Beertographer of the Week - Instapint

We continue our Beertorapher of the Week series with someone who absolutely gets it. If you're a fan of beer photography you probably already know Instapint. So when I asked Suni, the man behind Instapint if he would be interested in being the Beertographer of the Week, he gladly obliged. But enough from me, let's hear from the man himself! 

It's not particularly difficult to access and enjoy craft beer in the San Francisco Bay Area. We're spoiled in that way.
 

However, while I've enjoyed craft beer and amateur photography for years, I'd been more about "foodporn" than "beerporn" until recently (for example, http://www.consumd.com). Just about 2 years ago, though, Instagram changed that. Without realizing it, my Instagram feed became focused solely on craft beer, so I decided to run with it. I found myself enjoying more than the taste of craft beer, but the whole experience - the colors, the people, the act of pouring, the bottle shares, etc. - all through screen on my iPhone. I also began to enjoy the challenge of composing simple photos of beer into something interesting. (This is still my favorite iPhone snap from my feed, more than a year later: http://instagram.com/p/G8EoI3CZ_a/)
 

And in the last year, I've enjoyed taking my beertography beyond the iPhone, exploring the craft beer scene with my Sony Nex-6 camera. The higher quality results needed a much bigger platform than the 612x612 Instagram square could capture, so I've now added a Tumblr gallery into the mix, and beertography has become such a big part of my overall social presence, that I've "rebranded" most of my accounts to "Instapint". Snapping photos of craft beer has just become a natural part of the process for me: Shoot, drink, check-in on Untappd, blog, repeat. 
 

I get the feeling this is a hobby that'll stick. In fact, I'm off to celebrate the 7th Anniversary of City Beer Store in San Francisco (with my camera of course). Cheers, and thanks for the shout out!

Twitter: @instapint

Blog: http://www.instapint.com

Instagram: http://instapint.com/instagram

Untappd: http://instapint.com/untappd

BeerAdvocate: Instapint

Thank you sir! If you were looking for a how-to on beertography, look no further than any of Instapint sites or social media accounts. All amazing stuff. Check out a few more photos below! 

 

Beer Tripping - Southern New Hampshire

Once a year or so I take a trip up to Southern New Hampshire to visit my sister and her family in Fitzwililam, NH. Unfortunately there aren't many breweries in the immediate area, but there is an excellent beer store just down the road: BrewTopia in Keene.

This was my second-ever stop in this fantastic craft beer oasis of a store and yet again, it did not disappoint. Zack Cooper, one of the two co-owners of the store has greeted me both times now with open arms and a willingness to share even his rarest bottles. Zack is extremely friendly and excited to discuss the latest and greatest beers to hit Southern NH. 

The selection at BrewTopia is pretty tremendous and even includes an entire homebrew shop for local budding brewers. I would be a weekly regular there if I lived in the area. Of course, I was looking for anything that I can't get back in NJ/NYC and Zack was quick to help me with that. First he offered up their last bottle of Founders Doom which I just assumed I wouldn't be able to get my hands on. He also pointed me towards a bottle of Smuttynose Bloom which I was able to try just a small sample of at Brewer's Choice during NYC Beer Week and loved.

It's incredibly awesome and helpful when a beer store employee goes out of their way for you without even batting an eye. Among the other recommendations Zack gave me, I also picked up some White Birch Brewing from Hooksett, NH and Moat Mountain from North Conway, NH. It also didn't hurt that he busted out a Founders Backwoods Bastard for me as well.

Unfortunately my trip went nowhere near the Portsmouth area which is home to the Portsmouth Brewery, Throwback Brewery and of course Smuttynose. Hopefully I'll be remedying that this Summer.

