When I started this column almost 17 years ago to the day, I could not share it with you on social media platforms because outside of MySpace, there really weren’t any.
No Facebook. No Twitter. No Instagram, etc.
There were some Internet forums on which I could share it, but that was about it. There wasn’t any chance of a column “going viral” because that concept had not really come into the vernacular yet. Most people read the column in print. And while craft beer was on the rise (this was in 2003), there were still fewer than 1,500 craft beer breweries in the U.S. A decade late, that number almost doubled to about 2,800, but even that mini-boom didn’t really foreshadow the past seven years in craft beer.
As I write this, there are more than 8,000 craft breweries now in the U.S., which is astounding in many lights. As I’ve mentioned before in this space, one concern my editors originally had about committing to a weekly column dedicated to beer in a daily newspaper was about the sustainability of such an endeavor. But even back then, I felt confident that craft beer would provide enough fodder at least once a week for me to write about.
One thing I didn’t want to column to be was a “review” or rating of beers. I originally wrote about a particular beer (and still occasionally do), but only in terms of describing it or why it’s unique. I felt that everyone is entitled to his or her opinion about a certain beer, and my subjective take on one of another wasn’t going to add anything of value to the craft beer conversation.
And that is what I try to do each week, to varying degrees of success. Whether it’s writing about a new beer success story, offering an outlook on a possibly touchy subject matter in craft brewing or simply sharing some of the more humorous beer tales that find their way to my desk, my goal is to engage you, the reader, and give you something either enlightening or entertaining to think about while you sip your morning coffee (or evening stout).
So thank you for being part of this journey for these past 17 years. I can’t say, “Here’s to 17 more,” because that is highly unlikely, but what is certainly possible, if not probable, is making it to 20 years (in 2023), knock on wood. That will be a real cause for celebration.
It’s that possible 21st anniversary that I kind of dread: That will mean there will be beer drinkers out there who weren’t even born when I started this column.
Now that is a sobering thought!
Cheers!
November 29, 2020 at 08:14PM
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Beer Nut: Celebrating 17 years of this column - MassLive.com
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