Just a quick what’s up post. I gave a lightning talk at Ignite Baltimore 4 last night.
Seemed to go OK. I stumbled a few times, but managed to recover all right. 500 people staring at you is kinda scary.
But hey! I got to meet a bunch of cool folks and talk about beer, what more could I ask for?
One of those folks is Adam Borden — who also spoke — of Marylanders for Better Beer & Wine Laws. I’m going to get him over here on the site for an interview at some point, but you should go check out what they have to say.
Missed the talk on how to survive a Zombie Apocalypse, but I can’t wait to check it out when it gets put up on YouTube.
I’ll have a wrap up of how Baltimore Beer Week went soon.
Hugh Sisson gave an impropmptu speech last night at Pratt Street Ale House, and my friend and fellow BaltiBrewer Paul caught it on his iphone. It’s great to know that the man is working together with so many people to put Baltimore Beer on the map.
#BBW09 Hugh Sisson’s impromptu speech @ Pratt St. Ale House from Ryan Boddy on Vimeo.
So I weaseled my way onto the USS Constellation for the opening ceremonies for Baltimore Beer Week (#BBW09 for all of you looking for the hashtag), and got some video footage of the cask tapping.
It was a great night. I got to meet a ton of folks in the industry, and I got to hang with Brad from Beer In Baltimore, and Sandy from the other Beer in Baltimore.
We also started handing out some BaltiBrew cards.
Check out the video I shot — admittedly my first attempt at online video uploads.
Baltimore Beer Week Opening Ceremonies from Ryan Boddy on Vimeo.
Tomorrow opens the inaugural Baltimore Beer Week. The festivities begin on the USS Constellation in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Local Orioles hero Boog Powell will tap a cask on the deck of the ship using the mallet you see on this post — expertly crafted by my friend John Gasparine.
After the ceremony, I’m heading to Pratt St. Ale House for some of the opening festivities. Plenty of other stuff to check out on Thursday, and for the entire ten days of the “week.”
Brad from Beer In Baltimore and I sat down with the Baltimore Beer Week organizers to get the scoop on what the event is really all about. Beer Guru about town, and BBW action man Joe Gold, Volker Stewart of the Brewer’s Art, and Rob Kasper of Kasper On Tap gave us their time last Thursday to go over some of what’s coming, what the impetus for the week was, and what the landscape of Baltimore beer was like before and what it could be in the future.
It was great getting to finally meet all of these guys, and if BBW is an even bigger opportunity for this kind of interaction, I can only say that I can’t wait.
Brad and I will have that interview up as a podcast soon, but in the meantime let me just say that BBW will be an amazing event far beyond the humble beginnings that most first year events turn out to be. And as Brad said in his own post, the best part of what we got to hear was the stories these guys shared with us about Baltimore, beer and some of the history we missed.