American Beer Blogger: Emmy Nominee!

My reaction at the news of the Emmy nomination.

Got a call last night from Rudy Vegliante, the producer of American Beer Blogger -- do you remember that? The TV show I did, the Kickstarter funding campaign, the editing, voiceovers, last-minute re-shoots at Stoudt's? And then one little night of airtime on WLVT, which despite lots of calls and support seemed to think we didn't reach their "core audience"...

Well, clearly someone besides Rudy and John and the crew and me liked the show. It's been nominated for a regional Emmy (Mid-Atlantic region) in the Entertainment/Program-Special category, one of three nominees this year. Here's the full list; we're on page 8, category #20.

A nomination may push things along a bit, and maybe, maybe get us another shot at some airtime. If we actually win -- awards are September 22 -- that could get leverage for some more shows. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Congratulations to Rudy, John, and the whole crew, and much thanks to the people at Stoudt's for all their assistance!

American Beer Blogger: the latest

We had the pilot episode of American Beer Blogger in the can Thursday, or so we thought. I went to Green Leaf Studios in Easton, watched the show with the guys, and took a copy home; watched it again, and then watched it again with Cathy and Nora...and, okay, it maybe dragged a leetle bit in spots, but I was reasonably happy with it. Then just before I went for dinner with Cathy -- to Farm and Fisherman in Philly, and it was totally excellent: best damned egg I've ever eaten -- Rudy calls from the studio: PBS saw the pilot, and wanted "more beer in it."

Huh. We'd worked on having it not just be about the beer, because Stoudt's excels at making it about everything: the restaurant, the entertainment, bread baking, cheese making, their Stoudtburg village next door...it's all pretty cool (and the cheese is fricking awesome). But PBS is calling the shots at this point, and I could hardly argue with them wanting more beer in it, so I crammed an email full of as much info as I could get down in five minutes about what makes Stoudt's beers work, and what makes them different, and yeast, and hops, and malt; told Rudy that if he needed it, I could do voiceover work at the studio on Saturday, and ran out the door.

And I wound up doing voiceover this morning. It went well; I did my familiar take on the difference between ales and lagers (a hot jungle vs. a cold pine forest), the different malts in three of Stoudt's ales, and talked some more about hops. Meanwhile, John had re-edited the show, and there was now a LOT more beer in it, including some stuff from the first shooting we did back in May talking to Eddie Stoudt about bitterness in beer which was some of my favorite footage we did, and I was glad to see it back in. I actually like it better now: it's tighter, more focused on beer, and doesn't drag at all. Thanks, PBS.

This Thursday, at 10 PM (Eastern) and again at 10:30 PM, the show will air on WLVT. The station wants to know if people are interested in the show, and the only way to do that is to call them during or shortly after the show at 800.360.0039, or email them after the show. Tell them you liked American Beer Blogger, thank them for running it, and add something different of your own: why you love beer, where you live, your favorite craft brewer, that you're not my cousin, or something like that so they know you're not just reading from a script. Because I only want you to do this if you really like the show. If you don't, for some reason, don't call just to be a good person!


Okay. Here we go. The little beer show that could...no major sponsor, no contest or challenge, no big commercial network, no stars...just beer, the Stoudts, me, and you. Cross your fingers.

American Beer Blogger airs next Thursday!

The American Beer Blogger pilot episode will premiere on March 8th, at 10 PM, on WLVT, the Bethlehem/Lehigh Valley PBS affiliate station. 

It will be an hour-long pledge show, and I'll be appearing live on-air to help with the pledge program (and laugh a lot, probably). 

Don't remember what Carol Stoudt said here, but...

The success of pledging during this and subsequent airings of the show on other PBS stations will be crucial to the continuation of the show. We've been told that what PBS is looking for is the number of pledges during the presentations, not so much the amount of money. At this point, I do not know if they will have a live Webcast of the show; I’m trying to find out, but it looks like they won’t.

