Gregory Fretz of Phoenix Ale Brewery Passes at 44.

The Arizona beer community was stunned with the news of Gregory "Fretzy" Fretz passing on Saturday. Word spread from the beer tents at the Amer-CAN Canned Craft Beer Festival that Fretzy passed in his sleep after after a battle with throat cancer. It was a shock, to say the least, since Fretz had been active all during American Craft Beer Week including an open house at Phoenix Ale Brewery on Thursday. The open house announced  the operational partnership with Sonoran Brewing Company. After the festival, industry and fans gathered at the nearby Praying Monk to remember and to hear the words of others. Chuck Noll of Crescent Crown led the crowd with a moving tribute.

Fretzy had been in the beer industry since 1994 with long stints at Pyramid and Deschutes Brewery before co-founding Phoenix Ale Brewery with George Hancock. Gary Fish, President of Deschutes credits Fretzy with developing the Arizona market for brands like Black Butte Porter. Fretz was able to get Deschutes everywhere across the state and he also secured handles in some of Arizona's most iconic destinations including the El Tovar Hotel in the Grand Canyon and at (then) Bank One Ballpark.

Greg Fretz was the namesake for an unfiltered English pale ale and an unfiltered wheat with the pale ale serving as the company's flagship. Fretz was also the driving force behind the Phoenix Brewers Invitational Beer Festival held last December. It will be impossible to separate American Craft Beer Week, the Phoenix Brewers Invitational, AmeriCAN and of course Fretzy's Ales without out thinking of his gravelly voice and ebullient manner. Fretz was able to talk about his treatments with just about anyone and provided comfort to those that knew someone battling cancer. Such is the role that he played in my life.

This is a particularly difficult spring for the beer community as Arizona has lost Professor David Conz in April.

Greg is survived by his wife and two children. Arrangements and memorials have yet to be announced. Our thoughts are with them.


EDIT: Fretzy's wife Stacie has announced a fund to support the family in this dire time.
http://www.gofundme.com/2zyfhw
Greg was the kind of person that would say a few kind words, smile and buy you a beer if he saw that you were down. Please consider sending a few bucks their way.

Expand my what?

A pallet outside of a palate expansion emporium.

"Stop drinking fizzy yellow stuff. Expand your pallet!!!!" - Source, the google.

I often see "craft beer" as a rallying point to expand one's experience in terms of flavor. Seven times out of ten*, it seems that I'm being literally asked to enlarge the wooden skids in my figurative warehouse (wherehouse / were-house).

pal·let 
/?palit/
Noun
A portable platform on which goods can be moved, stacked, and stored, esp. with the aid of a forklift.
Synonyms
palette - paillasse

pal·ate 
/?palit/
Noun
The roof of the mouth, separating the cavities of the nose and the mouth in vertebrates.
A person's appreciation of taste and flavor.
Synonyms
taste - savour - savor - flavour - flavor - relish

pal·ette 
/?palit/
Noun
A thin board or slab on which an artist lays and mixes colors.
The range of colors used by a particular artist or in a particular picture.
Synonyms
pallet

There seems to be a natural tendency for this plea to be followed with hit-you-over-the-head descriptions of beers that are barrel aged, bourbon and hop bombs. Presumably, expanding your palate involves detecting the obvious.

Here's another thought. Expanding your palate could also mean improving your sensory on very subtle flavors and the language used to communicate them to others. I'm pleased to see that two valley beer writers have done just that in recent days. Alyssa is relating here experiences on the low numbered BJCP styles (1, 2, 3) brilliantly while Zach smiths out Sunbru's delicate flavors here.

Fizzy yellow stuff. Can you taste the green apple? Sulphur? Cereal? Corn? Expand it man, expand it!

*Made up stat.

The Session #75 | Business of Brewing

In this installment of The Session, Chuck Lenatti of AllBrews asks that we reflect on the Business of Brewing. He makes that observation that anyone that has brewed has probably considered going pro and he asks that we provide insight to those considering taking the leap. I facetiously tackled some of this in an April Fools post, but that was as much a poke at myself than at anyone else.

