Opinion - Editorial: We're done with seasonal beer guides.

Cutting to the quick, we wanted to state that this website is fully subsidized by a day-job income. That includes the website hosting fees, the domain fees, and the domain-based email address. That also includes any transportation to and from, any lodging, any food and drink, and any glassware that we bring home. This of course doesn’t include anything the host business provides us freely. All of this is not tax deductible, and this effort is done because we love beer but it alone doesn’t pay the bills. 

But, why don’t you simply write it off in your taxes?

Great question. And the only answer we have is that we don’t want to go through the hassle of hiring an accountant, paying by the hour, only to (maybe) claw back a couple hundred dollars. 

Need an example of how expensive our trips can be, let’s consider Paso Robles, California. Home to not only Firestone Walker Brewing Company but also the Firestone Walker Invitational, we paid for airfare to and from the area, a rental car for day trips, some visits to nearby coffee shops, restaurants, a brewery, and a distillery. In exchange for our visit, Firestone Walker Brewing provided us access to the festival and the pre/post-festival events on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. 

Great, but what the hell does this have to do with not writing an article?

Well, for starters, our trip to Paso Robles is only a small fraction of what it costs to write a four-page article. Now imagine how interactive and vast our Guides to Fresh Hop, Oktoberfest, or Winter beers are, and well, here’s a behind the scenes. 

Starting with some research via social media, we look at all the brewery accounts out there. From there, we visit every brewery’s website and select to contact them either via email, online form, or sometimes both. In both cases, we have a prepared ‘boilerplate’ template that includes a link to a form and we ask them to fill it out by a desired deadline. 

Assuming we have a solid internet connection, that is around 5 - 10 minutes per brewery, resulting in around 20 hours of work, sitting in a chair reaching out to around 850 breweries. Multiply this times 3 editions per year, and you're talking about a week and a half of work to produce the Guides you’ve seen in the past. 

Did we mention this website is supported by a day-job and makes no money?

Now, in a perfect world, we would get responses from everyone. But this isn’t a perfect world, and we aren’t engaging with breweries eager to contribute.

Why? Honestly we don’t know why. 

Maybe they are a 1 or 2 person operation, running a brewery, a taproom, and self-distribution. Maybe they have someone out sick that normally responds to such inquiries. Maybe they are someone that gets barraged by all kinds of non-profits or organizations looking for free beer and they’re fatigued. Or maybe, they just don’t care about some ‘nobody’ website, that doesn’t start with Seattle Times, Oregonian, Washington Post, or The New York Times. Honestly, we can’t tell you why. 

What is clear is that after hours spent in a chair, trying to get people’s attention and participation, the resulting response ratio is around less than 10%. But with those that respond, we take the time to import their graphics, update our template format, write an article and promote the guide every year. 

But, honestly, after years of spending hours to ask for participation, at no cost (unless they ship beer for social media reviews), we’re gonna leave promoting fresh hop, Oktoberfest-inspired, or winter beers, to Instagram, Facebook, or whatever the hell the business uses to promote their beer. 

So why don’t you just follow them on Instagram or subscribe to their newsletter? Isn’t that how they update followers?

Another great question. But one that ignores a couple things. 

1. This website is mostly operated by a singular person. The “we” is a nod to a supportive partner who has acted as a friend, co-imbiber, and occasional support therapist. 

2. Because of this, it would require a massive amount of time if we subscribed to the nearly 850 social media accounts and newsletters, reading every post and email, in the past week. 

So, it’s really easiest if we don’t follow or subscribe to any brewery accounts, to remain impartial. 

So what are you going to do with your free time then?

Honestly, we don’t know. 

We know there we will be breweries that have their own formal announcements, who hopefully will reach out directly. But, other than that, you’ll probably not see us copy-pasting someone's Instagram or Facebook post, about the freshest fresh hop beer you’ve ever seen.

That’s it, that’s the unfiltered statement from this writer. 

And if you’re a brewery reading this and wondering why you’ve never gotten an invitation, you might want to check your Junk Mail or Spam filters.