New Beer Blog for San Diegans

I added a new blog named The Sip-SD Magazine on the blog roll.  It is a beer blog on the San Diego Magazine website and is written by Brandon Hernandez, also known as the Off Duty Foodie.  I have never met Mr. Hernandez but have read his articles on beer in various publications, including the WestCoaster.  I first read an article by him last year in Beer Connoisseur, a high brow national beer magazine, where Mr. Hernandez detailed San Diego craft brewers in knowledgeable and enthusiastic fashion.  I generally have disdain for "professional" beer writers, finding them pretentious name-droppers that seem more concerned about the their place in the craft beer world than the beer itself.  (Plus, many are just poor writers -  I cringe every time I read "veritable plethora" in a beer article.  I suspect many beer writers are journalists that failed to get plum reporting jobs and were assigned the food page, and therefore did not come to beer writing through a love of beer but through career necessity.)   Professional beer writers are the reason I read beer blogs.

Mr. Hernandez is one of the few professional beer writers I like to read.  I get the impression that he is a beer lover first and a journalist second, and it shows in his writing.  I don't know if he is concerned with ingratiating himself with local beer celebrities, but I know I am looking forward to reading his blog and Twitter feeds.

While I am throwing out rare compliments, I would also recommend another local beer blog, San Diego Beer Blog, and its author Jeff Hammett.  He mixes beer reviews, with local beer news and events, and he gets some good scoops.  Mr Hammett also writes for the WestCoaster, which has become a solid publication in less than a year.  You can pick-up the WestCoaster at most bars and restaurants that sell good beer.