Crafting Success With 'Beer Diaries'

To me, good beer is kind of like Game of Thrones: My friends love it, and they talk about it all the time, but I've just never managed to find the time to get into it and understand a word of what they're talking about.

Checking out the Wednesday night premiere of new The Beer Diaries episodes, I assumed that I'd be about as enthralled as I'd be while watching the second half of a season two GoT episode.

I was wrong.

The show, directed by Mike Mann and hosted by Greg Zeschuk (both present for the premiere), has an intro that may suggest that it'll play with the same feel as, say, an episode of Ice Truckers, or other such reality-ish type shows on the History and Discovery channels. I've always felt these shows have the magical ability of making you feel that you're learning something while watching, only to leave you unable to remember a single thing from them once the credits roll.

Thankfully, The Beer Diaries isn't like that at all. Once it kicks in, you see that you're spending the entirety of an episode's running time in one location, inside of a working brewery, with Zeschuk speaking to a few people, tops, about how the brewery runs, their philosophies on brewing beer, and the like. The result of this style? I walked away from these three episodes with a genuine desire to learn more about, and appreciate, craft beers.

The three episodes shown at the screening covered the Rogness, Independence, and (512) breweries, with Forrest and Diane Rogness of Rogness, Rob and Amy Cartwright of Independence, and Nate Seale of (512) in attendance. The screening also included a three-flight course of specialty brews from the breweries, with Rogness's Bella Belgian Golden Ale (which was rereleased on Monday) being my personal favorite .

The Beer Diaries isn't a show for just ol' anybody, it's a show about and for serious beer fans. And if you're not a serious beer fan, those on screen will likely turn you into one. I know the premiere will have me checking out more episodes – and more craft beers, as well.

Stay tuned for more updates about Beer Diaries premieres, and whet your palate for the next episode by watching the one from (512) below.