Post Number One

Hey everyone and thanks for stopping by. My name is Greg and I like beer. I grew up in the Bay Area and have lived in Spokane since I came up to Gonzaga in 2004. In the (yikes, time flies😳) 14 years I’ve been up here, I’ve watched as the craft beer scene has exploded in size and popularity. I can now step out the door of my apartment on the west side of downtown and walk to 10 independent breweries or tap rooms within a mile, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Throughout the Spokane - Coeur d’Alene region, there are craft breweries of all sizes putting out virtually any kind of beer you can think of. But honestly, if you’re here, this is probably nothing you don’t already know. If you’ll indulge me for a few paragraphs, I’d like to lay out my reasons for starting this site and what I hope to provide. 

First, despite looking like what would pop into most peoples heads when they think of a “Northwest Beer Guy” - 30’s, very white, bearded, bespectacled, with a ever-growing collection of both flannel and beanies - I actually know shamefully little about beer. I’m not a person who is going to be having long conversations about the benefits of dry hopping vs wet hopping or whatever else may be burning up the forums on Beer Advocate. Don’t get me wrong, I love that there are people out there who think about this stuff because many of them are the ones brewing the great beer I get to drink, but despite my interest, I have invested neither the time nor the mental real-estate to becoming a “beer nerd” for lack of a better term. I know enough to know what I like and what I don’t like, but I am in no way qualified to judge a beer based on its merits, which is really just a long way of saying that this will not be a review site. I'm a firm believer in drinking what you like and figuring the rest out as you go along. 

Really, my vision for this site is to pick up where the dearly departed On Tap Blog left off. I was a devoted reader of Rick’s blog for a while and always loved the fact that it was a one-stop shop to see what was going on in the world of beer in the area. From things that were being tapped to the invaluable weekend-planner section that clued me in to events I wouldn’t have heard about without spending my half my day scrolling through Twitter or Instagram. When he announced that the blog was ending, I started looking around to see if I could find anything similar and it didn’t seem like there was, so I figured “what the hell, I might as well do it myself.”

To start, my goal will be to put out a weekly guide, probably on Thursday nights, that will list the various beer-related events happening in the area and maybe occasional other posts if the mood strikes. Please follow the blog on Twitter and Instagram, where I’ll be retweeting (and whatever the instagram version of retweeting is) informative posts from local breweries and craft beer bars. You can also add me on Untappd (GWild85), where I hope to be more stringent about actually tracking the beers I drink.

Also, if you have any thoughts, tips, suggestions or events you want me to be aware of, don’t hesitate to send me an email at 509BeerBlog@gmail.com. Thanks and drink well. 🍻