So if you're planning on donating to public television this year — or if you want to support craft beer on television — please consider making a pledge during your local affiliate's airing of American Beer Blogger. If your local affiliate isn’t airing it, email them to suggest it! If there are any bars or brewpubs who plan to host viewing parties to support the show (hint, hint), let us know, and we’ll get word of it to your local station, which will help! And if any PBS station manager reads this, and is interested in running American Beer Blogger as a pledge program to catch the motivated, educated, and rapidly growing craft beer community’s attention…drop me a line, and we’ll get you going!

We’re just about ready to roll. Green Leaf told me today the editing is done, they’re just doing the opening and closing credits. We’ve put in the work, now it’s up to you. Watch the show, and if you decide this is the kind of television you’d like to see more of, please consider making a pledge during the show. Feel free to tell them that you’d like to see more American Beer Blogger, too!

Stoudt's: wrapping up shooting, and a nice little festival

Wish I had some pictures for this, but...we were busy!

Cathy and I went up to Stoudt's last night to wrap up shooting for American Beer Blogger. It was low-key; just the two of us and two of the guys from Green Leaf Productions, Mike and Dave. We got there at 4:30, had a quick talk-through about what we were looking for (during which Cathy was volunteered to handle releases, which she did -- of course -- with style and efficiency), and hit the bar. While the guys got the equipment, Cathy and I settled in at the corner of the bar with a glass of American Pale Ale and Karnival Kölsch respectively, and started looking around for likely subjects for the shoot...and came up empty at first. These were mostly folks who were just there for a couple beers and some dinner.

Then, just as Mike and Dave were getting set up, we ran into a younger couple, Brian and Lauren from Queens, who were on the last day of a five-day beer tour (a birthday present from her to him): Dogfish Head (the brewpub in Rehoboth and the big brewery in Milton), Burley Oak in Maryland, Max's on Broadway (where they caught the leftovers -- about 60 taps worth! -- from Max's huge Belgian event, which I have got to get to one of these years), Lancaster Brewing...and now Stoudt's, for the Winter Fest that night.

They were excited, they were big on craft beer, they were articulate: they were perfect. Cathy got releases, Mike and I prepped them for what we were going to do, Dave flipped on the light...and away we went. Great, and then we did another take with a different trajectory, and that was great, too, so much so that as we walked back to the bar from our "Let's go to the fest right now!" walk out of frame, Brian said, "Let's do another take!" It can be fun, for sure!

As I was settling the tab, Mike got to talking to a couple of men, one an older guy, and said he wanted to talk to them as well. Okay, we set up, loosely blocked out what we'd talk about, and we rolled...and about a minute into it, the guy drops the bomb that he's former Stoudt's brewmaster Mark Worona's father! How cool is that! Mark's a great guy, a good friend, and I still run into him at places like GABF. So we had a good chat, and wrapped that one up...and then we really did head over to the fest.

The Winter Fest is smaller than the other fests they do; about 550 people, and eleven breweries were there, and a pretty hot blues band. Cathy and I did a quick recon of the breweries represented at the event, and picked Mudhook and Evil Genius as our two best, most interesting breweries to talk to (partly because they're pretty new, partly because the brewers were actually there...and partly because the light was really good there).

I talked to Kate and Tim Wheeler at Mudhook; Tim had brought his Deep Sea Stout, and I was taken by it: a big (7%) stout, kind of in the export stout vein, with a lot of flavor, and real ale yeast esters, a beer that hadn't been sanded and polished to the point of effeteness; I liked it, and told him so.

Then we wandered over and talked to Trevor and Luke at Evil Genius, where I sipped a glass of their Good and Evil kölsch. They were really enthusiastic about brewing, and why they do it, and how they're getting ready to jump from contract brewing to getting funding together to do their own place. That was good stuff too.

We wrapped up at the bandstand, a big "Hey, that's our show, we'll be going to more breweries, bars, and festivals, watch for us, I'm gonna go blog now" and a big wet kiss for craft brewing and the folks who love it. Then Mike got his laptop from the car so we could get some shots of me typing away, and...well, I promised I'd blog about it, so I'm blogging. And the show...will be on air soon. More about that shortly. Cheers!

