If this Giant Must Walk: A Manifesto for a New Nigeria
Moving beyond the beer review public copy
1. Moving Beyond The Beer Review
2015 Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference, Asheville, North Carolina
2. MovingBeyondTheBeerReview
2015 Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference, Asheville, North Carolina
Alan McCormick is an attorney whose real estate focused practice includes
working with breweries on commercial leasing, land use, and trademark and
related intellectual property issues. He writes Growler Fills, a blog focusing on
Montana beer news, is the co-creator of Missoula Craft Beer Week and the
Montana columnist for the Rocky Mountain Brewing News.
3. MovingBeyondTheBeerReview
2015 Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference, Asheville, North Carolina
Bryan Roth is a former journalist now working in communications at Duke
University in Durham, North Carolina. His blog, This is Why I'm Drunk, focuses
on socio-cultural aspects of the beer community and the broad trends that
drive them, including the common language of beer, changing drinker
demographics and how alcohol content impacts beer ratings.
4. MovingBeyondTheBeerReview
2015 Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference, Asheville, North Carolina
Jessica Miller combines her training in writing, teaching and poetry with her eye
for observation to tell stories using strong visuals at her blog HeyBrewtiful.com.
Away from her blog she handles media relations and web development for
Reformation Brewery in Woodstock, Georgia, where she’s even been known to
change a keg or two.
5. MovingBeyondTheBeerReview
2015 Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference, Asheville, North Carolina
Oliver Gray is a professional writer and editor who dabbles in Corporate IT
when his boss demands it. In his copious spare time he runs the beer and
writing blog, Literature and Libation, which focuses on narrative storytelling,
literary techniques and grammar, and cultural essay (as if such things really
exist in the context of beer).
6. MovingBeyondTheBeerReview
2015 Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference, Asheville, North Carolina
Fermenting Narrative Wort
into Literary Beer for Fun
and Profit
(Just Kidding)
(About the profit part)
Oliver Gray
7. “The difference between
literature and journalism
is that journalism is
unreadable and literature
is not read.”
-Oscar Wilde
MovingBeyondTheBeerReview
2015 Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference, Asheville, North Carolina
8. MovingBeyondTheBeerReview
2015 Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference, Asheville, North Carolina
Every Beer has a Story
It’s easy to get lost in the details of drinking the beer, ignoring the
rest of the narrative that lead to the beer.
Sometimes the story comes from your interaction with the beer,
not the beer or brewery itself.
Example: Sam Adams Thirteenth Hour Review
• Personal anecdotal opening
• Cohesive theme that ties into the
name of the beer
• Sensory descriptions woven into story
• Overall feeling of how I liked the beer
from tone/story
9. Writer First, Beer Enthusiast Second
With Literature and Libation, my focus is on writing not beer. The beer
is a catalyst for the stories, a unifying concept, not the heart and soul.
Creative freedom; never feel obligated to write anything that doesn’t
excite me as a writer. I get to truly enjoy what I write, not just bang out
words because words.
Example: Victory Summer Love Review
2015 Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference, Asheville, North Carolina
• Beer review with no adjectives
• Focuses on the words, grammar,
writing, not the beer itself
• Perfect for a blog; no sane editor
would let this into a magazine
• A lot of fun to write
MovingBeyondTheBeerReview
10. 2015 Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference, Asheville, North Carolina
Writing Outside Beer
Beer touches so many aspects of culture; sociology, agriculture, diet,
technology, business, law, art, etc.
Try to get my head out of the pint glass and look at the bigger context of
beer in society. Essays are perfect for exploring broader concepts and
starting conversations about things that “matter” in our culture.
Example: The Syncretism of Sam Adams
MovingBeyondTheBeerReview
• Overall theme ties human and
religious history to beer history
• Researched, thought-out argument,
not just off-the-cuff opinion
• Topically relevant; Jim Koch and Sam
Adams were being talked about
11. “Literature adds to reality, it does
not simply describe it. It enriches
the necessary competencies that
daily life requires and provides;
and in this respect, it irrigates the
deserts that our lives have already
become.”
-C. S. Lewis
2015 Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference, Asheville, North Carolina
MovingBeyondTheBeerReview
49. Lies, Damned Lies and
Statistics
BryanRoth
MovingBeyondTheBeerReview
2015 Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference, Asheville, North Carolina
50. Or: How I Learned to
Stop Worrying and
Love Beer Research
MovingBeyondTheBeerReview
2015 Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference, Asheville, North Carolina
56. Now get learning
• 87% of online adults say the internet and cell phones have
improved their ability to learn new things
• 72% of internet users report they like having this much
information available to them
• 76% of online adults say access to the internet has made
average Americans better informed
Source: Pew Research Center
MovingBeyondTheBeerReview
2015 Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference, Asheville, North Carolina
58. Sources to help you stand out
Beer Ratings Beer Advocate RateBeer BeerGraphs
Industry Info Brewbound Shanken News Craft Brewing
Business
Academic
Research
Google Scholar JSTOR Personal
Interviews
MovingBeyondTheBeerReview
2015 Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference, Asheville, North Carolina
59. How it’s helped me
MovingBeyondTheBeerReview
2015 Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference, Asheville, North Carolina
60. How can it help you?
Easy Different
Notes from a beer
review
Behind-the-scenes
look at your research
Writing about a
brewery opening
Post with cited
arguments
Sharing information
provided to you
Offering facts and
figures not everyone
is seeing
MovingBeyondTheBeerReview
2015 Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference, Asheville, North Carolina
63. MovingBeyondTheBeerReview
2015 Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference, Asheville, North Carolina
WHY?
You are in an enviable position to
report news and deliver stories
that are not being reported/told.
68. MovingBeyondTheBeerReview
2015 Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference, Asheville, North Carolina
Facts:
Context:
Purpose:
Collect and Verify
Provide the background and “big picture.”
Have one. Know what it is.