I am an observer and student of the business of beer. Let it be known, however,  that I have made in excess of $0.00 selling it or promoting it. I also have an extensive background in opening exactly 0 breweries. I am currently consulting no one on their new East Coast brewery. I will also resort to semantic trickery, leaps in logic and made-up statistics to win arguments. Here is my sage advice:

• Decide right now if you have the aptitude and the desire for public speaking. No? Then shut up. Hire someone or find a partner that will do this for you. You are making, selling and promoting your business with everything you say, everything that you write and anything that has your name or logo on it. Everything you produce that isn't beer is also a marketing piece for your beer.
• Have that gift for gab? Maybe also consider shutting up. You might not be as charming as you think. Get an outside evaluation.
• Do not solicit investments on the internet. There are rules. Google it.
• Speaking of Google, use it so that you don't run into a trademark issue. 
• Once you are on a clear track to start up and you're adamant about social media, please note Rule 5.
• As a start up, a social media strategy is not required. It may also be a time suck. 
• All of the see-and-be-seen events with the craft beer world, the facebook mugging with other brewers, "the research" in a glass... These things do not write your business plan or cut your floor drains.
• As a business owner, you are a host. You are trading in hospitality (if you are a brewpub) or your product engenders hospitality (if you are a production brewery). When someone is visiting you, they are coming to your home. Are you not that guy? Find someone to run the front of the house who is.
• Have an elevator pitch that focuses on the role of your business in the community. Talk about employment, economic growth, sense of community and how your business will be transformative. You are the driver that takes them to the place we all want to go to. Making high quality beer is the gasoline that runs the vehicle. Hat tip to Michael Fairbrother of Moonlight Meadery for that wonderful analogy.
• You are going to make mistakes. Some of them will be big and it may be embarrassing. You might even compound on the problem by saying or doing something defensively and hastily. Stop. The mistakes and problems are hardly ever the reason you do not succeed. It's often how you respond to the problem that makes a difference.
• Don't read reviews. Get someone to provide you unbiased and unemotional feedback on a regular basis. If you must respond to criticism, answer directly, provide concise information and supply an opportunity to address it off line. Move on.
• Ignore quality at your peril.
• Treat your water. It's not olde tyme beer anymore.
• Kickstarter. Make it a tiny portion of your business plan if you decide to use it. At best, it's a way to move some t-shirts and show that you can put together a campaign. At worst, it can look like begging.  It's better to use Kickstarter as KickFinisher. Use it as part of the run-up to you opening.
• Your friends. Your friends are your friends whether you make barrel aged unicorn sunshine or an amber ale. You are not making beer for your friends. You are making beer to stay alive, after that you are making beer for you.
• Hire a brewer.
• Hire a brewer.
• You are far better off partnering with a lawyer, an accountant or a bicycle store owner than another homebrewer.
• Focus on local. All of your initial resources and challenges are local. Your largest regulatory issues will arise from a municipal inspector, not the state or the federal government. The ultimate hurdle in selecting a site will be gaining neighborhood support. Your customers will not be your friends or family or the beer geeks across town, they will be your new friends and family in your new neighborhood.
• You are responsible for educating your customers, not Greg Koch, not Sam, not Vinnie. Most of your new customers never heard of these guys, nor do they care.
• As much as you want it to be, "all about what's in the glass", it's not. In fact, what happens outside of the glass is even more important if your beers are solid. Remember, it's hospitality and differentiating your beers from everyone else.
• Someone may tell you that your beer sucks. They may be inarticulate, imprecise and rude. They may also be right.
• Do blind tastings of your beer versus others in the same style. Be brutally honest.
• Is your brewpub a warm and inviting place? Is the service good? Congratulation you're better off than most other service industries and you have delicious beer. 
• Every beer has a story. Learn how to tell it.
• Aspire to be more than a brewer or brewery owner. Be a community leader.
• The news media loves beer stories that don't involve drinking and b-roll of people drinking. (Really, it's true.) Remember the elevator pitch. 
• Tired of hearing business advice from armchair brewmasters and homebrewers? Tough. Shut up and smile or hire someone that does it better than you.

Rock Bands, Taxis and the Three Fates

It turns out there is a shortage of cool rock band names according to the Wall Street Journal. It seems hard to comprehend until the facts are laid out. Think of all the commercially successful bands that you liked and wrote on your Trapper-Keeper. Now add the horribly short window of your reign of coolness. Think of all the DJs, YouTubers, Guitar Heroes and Karaoke "stars" too that now get online and publish to My Space and Apple Garageband.

Some stats:

• A company called Rovi tracks about 1.4 Million artists names;
• Rovi adds an average of 6,521 new names a month; 
• Top band variant names are Bliss (keep this one in mind), Mirage, Gemini, Legacy, Paradox and Rain.

