Mar
18
2008
Women of the beerosphere: Carolyn Smagalski
Posted on 10:00, March 18th, 2008 by Al E.
March is National Women’s History Month here in the United States. It is an annual celebration of women and their roles in history, sponsored by the National Women’s History Project. As with so much else, the realm of beer seems dominated by men. It is primarily men who are marketed to, primarily men who are the brewers and homebrewers, and primarily men who write about beer. But not entirely. The blogosphere is no different. So, to celebrate Women’s History Month, Hop Talk is taking time out to get to know some of these women.
Carolyn Smagalski
What is your name?
Carolyn Smagalski, The Beer Fox
What is your location?
Cyberspace:
http://beer.bellaonline.com
http://www.phillybeergeek.com
http://www.glutenfreebeerfestival.com
http://www.cqwebwide.com
Earth:
Harleysville, PA - 25 miles northwest of Monk’s Café, the best Belgian Beer Bar in the country.
What is your blog?
http://beer.bellaonline.com
I write the Beer & Brewing site at www.BellaOnline.com . BellaOnline is the second largest website for women on the Internet, with over 400 categories of interest to women. My site - Beer & Brewing - had 3,000 page views per month when I started writing in December of 2004. It now draws nearly
57,000 page views per month, where I have written over 500 articles and newsletters about Beer & Brewing on that website alone.
http://www.phillybeergeek.com
In conjunction with Jason Harris of Keystone Homebrew Supply in Southeastern Pennsylvania, we have created Philly Beer Geek, in celebration of Philly Beer Week - March 7-March 16, 2008. We will hold the 1st Annual Philly Beer Geek Finals Competition on March 13, 2008 - with over $1,000 in prizes for the winner.
http://www.glutenfreebeerfestival.com
I am the advisor to the Gluten Free Beer Festival in the United Kingdom, and have contributed several articles about Gluten Free Beer for those with Celiac Disease, an intolerance to the protein fractions in barley, wheat, oats, rye, spelt, kamut and triticale.
http://www.cqwebwide.com
I also write a website on communication, (both internal and external), for success. It explores business basics, adversity, goal setting, creative imagination, taking action, and the like, and offers solutions for better communication on the Internet.
Do you have a favorite style of beer? What is it?
I am a certified beer judge with the BJCP, and enjoy judging Specialty Beer because the range of flavors and styles is so diverse. These beers expose me to the newest emerging styles - those on the cutting edge in the expanding universe of beer, and I derive great pleasure from the imaginative creativity of the brewers.
Other styles that bring particular pleasure to my palate are sour ales, IPA’s, saison, English Pale Ale, Roggenbier, Russian Imperial Stout, and Wood Aged Beer.
How did you come to write a blog about beer?
In my “proper” job, I coordinate printing and distribution for a number of nationally distributed magazines. At one point, I decided I wanted to expand my life, but didn’t know what capabilities I had. Since I had been cooking for years, I decided to write a cook book. I quickly realized that I needed a unique selling point, so I decided to add beer to the recipes (I noticed a lot of people seemed to like beer. I was a wine drinker, and did not drink beer at the time.) Pennsylvania is a case state, but I wanted to use all different micros in the recipes. I wrote to over 100 breweries across the US and Canada, asking them to send me 2 bottles of beer so I could test my recipes. They did, and I began a rollercoaster ride of cooking every weekend, inviting people from 21 to 81 to my home to taste the recipes and give their opinions. I realized that wasn’t enough. I needed credibility and experience.
As I surfed the Internet, I happened to come across BellaOnline, and they happened to need a Beer & Brewing Author/Editor. Call it Karma. I wrote four “trial articles,” and they accepted me. Passion was born. Since then, beer has taken me to London three times, Alaska twice, Denver four times, Washington DC, Boston, New York, New Hampshire, Illinois, and Iowa, and it has no limits. I have co-hosted a radio show at the GABF with Tom Dalldorf of Celebrator Beer News, presented beer and food demos at the GABF, Great Alaska Beer & Barley Wine Festival and Women of Alaska Festival, been a judge for the National Beerdrinker of the Year Competition in Denver, been a professional judge at the Great American Beer Festival, appeared on Sirius Satellite Radio, had my photos published in several publications, been interviewed for articles in magazines and newspapers, and attended the James Beard Awards in NYC and the Pilsner Urquell Bartender of the Year Competition as Michael Jackson’s partner. I was deeply torn when Michael passed away on August 30th, 2007, but I realize that I need to continue his legacy - to continue in the world of beer that he created through his dogged persistence throughout 30 years of journalistic writing about beer and whiskey.
What prejudices have you had to overcome?
Prejudices? Hogwash! There are certainly challenges, though. I sometimes encounter women who think they hate beer because the only beer they ever had was Bud Light or Miller - then they tried to jump right into a Robust Porter and were put-off by the unexpected surge of complexity to the taste buds. My solution is to explain that they need to approach it as a gentle immersion into its delights - as if you were exploring seduction with a new lover.
Other challenges: Compressing my time enough to get it all done - finding enough time to write as often as I would like. All the work I have done at BellaOnline has been for passion - not pay, so the “Proper Job” that sustains me and pays my bills also requires that I give it a fair amount of attention.
Any other passions?
I am also a single mother to two young men in their early 20’s, who live under my roof, and are developing their own paths in life. My youngest was in a serious accident 5 years ago, and we are still overcoming some of those
challenges daily. I am a IFR rated pilot with a complex aircraft rating, and love aviation, although I have not flown in several years.
Any parting thoughts?
The passion in the beer industry is unlike any I have ever seen - the sense of community, the love for creating a living product, the joy of sharing. This is a great career - this writing about beer. I love what I do…I really love it.
Carolyn is the Beer and Brewing editor at Bella Online (RSS feed)
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Comments
Thanks to Al for kicking off this series, I’m really learning a lot about women and beer. One common thread amongst our guest writers seems to be the social aspect of beer which is something we at Hop Talk love to blog about; we call it “atmosphere”. Beer just tastes better in the right place with the right people.
You sure are busy, certainly you don’t have time to homebrew…. or do you?
Thanks for taking the time to write, Carolyn!
Although I do not homebrew (lack of adequate space), I have “guest brewed with Chris LaPierre at Iron Hill Brewery in West Chester, PA. Chris is a gifted brewer, and it was hugely educational to be exposed to all the aspects of brewing - chemistry, physics, physical labor, creativity, and pleasure in the finished product.
I also do taste-testing for Dr. Lee Williams of http://www.chestnuttrails.com, who is developing gluten free beer using chestnuts. The development has come a long way in a few years, from a weak brew with high levels of phenolics, to a rich, flavorful quencher that is satiating to the tastebuds.
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