A GDB Working Summer Vacation

In Site News by Ryan

You may have noticed that our posting has slowed down over the last few weeks. And it has. But never fear, we haven’t abandoned the site for a summer vacation. In fact, just the opposite has been happening.

About a month ago I set out with an ambitious plan to redesign the front page of the site. I wanted a way to feature more of our unique content while still maintaining a weekly presence with timely news stories and reviews. So I set out on the arduous task, which included CSS editing, shortcode manipulation, logo re-branding — the works. And when I finally got everything done, I wasn’t 100-percent happy with it.

So Karl and I have spent the two weeks or so shopping around for a new look; one that we hope will better showcase what we do. And we think we’ve found one. But all of this editing and plugin searching and page building and shopping means we haven’t done much writing, save for a call to action to avoid fall beers until September 2nd and the weekly new beer label dump.

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The next week or two will likely be spent massaging the new site into shape, and writing the dozen or so posts that have been piling up in our inboxes and notebooks. When we return, however, the look of the site won’t be the only change. We’re also adding two new features and two new writers.

The first feature is Craft Beer to Cross the Border for. The goal being to give you a cheat sheet for your next beer-inspired road trip into Indiana, Michigan or Wisconsin. Each week we’ll feature a beer only available in one of those states that we think is worth trying. Here to tell you about some of those beers are our two new writers.

Meet Ben and Steve:

Ben lives in Madison, is a member of the Madison Homebrewers and Tasters Guild and used to work at West Lakeview Liquors and Galleria Liquors prior to moving north of the Cheddar Curtain. Ben has also helped shepherd me through a bunch of different beer styles and first introduced me to Dogfish Head’s 120 Minute IPA and Founders KBS — back when it was called Kentucky Breakfast Stout.

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Steve lives in northwest Indiana, is a former print journalist and now works in PR in Chicago. In the interest of full disclosure, one of his firm’s clients is Wirtz Beverage, although Steve doesn’t work with them directly. Recently, we opened his eyes to the world of cellaring beer at our pop-up vertical tasting at The Green Lady as he regaled us with tales of Dark Lord Day back when it used be a small get-together in the mid-2000’s. That’s right, Steve’s a Dark Lord Day OG.

Our second feature will highlight beer legislation and liquor law changes across the country. A nationwide roundup of Beer Politics stories, if you will. We also have some long-form interview ideas in the works too.

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We’re excited to introduce you to two new writers who have a ton of regional beer knowledge to share and to do a big unveil of the new design (whenever that may be). In the meantime, catch us over on Twitter and Facebook. We’re still there quite religiously.

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About the Author

Ryan

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Equal parts beer nerd and policy geek, Ryan is now the curator of the Guys Drinking Beer cellar. The skills he once used to dig through the annals of state government as a political reporter are now put to use offering unique takes on barrel-aged stouts, years-old barleywines and 10 + year verticals.

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