Money quotes:

"Every other name is taken," Mr. Jones explains. "Think of a great band name and Google it, and you'll find a French-Canadian jam band with a MySpace page."

The available supply of punchy one- or two-word band names is dwindling. So, many acts are resorting to the unwieldy or nonsensical.
Among more than 1,900 acts expected in March at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, are bands with the names And So I Watch You From Afar, and Everybody Was In the French Resistance...Now! The f-word is part of 100 band names in a media database maintained by Gracenote, a unit of Sony Corp. that licenses digital entertainment technology.

It's a real problem with C&D's and legal challenges coming from big companies as well as competing bands both new and old.

Scottsdale Fate

Is there reason for the beer world to take caution? With 2500 or so breweries and 1000's more in planning it seems like there is plenty of room for creativity. The Brewery Collectibles Club of America tracks 2250 or so US breweries. BeerMe lists 14,157 breweries and 41,753 beers. There are also untold thousands of homebrewers bandying about their monikers on bottles and online. So why is it then, that we have a Fate Brewing Co here in Scottsdale and there is also one in Boulder? The beer world is starting to see C&D letters from other industries. Who can forget the Monster / Vermonster controversy? Or the Santan / Sam Adams glassware bout? Will we see brewery names like strongly encrypted passwords or long phrases like those at South by Southwest?

Imagine 1337@l3Wl_lrk5 or Tortoise Brand Pot Scrubbing Cleaner's Brewing or some phrase from Ipsum Lorem Brewing. Maybe we should ask taxi drivers. From the WSJ article.

Boulder Fate

"A band name should pass the taxi-driver test: You shouldn't have to tell him twice"

Speaking of taxi cab driver advice, Stan Hieronymus re-tweeted some craft beer advice from ESPN's Darren Rovell.

MT @darrenrovell Taxi driver wants to open brewery. When taxi driver told me yrs ago he did real estate knew boom over. HT @craftbizdaily
— Stan Hieronymus (@StanHieronymus) April 23, 2013

Fate No More

If I'm cabbing in Phoenix, it's generally the "to home" leg. It would be uncommon for me to catch a lift from the Sky Harbor airport and say, "To Fate". Phoenix isn't much of a cab town, so I'm curious if I'd end up in Scottsdale, back at passenger departures or at Bliss at what was once formerly Johnny Chu's Fate.

Chow Bella Continues Phoning It In | Misses Top Local Stories

This is by no means the first time. We've chronicled the problem before. In a week where we lost Dr Dave Conz, the Arizona Craft Brewers Guild hosted a Springfest in Tucson, Four Peaks had its 16th Anniversary Festival and Ed Sipos announces the pre-sale of a landmark book, Brewing Arizona | A Century of Beer in the Grand Canyon State, here is what the New Times chooses to write about in the beer world.

The Elephant Poop Beer: This was blog fodder everywhere and passed around social media. It has no relation to anything going on in the beer world here, but if you're going to write about it why not get a take on it from Cartel since it is a beer brewed from coffee and those guy make beer and coffee. In any case, you might want to link back to your own bad selves since Zach Fowle wrote about Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel. Zach, the strongest link in your chain, wrote about the civet cat poop beer in 2010.

The Bud Bowtie Can: Another non-story which you chose to make a story. Bella, you're being hipster while invoking hipster. Here's an idea. How about getting some press over to Dapper + Dash, the local bowtie purveyor. They're smack dab in the middle of a Kickstarter campaign. ($1600 to go with 50 or so hours left.) They've done craft beer events with Tempe Handlebar and Four Peaks. You blew it. You could have re-directed Bud bowtie ire into local good.

Beer Brain Science: Hello? Beer For Brains? Are you guys writing for people that aren't on facebook? Another re-cycled presser and a blown opportunity.






















On a more positive track, the New Times enlisted Minerva Orduño Rincón, the founder of Muñeca Mexicana handcrafted food to write about Mexican Beers, "3 Tips for Avoiding Beer Tragedies of the Mexican Variety". It's a topic that needs some attention given that almost all Mexican traditional or inspired restaurants seem to feel the need to automatically include 5 or 6 Mexican macro offerings at the expense of something that actually makes sense flavor-wise.

Unfortunately, the piece relies on snark and humor. We only get hints about what the actual story should be:

I would love to be able to share more on the new crop of Mexican micro-breweries working to develop Mexican beer to include more variety than the pilsners and lagers brought by German and Polish immigrants to Mexico during the 19th century, tasty as they are. Sadly, these beers, including the awesomely named Cervecería Minerva are not readily available in the United States.

