When I'm not reading about beer, I love learning about marketing and communications. One of my favorite blogs for the topic is Spin Sucks, written by PR superpro Gini Dietrich and a cast of her friends and colleagues.
This week, Gini shared a post called " The Grateful Challenge," which tests someone to list as many things as they're grateful for in just 10 minutes. She got 67.
With Thanksgiving rapidly approaching, I wanted to see if I could beat that. I encourage you to do the same - set a timer and see what you come up with. Then realize all the stuff you left out.
It's harder than it seems. Especially when you try to keep it focused on beer.
Not that I'm not immensely grateful. I'm just poor at time-specific brainstorming, I suppose.
What did I forget? Let's find out. I apologize in advance!
The Grateful Challenge- My wife, Kristine, for traveling with me to breweries and bottle shops around the country.
- My brother, for showing me what Seattle can offer.
- "Bottled on" dates
- "Drink by" dates
- Hop bursted IPAs that focus on flavor and don't leave my tongue taxed.
- Fullsteam, a brewery that lives by its commitment to "local" and the unique aspects of what that means.
- Oliver Gray, who inspires me to become a better writer.
- Josh Short, for never shying away from a challenge.
- Scott of Beerbecue, for making me laugh about beer, which is important when so many people take it a little too seriously.
- Jake Scholan, who always wants to speak his mind.
- Liz Murphy, the wonkiest beer writer in Maryland.
- Douglas Smiley, for being brave.
- Carlin Cook, for trying beers so I don't have to.
- Sean Creel and Matt Van Sant for offering an excuse to explore beer.
- Andrew Enzy, because New Jersey has some good parts, I guess.
- Allen Huerta, for sharing homebrew and his beer knowledge.
- Ashley Bower, aka the Beer Fairy, for living up to her name and delivering me beer from South Carolina.
- Writing about beer that isn't really about beer.
- Bart Watson, who is quickly becoming my beer nerd data hero.
- Beer data, which helps us become better informed than relying on a series of anecdotal stories to prove a point.
- Twitter, which connects me to the beer community every day.
- Sunny weekend days spent on my back patio area, sitting in an Adirondack chair and sipping away at a beer.
- My homebrew equipment, which has helped me make dozens of batches. Some good, some bad, but all made by me.
- Daily exercise. Because you've got to work to keep that beer belly off.
- Early mornings staring at a computer screen, compiling notes and sentences in my head that turn into blog posts.
- WordPress, for providing me with a platform where I can share my passion.
- Every person who visits my blog.
- People who will listen to me ramble on about the intricacies of beer, especially when they don't have nearly as big an interest as I do.
- My annual trip to Dogfish Head, which reminds me of how amazing beer can be when shared with friends.
- Untapped, so I can keep track.
- Instagram, so I can hone a love for beertography.
- Public transportation.
- Designated drivers.
- Lists, so we can share what we are thankful for. How else would we do it?
That was disappointing. Those 10 minutes sneak up on you. (I added the hyperlinks afterward, so that's not cheating)
Rather than turn this into a chain mail situation and ask you to follow suit, I'll simply encourage you to leave a comment below with one thing that has earned your gratitude, beer or otherwise.
Happy Thanksgiving!
+Bryan Roth
"Don't drink to get drunk. Drink to enjoy life." - Jack Kerouac
