Let's be honest: Facebook is mostly trash. But every now and then, the algorithm does you right and you see "The Annual Icelandic Beer Festival" pop up in your feed. The name of the event alone combined three things I love (Iceland + beer + festival) so with only about 4 weeks notice we bought some plane tickets, booked some accommodations, and we were on our way.
I was just reviewing my recap of 2016, and upon reaching the last sentence was somewhat redeemed. While 2017 was really quite marred by non-stop presidential buffoonery - which ranged from simply embarrassing to large-scale life-threatening - on a personal level, I got quite a bit done. I completed two fairly large freelance projects, almost entirely on my own. I took on several smaller, but fulfilling, side gigs.
I stumbled upon Plan Bee Farm Brewery with a google search. We were looking for a good day-hike in the Hudson Valley region, and seeing as a cold, fresh beer is probably the best way to end a long day on the trail, the location for our trek would have to be near a brewery (naturally). I don't remember what hike we ended up doing, if we even did one at all, but I found Plan Bee in Poughkeepsie with that search, and reached out via the general email on their website, asking if I could come and do a video about them. A cold call, basically. Co-owner/co-founder Emily Watson responded quickly, quicker than many of my friends respond to my emails, to be honest, and we got a date on the calendar to go shoot.
My failure to keep this blog frequently updated is largely due to two issues: 1) I'm quite busy, balancing a full-time job, freelance work, a somewhat needy little dog, and a personal life of some sort, and 2) I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and I hate putting forth effort on something if I don't think I can finish it or it won't be up to my entirely self-imposed standards. The first issue I can do little about, but maybe I can give myself a bit of a break on issue two.
Up until my visit to Dogfish Head in Delaware, my visits to breweries had been entirely observational. I got to see where the magic happened and the ingredients that would be turned into delicious beer, but that was where my involvement usually ended. When I found out I’d get to participate in a brew at Dogfish Head, I was pretty excited, and when I found out I’d be doing so alongside the brewery’s founder and president, Sam Calagione, I could hardly believe it.
In my research of "cool Iceland foods" (very possibly my actual Google search) I came upon the Rye Bread Experience offered at Laugarvatn Fontana Spa, just about an hour outside of Reykjavik. So, I emailed them, and with a little friendly back and forth, arranged a day to come by and film. Easy! This producing stuff wasn't so hard after all.
Before World of Beer sent me to Kansas City, MO on assignment to get to know Boulevard beer better, I had never really been to the midwest (apart from a short weekend working trip to Chicago, which doesn't really count.) It remained a mystery to me, and I was excited to see if everything I'd heard was true - are the people that nice? The barbecue that good? The local pride that real?
Yes, yes, and yes.
When I was deciding where I'd go after Belgium, I had a few factors to consider. 1) Where could I get home from easily enough, 2) What wouldn't break the bank, and 3) Where had I not already been. And seeing as I only had about 3 days to spend, I actually didn't want to go anywhere I'd really been wanting to visit (Romania, Croatia, Hungary), since I knew that'd never be enough time to see and do everything I'd like.
It's been almost a month since my trip to San Diego for SourFest 2016 at Stone Brewing in Escondido, but it feels like only yesterday. The trip out was momentous in a way, as it was my first real travel assignment as a World Of Beer Drink It Intern. The dream was really coming to life as I packed up my gear and boarded a plane all on my lonesome, in pursuit of new ex-beer-iences to document and share.
Earlier this month I was thrust headfirst into the wide, wild, and wonderful world of sour and wild ales at annual Brooklyn event, Where the Wild Beers Are. Unlike any beer event I had ever attended, WTWBA is a bottle-sharing event that requires participants to bring commercially produced wild, sour, and farmhouse ales in order to attend. The amount you bring determines the amount you receive in tasting pours, served by event volunteers at stations around the event.
A lot of people blog about where they've been, where they're going, and what they're doing, but what about where you come from? I mean, where you really come from, not just the name of a town or a state or a country or the college that you went to. Origins have always fascinated me - I like the first Lord of the Rings the most, and Batman Begins, and even the first part of Captain America til it went totally shit about 2/3 of the way through.
Craft beer. What is it?
According to the Brewer's Association, a craft brewer is "small, independent, and traditional." Sounds kinda vague, right? Well to get more into it, SMALL means "annual production of 6 million barrels of beer or less "; INDEPENDENT means "less than 25% of the craft brewery is owned or controlled (or equivalent economic interest) by an alcoholic beverage industry member that is not itself a craft brewer"; and TRADITIONAL means "a majority of its total beverage alcohol volume in beers whose flavor derives from traditional or innovative brewing ingredients and their fermentation".
Alright, so how does that translate to what's in your glass?
Everything you've heard is true.
