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!

A Pretty Good Night

This video premiered last night at the Philly Beer Scene Best of Philly awards show at World Cafe Live, and while it wasn't the highlight of the night, it was an amusing moment. Almost as good as the line about a homebrew being so funky that Sam Calagione called for the recipe, or William Reed's Carol Stoudt impersonation.

Joe Gunn: a touch sarcastic

First, about the show: fantastic. Mat "Red Shoes" Falco put together an incredible thing, a fun in-crowd show that had a great back-up band in Swift Technique, an excellent venue (with great beer, as always -- I drank a lot of Nodding Head Grog and Ric Hoffman's IPA from Stewart's, with a tasty glass of Forest and Main IPA thrown in for fun), and an indefatigable machine of an MC, Jose Pistola's own Mighty Joe Gunn, who didn't really keep things moving...but he did keep them pretty damned fun.

No, really, it's not Carol Stoudt!

Awards? They were presented by a full spectrum of the folks from Philadelphia's beer scene (appropriately, right?), from brewers to bar owners to wholesalers to distributors to homebrewers, and even beer writers, and that was a lot of fun too; sometimes intentionally. I haven't found a full list yet, but...here's what I remember, and it's not necessarily in order, because things didn't completely correspond to the list I was given. I'll flesh this out later. (Actually, Uncle Jack did, with a complete list that includes awards that weren't even mentioned last night...lookie here.)

Carolyn Smagalski & Mat: Red Shoes!

• Best Brewery Rep: Weyerbacher's Mike Lubieski
• Best Distributor in the City: Bella Vista
• Best Local Lager: Victory Prima Pils
• Best Local Belgian-style Beer: Weyerbacher Merry Monks
• Best Bottle Shop in the City: Craft Beer Outlet
• Wholesaler of the Year: Origlio
• The Philly Tap Finder award for the Most Searched For Beer of the Year: Tröegs Nugget Nectar
• Best Homebrew Shop: Keystone Homebrew
• Best European Beer Bar: Monk's Cafe
• Best Local Stout/Porter: Victory Storm King
• Best Local Barrel-Aged Beer: Weyerbacher Insanity
• Best Local Pale Ale/IPA: Yards Philly Pale
• Best Brewpub: Iron Hill
• Best New Bar in the City: Barcade
• Best Bar in the Burbs: Hulmeville Inn
• Best Brewery: Victory Brewing

The Weyerbacher Love Crew (Colin Presby w/the award for Best Barrel-aged Beer)

Uncle Jack Curtin and I got to present the final award, for Brewmaster of the Year, and I have to admit, by that time, we were all dragging a bit. So it was a good thing that they ran that Tröegs video (which is, of course, about the event Jack and I are doing at Standard Tap on June 3rd), which gave us a chance to sit and relax before taking the stage. We made a few weak jokes, then got right down to it: the winner was Chris Wilson of Weyerbacher, which brought the whole Weyerbacher Love Crew up on stage again, and Chris, resplendent in a white dinner jacket and green Weyerbacher t-shirt, made an acceptance speech that was pure Chris. And that...was that.

Jack announcing; I'm having a private moment w/my award.

Except for one other thing: I won Best Beer Writer of the Year, which I have to admit floored me. Because the competition has seriously stepped up around here, truth be told. From Uncle Jack's shoot-from-the-hip opinions, to Bryan Kolesar's in-depth reporting, Lisa Grimm's thoughtful considerations, Suzy Woods's personable and personal enthusiasm, and of course Don Russell's completely connected professionalism...plus Craig LaBan's great occasional beer forays in the Inky and all the local blogs, Philly's a great place to read about beer, too. Winning this award was humbling, and I want to thank all the people who voted, as well as all the fantastic people who make this such a great business.

Got some odd looks with the trophy on the way home on the train, but talking to Eddie Friedland on the way was well worth it. A good night, indeed.

All photos courtesy of Stephen "Click-click" Lyford; thanks, fella!

Malt Advocate Whisky Awards start to flow tomorrow up now!

Yes, you've seen this post before...I post-dated it so you could see that I'm posting links to the awards as the days roll on. Don't want you to miss anything!


Malt Advocate's Whisky Awards program is the longest-running in the industry; this is our 17th year. Like last year, we're going to roll out the awards one at a time on John Hansell's "What Does John Know" blog, and it starts tomorrow. Here's the schedule.

Best Buy Whisk(e)y of the Year -- TIE: Evan Williams, and Very Old Barton Bottled in Bond 6 Year Old

Artisan Whisky of the Year -- Kilchoman Summer 2010 release

American Whiskey of the Year -- Buffalo Trace Antique Collection

Canadian Whisky of the Year -- Forty Creek Confederation Oak

Irish Whiskey of the Year -- Redbreast 12 Year Old

Scotch Whisky Blend of the Year -- Compass Box Flaming Heart

Scotch Whisky Single Malt of the Year -- Glenfarclas 40 Year Old

World Whisky of the Year  -- Amrut Fusion
Pioneer of the Year -- David Perkins and High West

Industry Leader of the Year -- Glencairn Crystal

Distillery of the Year -- Heaven Hill
Lifetime Achievement Awards
Top Ten New Whiskies

I helped write the awards this year, and I'm excited to see what people think. We've got some potentially controversial choices; should be fun to see the discussion!

Nightclub & Bar Awards are out...congrats are in order

I helped judge the Nightclub & Bar awards again this year, and I'm pleased to say that a couple of the places I was excited about won. Here's a partial list:

Bartender of the Year – Jackson Cannon, Eastern Standard, Boston
Beer Bar of the Year – ChurchKey, Washington, D.C.
Hotel Bar of the Year – Eastern Standard, Hotel Commonwealth, Boston
Small Wonder Bar of the Year – Embury, Pittsburgh, Pa.

That last category is, I think, one of the best awards NCB does. I love the tip of the hat to small, intimate, comfortable bars.

The full list is available here. Congratulations to all the winners!

GABF results: great for some, not-so-great overall

And yes, that's a homer's title: I'm talking about Pennsylvania. We've done better, though Bob Barrar continues the harvest, and Saison Vautour continues an incredible job on scavenging gold. Go see it all here (Uncle Jack at the Beer Yard) and here (where Bryan "Brew Lounge" Kolesar lets the Patrick Jones/Triumph break-up out of the bag). Congratulations to all the PA brewers (no NJ brewers won), and congrats to New England, where they finally broke through and won a bag of medals: 'bout time.

Patting my own back

I have to, because otherwise my mom might not see it: the new issue of Main Line Today has named me "Best Beer Guru" and put up seven "best of" beer picks I wrote (not exactly as I wrote them, but I'm an editor, I know how this works). It's all here. And that's a damned tasty glass of McKenzie Saison Vautour (is there any other kind?) I'm drinking in the picture.

Notice I did not get the award for being the "Best Beer Blogger." Sigh. Gotta get more going on here!

More congrats...

To follow-up: the NBWA has recognized Gretz and Shore Point as Craft Beer Distributor of the Year Award finalists. Once again...we're very lucky to have some of the best wholesalers in the country around here. Congratulations to all!