American Beer Blogger pilot is funded!

Thanks to all who have pledged for American Beer Blogger: we have reached our $6,000 goal on Kickstarter! If you still want to pledge, please do: anything extra means a better show (maybe some travel expenses...).

We are in the TV business. Very excited right now.

American Beer Blogger events

Yes, smarty-pants, we're still taking a shot at getting the $60,000 we need to film six episodes of American Beer Blogger, and I'm on the road to support it.

Tomorrow, I'll be at Bocktown Beer & Grill Monaca for a special event I wish we could get more of: An Evening of EduTastion (or something like that) with Lew Bryson. I'll be at Bocktown from 6:00 to 8:00, talking about beer, the show, Pennsylvania brewing, PLCB privatization, bourbon and rye whiskey, and -- probably -- beer, especially the ass-kicking assortment of beers Chris Dilla will have on tap (and my buddy Tera "Libeerian" Bevilacqua may pull out in bottles...). If you're in the area, and you're considering pledging, come out and do it live at this event, because Chris is going to match every pledge made at Bocktown Monaca during this event! How about that? So come on out and spend her money; she's promised to pledge till it hurts.


Thursday the 5th, I'll be at Pearly Baker's on the Square in Easton, 5:00 to 7:00 for a meet and greet. We'll be talking beer and showing the ABB videos, and if you haven't been to Pearly's for a while, you should come back. The beer program's rolling again -- this was one of the original good beer bars in the Lehigh Valley -- and I'm psyched to have them invite me to show up for this. After 7:00, I'll be heading over to the Pickled Egg, where we'll be doing the same thing...with a firkin of Sly Fox Odyssey. So you might want to get in on that, too.

Monday the 9th I'll be headed down to Devil's Den to encourage Philly to come out and pledge some bucks to get American Beer Blogger on the screen, and Erin's come up with some awesome taps to help prime your pumps. Check this list out: a firkin of Stoudt's Sugar Plum Lager, Philly Brewing Shackamaximum, Voodoo Gran Met (two of my favorite PA beers, right there), Weyerbacher Tango, Bavarian Barbarian First Snow, Dogfish Head Burton Baton, Sly Fox Odyssey, Brew Works Second Coming (had an excellent bitter at BBW just before Christmas), and some nice fresh Philly Pale.

Now, the idea is that you'll come out to one of these events, have some beers, we'll chat, and you'll see that pledging some bucks on Kickstarter to get this show on TV is a great idea and the right thing to do. We'll be set up to take your pledges right there, so bring your credit card and let's pull the trigger. We only have twelve days, but this can still happen -- we've got some major donors we're still working on -- and remember: if we don't make the goal, no money changes hands, and you're off the hook.


Wish me luck: I hit the road tomorrow morning!

Race you to Christmas!

I am becoming a slave to my calendar...yesterday was a taping for American Beer Blogger at Porter's Pub in Easton, had a great time with Larry Porter, and found out about Weyerbacher's coming new graphics and logo, and talked to owner Troy Reynard about Two Rivers Brewing, a new brewpub coming to town soon. Good taping, good fun, good beer...and then on the road along the river back home to make dinner before heading to a dress rehearsal.

After the second of those evening rehearsals this week, my church choir's Christmas concert is tonight (and of course, I'd be happy to see any of you at St. Andrew's RCC in Newtown: it's a very good concert, with a small string ensemble). Tomorrow night I'm at Appalachian Brewing in Harrisburg for a book signing and fundraiser for the "American Beer Blogger" Kickstarter campaign (come out and pledge!).

