American Craft Beer Fest

KJ and I have volunteered to work the American Craft Beer Fest, which will be held at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston on June 18 and 19. We're working the evening session on Saturday, the 19th. This is actually the first time I've signed up to do this sort of thing. Obviously, I've attended beer festivals, but have never actually worked one.

Of course, we get free admission to the session we work, so that's part of the motivation. But, mainly I'm looking forward to meeting some fellow craft beer enthusiasts and writing about my experience. The primary reason for this post, though, is that I wanted to share the introductory emails we sent about ourselves to the BeerAdvocate folks, who run the festival. In some sense, they contain mini-bios with respect to our introduction to the kinds of beer we enjoy.

First, here's mine:

My name is Charles Simone, and my wife KJ and I are interested in volunteering for the upcoming American Craft Beer Fest, and future Beer Advocate Fests as well.

I'm an avid home brewer and have been brewing for almost 20 years. I've been a craft beer drinker since discovering a brew pub called Brown and Moran's (currently Troy Pub and Brewery) in Troy, New York in the early '90s. Prior to that, brands such as Bass Ale and Sam Adams Lager helped me realize that I considered bitterness a positive quality in beer.

I write a blog called Left Field, about baseball, music and beer. My site includes a guide to the best beer bars in and around Boston: http://left-field. blogspot.com/p/boston-beer- guide.html. I'd love to become involved in some way in the local craft beer scene, interact with local folks with similar interests, and possibly blog about my experiences. 

I'm also a big fan of BeerAdvocate, and consider your site and magazine to be the premier source of news and other information regarding good beer. Most importantly, I respect beer.

More importantly, though, I got a real kick out of what KJ wrote:

My name is KJ, and along with my husband Charles Simone, I am interested in volunteering at the upcoming American Craft Beer Fest.

Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, I became a fan of craft beers in my early twenties. As the number of local microbreweries in Portland is similar to the number of Dunkin' Donuts locations in Boston, just about every activity included stopping for a pint of beer. Upon moving to Boston in 2001, I quickly found out that finding good beer was difficult. I became frustrated with the tap choices that rarely seemed to move beyond Coors, Bud, Miller and Guinness. Even the local options of Sam Adams and Harpoon did little to satiate my hop cravings. So, ultimately, I gave it up for several years except for trips home to Portland. I used to haul three growlers of my favorites back from each visit (until the liquid ban).

Fast forward to 2008 when I met my dear husband, home brewer, craft beer enthusiast, and avid BeerAdvocate reader. He reintroduced me to good beer, hauling me all over New England to try out his favorites along with new options. I guess you could say we fell in love over hoppy beer. :)

I am excited to be back in the beer game and am interested in meeting others who share the sophisticated palate for discerning an excellent brew. And, I love to be involved; helping others is part of my nature.