Definitely check BrewTopia out if you're ever in the area. Great beers and great customer service. Full list of my haul below (L to R):

Otter Creek 20th Anniversary Ale
Black Diamond Jagged Edge IPA
Bar Harbor Cadillac Mountain Stout
White Birch Our Humble Porter
White Birch Oak-Aged Tripel 2011
Smuttynose Bloom
Founders Doom
Moat Mountain Imperial Stout
Moat Mountain Iron Mike Pale Ale
Whole Hog Six Hop IPA
Founders Backwoods Bastard 

Beertography Shirts

You asked for it, and now they're here! Beertography T-Shirts are now available at our online store. Stock is extremely limited right now, so if the size/color combination you want is sold out, let us know. The Beertography T-Shirt is available in Medium, Large, XL and XXL. Our current color selections are Turquoise, Red and Kelly Green (pictured above). Not interested in one of those colors? Let us know which other colors you would want and we'll be sure to get them soon!

So what are you waiting for? Head on over to our store and get yours today! /shamelessplug

Red Bull Arena: Live Sports & Craft Beer (Updated 4/22/13)

Update 4/22/13: Upon visiting Red Bull Arena for the 2013 campaign, I discovered some changes in the beer lineup. The biggest change is the removal of all of the craft bottles in Secion 124, which is disappointing to lose the Long Trail options. The good news is that Section 124 now has Flying Fish Hopfish IPA on DRAUGHT! This is now by far your best option for craft beer at the venue. And additional props for having it be a New Jersey Craft Beer, something we suggested after scouring the options last time around. There were some other minor changes that I'll add to the end of the post, so scroll on down.

We continue our series on Live Sports & Craft Beer today with a sport that's all too often overlooked in America: Soccer. Thankfully things have started to look brighter for the sport in the US. Teams have been seeing an improvement in attendance and ratings, and soccer-specific stadiums have been popping up all over the country. 

One such stadium is Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ.  The Red Bulls clinched a playoff berth this past weekend, so it's the perfect time to check them out if you haven't because there are some very exciting matches coming up. If you'd like to read a bit more about how I got into soccer, head on over to Free Beer Movement (FBM is an awesome site that promotes American Soccer in all it's forms by the way of craft beer - know someone that doesn't like soccer? Buy them a beer and invite them to watch a game).

Red Bull Arena is one of the easiest arenas to get to in NY or NJ. New Yorkers may have a stigma about traveling to NJ on the PATH train, but it's actually a shorter trip from Manattan to Red Bull Arena than it is to Yankee Stadium or Citi Field. Check out the directions here. So now I've convinced you to check out the arena, bu what about the beer inside? Well, it's not stellar yet. But there are enough decent options to satisfy a craft beer fan.

 

Section 104: Yuengling Lager – medium $9, large $12
Section 105: Yuengling-Branded Stand, draught
Section 114: Brooklyn Lager – 16oz. cans $9
Section 124: Flying Fish Hopfish IPA (draught) - $12, Yuengling Lager Cans $12
Section 130: Yuengling-Branded Stand, draught
Section 102: Brooklyn Brewery branded stand – Brooklyn Lager & Guinness 16oz. cans - $9 (this stand is mobile so location may change) **CASH ONLY**

So there you have it. This is already a pretty big improvement over the past 2 seasons I've been attending matches, so hopefully the trend continues. Cheers, and lets go Red Bulls!

Beertographer of the Week - Ramiro Silva

We continue our Beertorapher of the Week series with a new friend I met via twitter. Ramiro Silva has been posting excellent beertography (that really makes me want to step up my game). If you take a quick scroll through his Twitter pictures, you'll see some amazing stuff. I asked Ramiro if he would mind being highlighted as this week's Beertographer of the Week and he gladly obliged! Here's what he had to say about his passion for Beertography:

I started photographing beer about 6 months ago. Mostly I photograph lifestyle, portraits, landscapes, the occasional concert or sporting event. I picked up my first SLR thirty years ago and my first craft brew not long after that. I’m not sure why it took me so long to photograph beer, I guess I tend to overlook things that are right in front of me. Anyway, I’m glad these two interests of mine have crossed paths and I look forward to many more years of beertography sessions. Special thanks to John for bringing together a community of beer drinking photographers!

Thanks Ramiro. Make sure you follow him on Google+ and Twitter below. Then scroll down to see his other fantastic shots.

Google+ https://plus.google.com/104263271542304648793/posts
Twitter https://twitter.com/silvatone