Out of 7,000 applicants for what was touted all over the news and social media as "the greatest internship ever," I was chosen as one of three (four, really) winners to spend the summer traveling, drinking beer, and getting paid for it! Last week I went to Tampa, Florida to meet the wonderful folks at WOB, as well as my fellow interns, who are all super talented and incredibly cool, nice people. It's crazy how fast things are moving, and after weeks of desperately wanting to come out on top of this thing, it's really happening!
The morning of Day 6, I climbed out of my top bunk and showered in the amusingly tiny but entirely sufficient bathroom of our little cabin and got everything packed up. This was a daily routine. It was snowing lovely delicate fat snowflakes so we took a few pictures and headed into the "town" of Hvammstangi to see if anything was open or if any seals would be visible.
Day 5 was comparatively relaxing to the days preceding it. Our room at the Backpackers Hostel in Akureyri, though remote all the way up on the fourth floor (a veritable skyscraper), was very cozy and comfortable, so we didn't rush out of it. We packed up and checked out and loaded our stuff into the car, and decided to have breakfast in the hostel restaurant. It was a good decision.
Day 4 started out great because I awoke in a warm, dry room in a comfortable bed with my body intact and not mangled in a pile of snow and dirt next to an Icelandic back road. Sometimes it's the little things, y'know?
When I go away, I rarely say I'm "on vacation," because as you may have noticed, very little relaxing takes place when I travel. I'm never in the same place for very long, never getting enough sleep, and always moving. And while I wouldn't call what I'm doing "work," it's hardly as passive as sitting by a pool drinking a mai tai or even waking up later than 9am.
On day two we awoke to an amazing sunrise over the stunning coastline of The Westman Islands. We arrived in the dark the night before, so had no idea what to expect, and were thoroughly impressed by what the golden light of 8:00am revealed. Excited to get outside and take some photos, we checked out of the Aska Hostel and headed to the bakery/cafe ("bakari/konditori") across the street for coffee and a quick breakfast.
On day two we awoke to an amazing sunrise over the stunning coastline of The Westman Islands. We arrived in the dark the night before, so had no idea what to expect, and were thoroughly impressed by what the golden light of 8:00am revealed. Excited to get outside and take some photos, we checked out of the Aska Hostel and headed to the bakery/cafe ("bakari/konditori") across the street for coffee and a quick breakfast.
Well hello. Long time no see. Probably because I've been very busy with work and also with wrapping up planning on the Iceland 2.0 2016 road trip, which I am currently on. I'm almost live blogging (2 days later)! Technology has come so far!
Iceland day 1 was kind of like 3 days. It started off in Baltimore with a flight on Icelandic airline WOW Air, and some celebratory Icelandic Gull beer and American Pringles. Roughly five hours later we touched down in Keflavik to begin our adventure.
Days when winter breaks and you can go outside unencumbered by your gigantic coat and hat and heavy bag and walk down the street with nothing in your hands and be free. And you could probably walk forever because you are so light, and so happy to be alive, and the wind's in your hair and it feels good and nothing else matters. And the city is quiet and your head is quiet with no sounds in your ears except for these words that need to escape and go somewhere, because not every day is a day like today.
Yesterday, winter storm (blizzard? Nor'easter? Snowpocalypse?) Jonas battered the northeastern United States from Maryland up to New York, dumping more than 27 inches of snow over the course of 24 hours. With crazy snowfall, intense winds, and freezing temperatures, even typically unstoppable NYC came to a bit of a standstill with suspended public transportation and businesses closing midday in the interest of public safety.
Sometimes it helps to put a little space between yourself and your experiences so that you can look back with some perspective and weed the important moments out from the forgettable ones. Or that's the reason I'm using for why it's taken me this long to finish a fairly short post about my even shorter time in Portland, Oregon.
I got off the bus from Eugene and it was raining. No one, myself included, was surprised. I had a few hours to spend in Portland before my flight out of PDX in the evening, and since the weather was gloomy as always, struggled to find things to do inside while still getting a taste of the Pacific Northwest's capital of urban hipness.
I woke up in Willits to more of the same enthusiasm-crushing greyness that was really coming to define my trip. I checked out around 9:00am, passed the laughable outdoor pool, and got into my Hyundai Accent, which had - thus far - conquered wet roads, steep hills, and high speeds without even a hint of complaint.
Day 3 of the road trip was kind of a bust. The morning started off grey and drizzly, and I departed the Pacific Inn in Monterey around 9:00am to head toward downtown for a coffee, as is my tradition, stopping into a cute little coffee shop/shop shop called Bright Coffee. I grabbed a raw almond milk latte (hey, when you can) and a blueberry scone, along with a rye chocolate chip cookie for later.
Wow, here we are, halfway through 2020, and I realized I never wrote a BEER OF THE YEAR post for 2019. I didn’t write one for 2018 either, but now, it’s definitely too late. That’s okay. This beer deserves SO much honor, I love it SO much, that it’s possible it would have been my Beer of the Year for 2018, too.