I get to spend the weekend with the family, then Tuesday 12/20 I'll be visiting Valley Malt in western Massachusetts to see their custom micromaltings operation, dropping in to check out Element Brewing, and checking in with Will Meyers at Cambridge Brewing to sample some beers he's made with Valley Malt...and then over to Craft Beer Cellar for a Kickstarter fund-raising event with Suzanne and Kate, and Chris Lohring will be there with plenty of Notch Session beers (including the new Černé Pivo dark lager), and brewer Nate Heck will be joining us from Harpoon with their latest 100 Barrel release; come on out, 4-6, get some Notch and fresh Harpoon, and make a pledge to bring great beer (and some real fun) to TV! (I then pick up my son and drive home...should get in around 1 AM...)

Thursday 12/22 is the Book Singing Party at the Grey Lodge! It's not a typo: have a beer, pick up a signed copy of Pennsylvania Breweries or New Jersey Breweries, and join the surprisingly musical crowd at the G Lodge in singing some Christmas carols. We just had a great time at the family's annual caroling party, and my pitchpipe's all warmed up. It's an old-time Christmas...in a bar! We'll be harmonizing from 7:30 to 9:00, and remember, we all sound better after a couple drinks. 

After that? Well, next Friday, the family's going to do our usual last-minute Christmas shopping and lunch and wandering around Bethlehem, PA (and maybe grabbing a couple quick beers at Bethlehem Brew Works and the Hotel Bethlehem). After that...it's into the Christmas/New Year's week, and a chance to relax before I start on a round of Kickstarter fundraisers...more about that later!

Paying it forward

An open letter to craft brewers, importers, wholesalers, beer bar owners, beer store owners, and the other great people in the craft beer industry (and yes, you drinkers, too!).

I’ve been excited about beer for over 30 years, since I took my first sip of German pilsner in 1981. It opened my eyes to what beer could be, and eventually opened my life to a new career: writing the romance and beauty of beer to help bring that eye-opening moment to others. I’ve hosted, and taught, and spoken about beer to similarly excited people in bars, to dining rooms and halls full of people, and to radio and television audiences. I do it for a living, but as you probably know — and can empathize — it’s not a great living. It is a wonderful job, though, a calling, and I wouldn’t trade it for any other.

Over that time, I’ve talked to many of you, from the early days when people like Steve Hindy, F.X. Matt, David Geary, Carol Stoudt, Gary Fish, and Dick Yuengling took the time to answer my questions, through the exciting times when guys like Rob Todd, Bill Covaleski and Ron Barchet, Sam Calagione, Tomme Arthur, Greg Hall, and Hugh Sisson talked to me what they were building. Then came the books, and I traveled all over Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, Delaware, and Maryland — thousands of miles and hundreds of four ounce samples — visiting every brewery in those states.

I took pictures, I blogged, I tweeted, and I wrote and I wrote and I wrote. I loved what I saw, the people I met, and the beers I drank. I was part of it, helping spread the word, because that was what we did, from the start: when you found a place that had great beer, when you tasted a beer that stopped you in your tracks, when you met someone who turned you on to new beers…you shared it, you paid it forward. Someone told you about something great, so when you found something, you passed it on. 

For almost 20 years, I have tried to spread the word, to educate, and to even-handedly present the great stories all of you have to tell. Now I have a chance to amplify that word. Green Leaf Productions contacted me about hosting a television show they call “American Beer Blogger.” I agreed to take a swing at it, and we did some taping at Stoudt’s earlier this year that they used to make a short promotional video. You can see it here on the Web.

As you can see, that’s a Kickstarter page. Green Leaf is trying to raise $60,000 to shoot and edit six episodes, and then sell the series to a cable channel. Without that money, the show probably won’t go forward, and that would be a loss, because this show is going to be the real thing. It's going to be me, calling a brewer, or bar owner, or beer store owner/manager, and setting up a visit — just like I’ve done with many of you — going there and looking around and asking questions and tasting some beers and having some fun. The only thing I may do differently is some of the stuff they had me doing in the teaser: actually working, if only for a little bit, because that's fun, and it's something I'd like to do anyway. But we'll talk beer, we'll get our facts straight, and it won't be boring.

