Hello fellow beer fans! The project to put myself on the web has finally launched. And by “myself”, I mean the guy at the top of the page eying that pint of beer. I am an Edmonton-based beer writer, homebrewer and all around beer guy. For a number of years now, I have dabbled with a some beer columns, for CBC Radio and Vue Weekly in Edmonton and for Planet S in Saskatoon. And I wanted to start mucking about on the web as well, because that is what the kids do these days.

Seriously, I think a web presence will give me more opportunity to engage one of my favourite pastimes – writing about beer. As I explain on the “What We’re About” page, I hope to do a couple of things with this project. First, I plan to post links to most of my columns, allowing this site to be a one-stop shopping of sorts to find my beer observations. Second, I often find the space and time limitations of my regular columns restrict the range of topics I can address, so I intend to post on the site observations about the world of beer that would normally get left behind.

Which, of course, gives you a great reason to check back on a regular basis to see what I am talking about this week.

The third reason for this site is to try and increase the profile of Western Canada’s craft breweries. Being on the Prairies, they don’t get the attention some B.C. or Quebec brewers do, despite the fact that some of the best craft beer can be found on these flat lands. So I have built a page (Prairie Beer) highlighting every prairie brewer, and I will try to focus much of my attention in the blog to beer news on the prairies.

Finally, I wanted a platform to promote some of the other beer-related services I would like to offer – such as beer education workshops, tastings and journalism. Who knows where that will go, but I can’t really think about a better part time job than beer. Can you?

So, thank you for stopping by and try to drop in when you can. I hope to make it worth your while by offering fun and enlightening beer news. You can even think about subscribing to the RSS (the link is in the top right) so that you won’t miss a single post.

Finally, don’t hesitate to let me know what you think about the site. React to my reviews, offer your own insights about beer. The comments function will be active for all posts and most pages. I don’t mind being called out at all, so have at ‘er (just keep it polite, eh? We are Canadian after all.)

Now it is time for a beer!