Today is a new day for Beer Street Journal. Seven years ago, I was working an engineering job that I pretty much hated. When the economy tanked, I knew this job wouldn’t be around long. What I really wanted to do, was beer. Drink it. Brew it. Work somewhere in the brewing industry.
The problem is, seven years ago I couldn’t’ find a spot in the beer industry. Even with somewhat relevant experience, jobs weren’t easy to come by. So… I started writing about it. That’s how I spent the last few weeks of that job, creating what would one day be called Beer Street Journal.
Once the severance package came in, I hit the road, going to every brewery I could find. Really, as cliche as it sounds, I fell in love with beer. I never tried to find another full time job. I found every way to bootstrap the site financially, so I could travel and write full time.
In order to grow the site, I really wanted to take it to the next level, and I knew that help was needed. Luckily that’s where Trevor comes in. He’s a commercial real estate guy, who literally didn’t know what an IPA was when we met, that has basically networked with half the city of Atlanta. He brought on an E-Commerce focused web-development partner, Speartek, to build our store, a fulfillment company, FSI, to handle our shipping requirement, an SEO focused group, EverSpark Interactive, to assist with expanding our reach, an attorney, TJ Mihill, who we may or may not pay in beer, and one of the best wholesalers in the country, BSG Handcraft, to be our main supplier. I don’t want to forget that he also somehow negotiated a deal to distribute for one of the most well known names in brewery equipment manufacturing, Blichmann Engineering.
Our goal for the store is to help support the growth of our industry, further educate and raise awareness for beer and homebrewing, and enable us to hire additional writers all over the world so we can bring you even more from the ever-changing world of craft beer.
If you have ever thought about home brewing, or you are a home brewer and are looking for more gear, we are offering 20% off your order of $75 or more through the end of the month. Use promo code SHOPBEERSTREET Not only to launch the store, but to say thank you for reading Beer Street Journal all these years.
Cheers to you all, and we hope to drink a beer with you in the near future.
Check it out now – Shop.BeerStreetJournal.com
Note: 20% applies to orders $75 dollars & higher, up to $500 dollars. Excludes Blichmann Engineering products.
Offering a bottle trade or second-hand marketplace for people seeking out-of-region and rare beers would be cool – you could charge a listing or transaction fee – much like an ebay.
Actually have been working on something like that. Have been building software for it, just takes some time….
Like I said, already exists and has for almost two years. Would love to talk to you guys about a partnership if you’re up for it.
Looks like you might like TheBeerExchange.io – it’s literally exactly what you described. Thousands of users trading rare and out of market beers. Free to sign up and use.