If I’ve helped the business, your business, in any way in the past, you know I couldn’t take money for that. I had to stay separate, stay independent, and that’s for the best. But if you’d like to help your business by having this show on the air, talking about beer in a fun, real way, here’s your chance. I still can’t take your money — it goes to Green Leaf, I’m just working for them — but if you sponsor the show, we can all do what we do best: better the image and recognition of good craft beer. A pledge of only $1,000 gets you an Associate Producer credit on the show, and there are other rewards for larger pledges. 

Maybe best of all, you’ll be paying it forward. I wrote about the industry — because I loved it, and found it fascinating, and still do — and this will give me a chance to tell more stories to lots more people. More people who will maybe get excited about beer, and turn into proselytizers of the word of craft beer. Give me this chance to spread the word even further! 

Thanks. It’s been a great ride, and it’s just getting better.

Lew Bryson

Hey, let's put on a show!

Hello, Faithful Readers! Time to finally let this cat out of the bag. Back in May, I was approached about being involved in a television show on beer. The idea was "American Beer Blogger," and it would be a blogger who went and visited places, talked beer, asked questions, and did things...and I was the blogger. They'd looked at my blog and liked it (as I recall, the guy (John Wright) said he'd looked at the blog and in one screen laughed out loud twice and saw a Star Trek reference, which was good enough for him.)

I thought about it for a while -- it's silly to think about at first, and if you don't believe me, just take a look at my picture -- and said sure, might as well take a shot. So not long afterwards I was up at Stoudt's at 7:30 AM, getting ready to do a day of shooting with Ed, Carol, and Eddie, and the incredibly friendly and engaging (and professional) crew from Green Leaf Productions in Easton. The guy who came up with the idea, Laz Melan (who owns the Pickled Egg bar in Easton), was there too.

We'd discussed some general ideas about what we wanted to do, but really? No script, not even a plan beyond we were going to talk at the bottling line -- not my first choice, but what the hell -- talk to Carol, and have something to eat. We made the rest of it up as we went along, and you know, it came out pretty well. I'm at my best in front of a camera when I'm not trying to do something from memory, so it rolled out pretty naturally.

Well, what then? Then we did a little more stuff, some wind-up stuff (which we later augmented at my Philly Beer Week event at Devil's Den, out of which you may yet see Christine Gumpper on the TV), and wrapped it, and the Green Leaf guys went back to Easton to edit, assuring me that we had some good stuff in the can. And then, except for the Devil's Den stuff, and a little more taping at the recent bourbon thing at Allentown Brew Works...nothing happened.

Well, not quite. They did show me the clip you see above -- hope you've watched it! -- and I thought, damn, that's pretty cool, and so did my family, but I didn't really show it to anyone else. Not sure why, but I didn't.

And then yesterday, about two minutes before Green Leaf's Kickstarter went up, I got an email from them asking if it was okay to put all those rewards that banked on my autograph to motivate people (HA!) up on the proposal. Sure, I said, why not? And away we went, and yesterday was a wild, wild ride.

So I'm coming to you to ask for help; specifically, I'm asking for money. Please pledge to the Kickstarter. The money's not going to me -- it's not really my Kickstarter -- it's going to Green Leaf to fund the full editing and marketing the idea to a channel. There are rewards, sure, and although some of them do get kind of interesting up towards the high end -- I'd like to come do a screening in your hometown! -- do it for beer. Seriously. And here's why.

I promise you that this is going to be the real thing, not infomercial, or silly-scripted, or "oh, look who I just happened upon today!" It's going to be me, calling a brewer, or bar owner, or beer store owner/manager, and setting up a visit -- just like I do all the time -- going to their place and looking around and asking questions and tasting some beers and having some fun -- like I always do. The only thing I may do differently is some of the stuff they had me doing in the teaser: actually working, if only for a little bit, because that's fun, and it's something I'd like to do anyway. But we'll talk beer, we'll get our facts straight, and it won't be boring.


So think about it, and if you have any questions, ask. I'll be updating this as we go, and keeping my fingers crossed. In the meantime, please spread the word!

Wish me luck! And pledge!