From What’s Brewing Fall 2020
In its Fall 2017 issue, What’s Brewing magazine shone a spotlight on a few newcomers to the world of ‘craft beer media.’ Three years later, in a desperate time for tasting room operators, getting the word out about supporting independent BC craft beer seems more important than ever. So, once again WB celebrates the contributions of BC’s volunteer beer advocates with a Craft Beer Superfan spotlight.
WB selected a sextet who became craft beer influencers during the 2010s and asked them what they think of their personal craft beer fandom in 2020. Here’s one of them.
Q&A with Influencer Malcolm Yates of seatoskybeerguy.com
Q: How long have you been an active craft beer booster? How did you come up with your handle?
A: I also became an official beer booster in May 2017. But I’ve been boostin’ bottles of craft since the early aughts, amigo.
It was a Seussian confluence of geography and meter: Sea to Sky Beer Guy rolls off the tongue as playfully as beer rolls in.
Q: How did you get into craft beer; what were your ‘gateway beers’, or what is your ‘beer epiphany’ story? What are your fave styles of beer now?
A: I had a hollow leg that I filled most nights with Kootenay & Bud. Malnourished and neglected, the leg began to atrophy. Thankfully a good doctor prescribed me modest doses of BC’s finest beers, and now the damned thing’s bionic.
Malcolm training for Beer Wars boxing fundraiser
Q: 2020 has been a strange year. When the shutdown hit in March, what were your thoughts for the beer industry?
A: I’d be lying if I didn’t say ‘grim’. Not just the industry I love, but it seemed the world itself had rounded third base en route to the flaming hoop of home plate. I thought this might be how the ancient Romans felt before their empire crumbled…then I remembered those poor bastards didn’t have the luxury of craft beer to wash down the taste of ash.
Q: Did you find yourself talking about and/or consuming more or less craft beer? What events do you miss the most?
A: I was part of the hive mind driving liquor sales through the roof during those murky months.
Q: What would you tell someone getting into beer blogging or Beerstagramming today?
A: The market is saturated and the pay is shite. You will frustrate your spouse and tax your tight jeans. Your moral compass will be ever tempted to totter from true to magnetic north; from enthusiast to shill, such is the ethical indifference of declination.
Do it anyways and let the gods decide your fate.
Sea To Sky Beer Guy
https://www.seatoskybeerguy.com
https://www.instagram.com/seatoskybeerguy
https://www.facebook.com/seatoskybeerguy
What’s Brewing articles by Malcolm:
https://www.whatsbrewing.ca/author/malcolm
