The Meta-Post

I'm calling this a Meta-Post because it's a post about posting my first post...really the entire blog so far will be a blog about having started blogging.  Don't worry -- the rest of the content will be much more interesting.

I've created a blog. Tada! The overall concept is still up in the air, but I can assure you it will most certainly center around beer. I really would just like to be able to share my journey with all of you. Here's how it began. Years ago, I remember the first beer that I drank (not my first taste) was a Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss.  I didn't like it.  I thought it tasted like Captain Crunch cereal.  I still do, but now I like it.

Over the years, I've grown to love beer and now it is a major part of who I am.  A couple weeks ago, I took a major milestone on the subject and completed the Certified Cicerone(r) exam (I'll find out early August.)  I call myself a beer expert, but I'm much more than that. I'm a craft beer advocate and educator, especially when it comes to local brews. Craft beer is under-appreciated even among the craft beer scene. Often a well balanced, perfectly crafted beer will go overlooked because of the newest prospect brought to the forefront of the marketplace due to advertising some superlative fact about it despite an innate lack of finesse.  I appreciate a well crafted beer. From light to dark, hoppy to malty, lagers to ales, sweet to sour, I appreciate all varieties of craft beer.

Here's my stance: I believe that you should know and love what you are drinking. I believe it is the responsibility of us in the industry side of craft beer, most importantly your retailers and bartenders to provide you the information you need to make informed decisions on beers. I also love to support our local businesses. I know it's trendy and probably a bit trite, but I'm not doing it on shallow principal.  I do it because I truly believe in the breweries that we have in Minnesota.  I have many close friends at most of the breweries in this state who I know work extremely hard to be able to compete in a really tough market. I also believe in keeping our money in our state to help support our infrastructure, not California's. Minnesota produces very high quality beer and we should be proud of that, not fall back on national or multi-national brands because of marketing. Be an educated consumer. Ask questions and order a beer that you can be proud of.

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