Kirk Richardson

Food and beverage writer Kirk Richardson is on a quest in search of North America’s best craft breweries. Pint in one hand and pen in the other, he’s sampled some of the best beer on the planet, from luscious lagers to enticing IPAs and seductive stouts, while visiting with the brewmasters who made them. In the first of his four-book North American series, Craft Beer Country: In Search of the Best Craft Breweries from the South Pacific to the Pacific Coast, Kirk captures the best in the west, from the shores of Maui to beer-crazy cities like San Diego, Portland, and Seattle; to remote outposts in Port Townsend (WA), Hood River (OR), and Juneau (AK).

Although he is often on the road, Kirk's home base is in Oregon’s picturesque Willamette Valley, where he lives wife Lisa, dog Tally, cats Louie and Daisy, and two refrigerators stocked with craft beer. He enjoys those ales and lagers with good backyard barbecue and other cuisine, unless he’s off somewhere meeting old beer buddies and making new friends at breweries near and far. In his limited spare time, Kirk writes a Craft Beer Country Blog, his observations and reviews of brews, pubs, and places worth exploring.

Q&A WITH KIRK RICHARDSON

1. Craft Beer Country is more than just a guide to the best beers in the West. What was the experience of traveling for this book like?

The journey was unforgettable. Although I had some experience with craft beer prior to writing the book as a magazine food and beverage writer, I wouldn’t have called myself anything but a novice. The people I met along the way — from the guy sitting next to me on a barstool, to knowledgeable servers, to brewers and brewery-preneurs — taught me about their beers as we sampled them. We talked about the flavors and aromas and where those came from; we compared our perceptions of the textures. These “teachers” transformed me into one of their own — a true beer geek. Even after tasting hundreds of beers, I’m still climbing the learning curve.

2. Do you feel that the personality of the brewers shows in their beer?

There personalities show up like the microbubbles on top of a well-crafted lager. You can’t miss them! Reading Craft Beer Country, you get to know the brewers, some of the servers, and others in this rapidly-growing industry. Many of these people, like Sergeant Klint Sheets (owner of 3 Sheets in Albany, Oregon), aren’t known outside of their own hometown, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have a good story to tell. As much as this book is about travel and the people in Craft Beer Country, it is also about the liquid masterpieces the brewers are creating using their technical skills.

3. What do you hope readers will take away from Craft Beer Country and your take on the Craft Beer Boom and the industry as a whole?

I’d love to hear that someone read the book and it inspired them to visit a brewery, meet the people behind the beer, and relax with a pint after a hard day at the office. Beer brings people together, and I’d love to run into readers as I continue to frequent these breweries and discover others around North America. Maybe this book entices people to set out on their own adventures. There’s a lifetime of good times waiting just around the corner!

4. Craft Beer Country also takes a look at the chemical process of brewing. What sparked that interest?

I’ve liked science since I was a kid, but I didn’t get into it as a career because I was always better at English than I was at math. I’d be a terrible scientist or engineer, and I’m not sure the planet could survive me as a lab rat. I just barely passed high school chemistry, with no lasting burns or meaningful damage to the classroom. Now as for my lab partner…

5. Is craft brewing more of an art or a science?

Craft brewing is both an art and a science. Brewers like Geoff Larson at Alaskan (Juneau) are innovative. He has developed new processes that enable the brewery to recycle what would have been waste product. Geoff studied Chemical Engineering in college and is very inventive. When I think of an artist, Robert Horner of Propolis in Port Townsend, Washington comes to mind. Although he is quite proficient technically, he is an artist when it comes to mixing ingredients. He also has the help of his very talented partner Piper Corbett, who is an artist in her own right, and gathers local ingredients for brewery’s saisons and other wonderful beers. All three of them are naturals.

6. With such a diverse range of breweries and locations, was there anything that you found in

common between a majority of the places you visited?

Oh yes! A lot of these people know one another and enjoy collaboration. It is like a big family. There are so many connections between the breweries, and many of these folks get together at contests like the Great American Beer Festival. So it’s the spirit of camaraderie that they have in common. They are also committed to making incredible beer to the point that they are willing to pour anything subpar down the drain (although some might try blending it or dry-hopping it first). The best in this industry are uncompromising about the quality of their beer, and some (you will need to read the book to find out who) are so obsessed with it that they even dream about it!

7. What’s next for you and Craft Beer Country?

Next up is Craft Beer Country: In Search of the Best Breweries from the Northeast to the Caribbean Sea. I'm not sure what I'll find, if anything, on the islands, but I plan to give it a try. But the East Coast is full of great breweries and has a long tradition in the craft, so many well-known breweries are already on my map. I'll be in Pennsylvania, New York and New England this summer (2019) and am in the process of planning trips to Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, as well as Florida. I've already been out to Dogfish Head in Delaware, but may make a second trip. Far eastern Canada will also be in this second book, so I'll look for recommendations of the best of the best and hidden gems. We'll see where the road takes me, but the journey should be a lot of fun!