Work-Life Balance

When I started this blog, I wanted to write more.

That was seven years, 529 posts, and over 1.2 million words ago (yes, I have a spreadsheet, #sorrynotsorry).

I didn’t set out to write about beer, despite what the blog’s title might imply. Beer simply flowed into my life on tributaries of family history, popular trends, and culinary exploration.

In retrospect it was inevitable. Writing about beer is an organic confluence of two of my favorite things in life.

I never expected the blog to be more than an outlet for my words, but through it I found a niche; a little corner of a very crowded world where my mind felt equally comfortable and challenged, where my opinions seemed to matter, but there was always something new to learn. I quickly became enamored with the depth and breadth of beer as a holistic entity – where else can a person write about chemistry, agriculture, psychology, history, and culture and still stay coherently on topic?

Over the years, I had weeks where I spent more time thinking, reading, and writing about beer than I did on my full time job. I’d count down the hours until I could take a phone call with a brewer for a piece I was working on, and pined for those half-days on a Friday so I could pop-in to see some of the friends I’d made in a world so temperamentally and philosophically apart from my own.

Sitting sharing pints with brewers, talking malts and hops, I always wanted to cross that line; leave the drab cubicles of government contracting and IT behind for a land of shiny taps and kegs. But I never did. Partly out of the fear of abandoning a career and personal network I’ve spent a decade building, partly out of numb, perfunctory comfort, partly because none of the opportunities I came across ever quite aligned with where I was in life, and my real world skill set.

Working full-time in beer seemed a dream inside another dream, something that I’d never really be able to realize except in a fantasy, or through this blog, 1000 words at a time.

Until now.

Starting in November, I will be the Marketing Manager for the new Guinness Open Gate Brewery and Barrel House in Baltimore. After all this time working towards something like this, it still feels a little surreal to type that out. I’m beyond excited to be able to take all of my enthusiasm and love for this industry and actually put it to practical use, as well as bring a whole new experience to the beer drinkers of my home state.

The taproom opens to the public today at 3:00 PM, and the full brewery and restaurant is slated to open in 2018. Additional details about the new brewery can be found here, but feel free to ask me if you have any other questions! I really hope to see you there.

I do plan to continue my writing – time permitting! – so nothing should change on that front, barring a few more disclosures appearing as necessary 🙂

Here’s to taking chances, living dreams, and finding a way to make what you do what you love.