The inner workings of The Beer Nut

Fielding questions about all things beer - and beer writing.

The RepublicanBeer Nut columnist George Lenker

Because of the added socializing and the party-going that the holiday season brings, I encounter more people in the craft beer industry, as well as more of you readers, at this time of year.

This is always great fun for me. I get to catch up with people I haven't seen in months and often get to meet new friends of this column—or even longtime readers who I have never met before. While these conversations are largely complimentary, I invariably get some polite, but sometimes pointed criticisms and/or queries about why I didn't talk about a certain topic or why I didn't cover a certain event. I welcome these questions as they help keep me focused and give me something to think about for the next year.

Often these queries are simply result of the question are not having a full grasp of what I do or how I do it. So as I like to do at this time of year, today I will outline what it is I do and how and why I do it. I try to make these annual updates about the nature of this column different each year, and I hope I will do so this year as well. Read on.

First and foremost, I like to stress that this weekly piece is a column, not a news story. While I include plenty of news at various times, the column mainly serves as a repository for my opinions and views on all things related to craft beer. I try to keep it varied, mixing in beer reviews (although I don't like to call them "reviews—more on that in a moment) with observations about trends, my takes on beer culture, and, from time to time, news items I find important or amusing. Because I only have 52 of these columns a year, I'm certainly not going to cover everything. Occasionally, I will offer extra bits of beer-related information online, but that can't be done in print, for logistical reasons.

I also try to do as much local/regional coverage as is warranted, but I have long since learned I have an world-wide audience because of the Internet, so I balance local items with national and even international ones.

Now, with respect to beer "reviews." I actually do not review beers. I sample them and describe them. As longtime readers know, I feel taste is totally subjective, palates change, and to make sweeping proclamations about a beer's quality in some objective manner is foolhardy. That doesn't mean I won't offer an opinion about how I liked a brew, it just means I'm not going to focus on my personal tastes.

I also don't slag beers. There are too many great ones for me to waste even one of my 52 yearly opportunities to reach you with panning some brewer's efforts. If I have a beer I don't like, I just don't write about it. This is because, as I said above, taste I subjective. Who am I to tell you should avoid a beer—one that might please your palate.

Finally, it would be great—well, in some ways, anyway—if beer writing were my only, or even main, job. But it only makes up about five to seven percent of what I do. As much as I'd like to go everywhere and sample everything, I can't.

Not that I'm complaining. There are worse jobs—almost all of them, in fact.

Happy New Year and keep the feedback coming, I hope to see around the locals soon.