Hello from yet another CBW voice in the blogosphere, another drop in the ocean of beer and brewery blogs.  Well, I suppose my contribution to the noise has not been entirely absent thus far.  Some of you, I like to believe, remember when Beer-O-Vision was a vehicle for my (and fellow CBWer Dan’s) musings and occasional video nasties.  More recently, and in the CBW context, I have been expressing my thoughts and bits of news I run across via the Facebook information stream; probably 90% of the updates (and 100% of the deleted ones!) are mine.  As well, I’ve been making gaffs and blunders inbetween insights and information on Craft Beer Talk, Tuesday nights.  So sure, this is a bit of an awkward—or just needless—introductory preface on some level.

Mightier than a sword, but not a beer

Yet, I haven’t been writing on the CBW blog but for four early posts.  And in my own mind, since things really got going last summer with this project, I admit I feel like I sort of lost my voice.  It’s a strange feeling for me, but this post and my commitment to writing a weekly, “Sunday Suds*” segment represents my way out of the wilderness of silence I spent the last few months lost within.  I really like writing and educating, and though I am largely a private person, a little confessional here and there is good for one’s soul.  I’ll keep that latter to a minimum—this is not a personal blog, after all—but certainly with my lifetime in academics currently shifting from the windshield to the rearview mirror, I need some venue for keeping the fingers limber and the mind sharp.  Writing on a blog is an opportunity for both, to be sure.

I’ve decided on a couple of guidelines, though, more than anything else to keep the commitment tractable.  This isn’t some Dogme 95 kind of thing (though I will keep the posts blessedly free of special effects), but then high-art isn’t the goal.  Speed, clarity and more than anything else, success is.  So first, length: I want to stick with 500 words(-ish) for a post, with longer certainly being acceptable, but possibly better dealt with as an impetus for a series.  Secondly, topics- I want to be wide-ranging, but like the word-length requirement, I think some narrowing and some discipline will be useful. So, I’ll talk mainly about beer & brewing industry news, books, CBW marketing and fun stuff, and some more “musing” type posts; undoubtedly a triolet or a sestina here and again.  I’ll let Dan stick with the brewery news updates and progress, and Rudy is excellent at talking about beers–ours and others–so I’ll try not to overlap with their domains too often.  But that’s about it for rules and I am excited to start talking again!

Poetry & Beer: how can that go awry?

Since I’m 450+ words in and haven’t even really talked about beer, I’ll end with a quick nod to it by saying that this was composed while enjoying a slow glass of Ommegang Abby Ale.  If you’re looking for a winter-night, writing-as-meditation kind of potable, let me without hesitation give this beer my hearty endorsement.  It’s a rich beer, though not so much as to be viscous; I’d call it medium-bodied. The marriage of figgy malt flavors with yeast spice is luscious, and I get some anise and leather in the nose.  At just over 7% abv it’ll give you just a bit of warmth, but it’s not going to knock you out, either.  So, you can enjoy it while finishing up productivity, and save that full-on Tripel for the nightcap.   Mmmm- I’m going to finish this glass, and see you next Sunday- if not sooner!

*I’m seriously not attached to that title, actually suggestions are very welcome indeed.  Also, one hour late and only 142 words over?  I’ll take it!