That, is in fact, the real story we want to read about. How about an actual discussion about the duopoly that is Mexican beer? Provide some insights on how the regional breweries were gobbled up by Grupo Modelo or Cervecería Cuauhtémoc-Moctezuma/FEMSA. There is nothing wrong with Negra Modelo, Pacifico, Corona, or Tecate in context, but please provide that context. Minerva write that piece please. We'll get you some Mexi-craft beers. We know people.

Finally, Zach continues to write cogent pieces on new releases. He provides context, history and makes reviews interesting. It's not easy work, beer reviews. Most come off as dry or pretentious in the tasting notes. As an old guy, I didn't need so many 80's references in his last piece on the Class of 88, but alas today's newest drinkers were born in the 90's. There is always a place for a Fred Eckhardt reference in a Barleywine review. Some day maybe someone at the NT will also appreciate Fred is also a Sake expert.

Update: Great sounding beer and Chinese food event. Forgets to list beer pairings in a beer pairings? Is a poop reference de rigueur for beer stories now?

Bite My Shiny Metal (gl)Ass | Are We Headed for a Growler Showdown?

In December, I stopped by a Prescott brewery for a visit and noticed that they were selling and filling Hydroflask growlers with the brewery logo. From a distance they look ceramic because of a charcoal powder coating, but they are double walled stainless steel. I asked someone behind the bar about them and let them the know according to the law, growlers had to me made of glass. That law is Title 4 of the Arizona Revised Statutes and it was the law that opened growler fills to retailers and bars. It states plainly:

4-244.  32

c) A Bar, Beer And Wine Bar, Liquor Store, Beer And Wine Store Or Domestic Microbrewery Licensee Who Dispenses Beer Only In A Clean Glass Container With A Maximum Capacity That Does Not Exceed One Gallon And Not For Consumption On The Premises ...

We joked about how stupid the law was. I even told him that liquor agents were specifically asked about stainless steel and ceramics at a distributor's Q&A and the agents held firm to the letter of the law. He shrugged and that was the end of it. I'm hoping that I did not come across as a smug flatlander, but I have to admit that I marveled at the seemingly under-the-radar nature of rural Arizona. 

I've known one other Arizona brewery to fill stainless containers in the North Country. I suspect others are filling for a few customers. I know that every brewery has an interest in allowing their use. It seems silly that the law precludes us from using the vessel of choice for brewers across the world. They may have used glass lined tanks in Latrobe or the old A-1 Brewery, but these days stainless fermentation tanks are industry standard. The material of the vessel can't be a health and safety issue. I defy anyone to tell me how ceramic is materially different than glass in terms of packaging and why the state has an interest in specifying one over the other.

One only need look at the success of the can in brewing and look at the glass strewn highways and parks of the state to realize that the stainless steel growler is going to be a  necessary part of outdoor living in Arizona. I guarantee that you will not see shards of steel from a broken hydroflask on the banks of Woods Canyon Lake. No one is going to abandon the metal husk of a growler on a picnic table.

Yesterday things got interesting. I saw a post on Instragram. A valley brewery is selling the shiny metal versions of the hydroflask. I was told that people are getting them filled. There is absolutely no way that the practice will go unnoticed given the brewery's size and the scope of their social media outreach.

So what is going on here? Has there been an enforcement agreement? Is this a test case? An act of civil disoBEERdience? A miscommunication?

I'm unable to get answers from my usual channels. I am headed to the brewery to find out.

Update:

Advice: Buy one. Get it filled. This growler will last you a lifetime. You will save about $8 in shipping. You will hand it down to your children like an heirloom (or lose it like a pair of sunglasses.) Don't expect everyone to honor filling it. If at such time the state mandates that they cannot be filled where you bought it, then fill it with homebrew. At some point the law will be changed to something clear and rational.

Until then, flaunt your pair of steel family jewels.

Last Dave Conz Interview | It's Never Too Late to Learn or be Inspired by Dr. Dave

Yesterday afternoon, I re-tweeted a condolence for Dr David Conz, who we learned passed away on April 12. It happened to catch the eye of James Spencer of Basic Brewing Radio. James had just finished editing an interview that he recorded with Dave on March 29.

It's a small world that we live in.

