see a mainstream magazine with the guts to focus on craft beer on a monthly basis.

-Mark

Lew Bryson said...

Thanks, folks, thanks!

Mark, I agree: but it's actually a bi-weekly commitment. Even better.

Steven said...

"OH! You get one of those line drawing pictures! How cool!"

Um, did you know that the web-site's template has a glitch and your mug is adorning Ken Wells' previous articles? Don't want to be accused of bad beer geek terminology! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Great intro piece "less than big now", BIG guy. But I don't think there's as large an assortment of "I failed biz 101" people looking to get into the beer making these days. And even if there are...there's a slew of beer savvy geeks at the ready to torch them down in flames if the end product isn't worth their dime.

So...yes. You do worry too much.

:-)

okbrewer said...

WAYTAGO LEW! Congratulations on the steady gig! And just think, I knew you when...


Bob R in OKC

Anonymous said...

Where do you buy Portfolio? Some place like Barnes N Noble? Never heard of it. What section of the newsstand is it in?

Anonymous said...

Conde Nasty who? Sorry but I have never heard of this publication. I guess you thinking this is "the big time" is all relative. I'm curious, what are they paying you to write for them? $100 an article? You might not want to quit your day job.

Lew Bryson said...

Rebecca,
I just saw my first copy of it at the newsstand in the Philly airport. It's a new magazine, first issue came out in April, next issue's due out in August, at which time it will go monthly. But my column's at their website, www.portfolio.com.

Lew Bryson said...

My dear friend Anonymous's comment was just too funny, spiteful, and clueless not to publish this time: enjoy!

Steven said...

The fact that A. Nonymous has never heard of Conde Nast is telling in and of itself.

Anonymous said...

Will your column ever be published within an issue of the magazine? I enjoy reading "the hard copies" like the magazines. Guess I'm old-school.
:-)

Lew Bryson said...

I dunno, Rebecca. I suspect it's strictly web content.

Anonymous said...

OUTSTANDING. It's a privalege to be one opf your cheerleaders. Always knew it was in ya.