I've posted the links to the podcast below. It's good to hear his voice again and see the world through his eyes one last time.

April 18, 2013 - David Conz Tribute
A conversation with the late David Conz, Arizona State University professor and friend to homebrewers and good beer. Introduction by Rob Fullmer, president of the Arizona Society of Homebrewers.

- Dave's Slate article

iTunes | Streaming mp3

We Have Lost Dave Conz

On Friday, we lost a great man, Dr David Conz. Dave was a warm, personable and engaging figure that moved between intellectual and social circles as freely, easily and simply as a smile. When I met Dave, he was introduced to me as Dr Beer, an Arizona State University (ASU) professor with a CV of varied disciplines that defied logic, that is, until you met and spoke to him. He made it all make sense. His intellectual pursuits led him to sit comfortably between areas of knowledge and learning--an area where he could be a teacher and a student at the same time.

Dave and I had an affinity in looking at beer as a lens through which the world could be better understood, though he obviously stated it much more clearly than I ever hoped to. We were not close friends, but that was only a limitation of time. He is someone that I saw my own potential in. I wanted to treat people like he treated people. I wanted to understand things like he did. Over the years, we discussed a great many projects. This was the year that we were going to push forward. This was the year that our close work would further cement our bonds.

Dave began a class at ASU that he one day hoped to turn into a program: BIS 402, The Cultural and Chemical History of Beer

“This interdisciplinary course traces the development of beer from ancient cultures to the multinational mega-corporations and craft homebrewers of today. We will examine the social, cultural, legal, biochemical, physiological and business dimensions of beer throughout history while integrating students’ areas of concentration. The class will feature expert guest lecturers, field trips to local breweries, and an optional hands-on, at-home (off-campus) “lab” component where students will have the opportunity to make, bottle, analyze and sample their own batches of beer (off-campus).”

It was a wildly popular class and the students that I met were fascinated with the scope and depth of the materials that their professor presented. Notably, the beer industry took interest and anecdotally, I know of many direct hires from the graduates of this class. There were placements at Sierra Nevada, Santan Brewing and Crescent Crown to name a few. I had the pleasure of guest lecturing a class on the beer culture in Phoenix that included segments on urban planning and adaptive re-use.

You'll note in the course description above, that "off-campus" is used a few times and this speaks to the uneasy relationship that ASU has with beer. Dave's passing has, for the foreseeable future, placed the class and program at an end. Many are vowing to bring the program back, but that will be a discussion for another time.

It's here where I have to be careful because some of the early circumstances surrounding Dave's death are based on hearsay. There will always be a degree of uncertainty and speculation about Dave's passing and the testimony of a few will most likely be all that we have. There is no getting around talking about this. Dave lived in the friendly aura of so many and there will be difficult conversations. This is hard. If you are not ready for this, please skip to the video below. It's a celebration of his life and it is ultimately how I will remember him.

These are my own thoughts and I cannot attest that they are the truth. There are two conflicting currents--two ideas that are at odds that lead me to a conclusion. Dave had plans. I know that on the day of the tragic event he and I discussed rescheduling a meeting for a project that we were going to work on in the fall. I know that others got reminder calls from Dave about an event the very next day. He had plans with us.

Whether you choose to believe it was careless, accidental or intentional Dave died by his own hand. This is the opposing force that puts everything that we know into a terrible swirl. There were circumstances, I am told, that may have momentarily put Dave in a place that few of us have ever seen him in. It seems that this was all a horrible, ridiculous, selfish, impulsive, uncharacteristic and hurtful catastrophic act. We are all human and we are all susceptible to periods of flawed thinking, impetuousness, irrationality, madness, violence and destruction. We need not hide from the ugliness within us. We all must believe that Dave would not want any of us to follow him in this path. It is not the way of the gracious, learned and caring man that we love.

Again. I will remember Dave as a colleague and a friend and someone that will continue inspire me for as long as I live. So too will every one of his friends.

Last night, the beer community met at one of Dave's local favorites, Taste of Tops. As many as 100 packed into the small bar and there were easily 80 raised glasses for round of drinks bought by the Arizona Craft Brewers Guild. Among the brewers, homebrewers, distributors and beer fans were many of Dave's colleagues and students. There were also representatives of the many sides of Dave, the friends that knew him as:

The Drummer
The Biodiesel Scientist
The Dancer
The Poet
The Traveler
The Professor
The Motorcycle Mechanic
The Sociologist
The Pilot
The Philosopher
The Lover
The Skater
The Vegetarian
The Chicken Farmer
The Homebrewer

We will all miss him.


UPDATE: My friend James Spencer recorded an interview with Dave on March 29.

Brewing Arizona | A Web Found Sneek Peak

Will this be the cover of the Ed Sipos book, "Brewing Arizona"? You can catch up with Ed at these the following events and ask him:

April 20: Arizona Craft Brewers Guild Springfest, (Tucson, AZ)
May 18: Ameri-Can Canned Craft Beer  Festival, (Scottsdale, AZ)

I ran across a design blog post in February (see below) and ever since it's been difficult to contain my enthusiasm for the book release. I've read the manuscript (more than once) and have been dying to talk about it. It's going to be a great moment when more people know the history of brewing in our state. Some of the very same challenges and opportunities exist today as they did in Territorial times. I think there are going to be some surprises in the book for some people that remember the 1990's craft beer boom. The pictures of the A-1 Brewery are simply outstanding.


You can see this possible cover and a few others that may or may not make the cut at the housedesign llc blog. Good affordable design is something that all breweries have access to now unlike the 1860's (and let's be honest, even the 1990's).

Hey Chow Bella, Let's Avert the Slow Motion Disaster That Was Last Year.

Hey remember last Spring when you, the Phoenix New Times Chow Bella Blog, created a 100 Tastemakers list and posted a new entry every day leading up to their "Best Of" picks?

That's coming up again for you. I have some advice.

I'm probably the only freak who followed day-by-day to see who from the beer world would be on that list. I've held on to my disappointment in you for a year.

Here is that complete list for anyone interested but let me save my readers some trouble. There were no beer people on the list or at least their beer side was not acknowledged (more on that later). Disclaimer: I have a few friends on the list, I happen to agree with many of the choices. I was happy to learn about the folks that I do not know. Little did I know it, but The Tastemakers list was a sign of disaster to come.

You can make the argument that it's a food blog. Then why have folks on it where wine figure so prominently in their background and no beer personalities? Why have two 2 mixologists and ignore that there are some 35 breweries in the state? Arizona has breweries that have won Great American Beer Fest and World Beer Cup Medals. Our breweries employ 1600 workers and are part of an industry that has many more thousand beer-centric front line professionals. Surely there is room for a brewer, distributor professional or a Cicerone server on that list of 100.  The beer community does beer dinners you know. They collaborate with chefs. Some of them are homebrewers. You could mention that.

Chow Bella, don't do this for me. Don't do this for your beer friends or for any other reason than this--your beer credibility sucks and you need to do something about it.

Bella, you have a blind spot and you don't even know it. The Tastemakers list was the tell that you're over your head. In June, you listed Cartel's Jason Silberschlag and we couldn't be happier. Except this... at the time of your writing, Jason was hip deep OPENING A BREWERY and YOU DIDN'T MENTION IT. In July we noticed, that you eliminated some beer categories from the popular vote. All that did was encourage folks to nominate breweries for Best Sports Bar and so on. See, people (readers and ad-clickers) that take part in you poll like beer.

Bella, you have a Certified Cicerone on your staff. He is your best beer resource is he is relegated to the sidelines. All that you have your Cicerone do is beer reviews. Did you know that a core discipline of a Cicerone is to talk about food and beer pairings? Beer and food pairings in restaurants, imagine! See how you could work that into your blog? He's not going to make some of the rookie mistakes I've seen your other writers make. Maybe you should let him edit a story if it involves beer. Maybe if a place features beer, wine and cocktails, you should ask your reviewers to reflect on all of the beverages and not just cocktails.

That your Cicerone works at a beer bar isn't going to bias his opinions on restaurants. I've heard this is your concern--a conflict of interest. You should note that his place of business does not even serve food. Perhaps you're afraid he'll do what tastemakers do and challenge the ancient thinking on beer and dining. Maybe he'll write about the crappy beer list at one of your favorite places. (You know it's crappy too.) Maybe you're going for hipster thing wherein you're so cool you have a beer guy but you don't even acknowledge beer exists in restaurants. That's for you to work out I guess. Alas, you are not alone when it comes to misrepresenting beer. I'll give you some credit. I think the Republic is just lazy.

Bella, you need to do this for you or you'll end up handing out another brewing award to a place that doesn't actually brew beer. You put those business owners in a horrible position of having to accept an award they knew was the  result of your willful igonorance.