Today is my last day at my “real job”.  As of tomorrow, no more regular paychecks, no more desk, no more safety and security.

Starting today, I’m turning to food and beverage related pursuits full time.

How did I get here?

This blog was originally started as a creative outlet, an escape from the drudgery of a day-to-day IT job.  I naively assumed that this little side project would be a fun distraction, and an appropriate place to post some photographs.  I liked to write, and even from time to time felt like I had something to say.

Fast forward to today: Beer & Nosh has expanded to more I ever imagined.  It’s become a (semi) respected part of the local food community.  I’m still amazed when people who aren’t my mom (Hi Mom!) tell me how much they like it, read it, and follow up on ideas and suggestions I make.  Without getting to soft and squishy about it, I’m very proud of the impact this blog has had.

It’s also reached beyond the computer screen and into the real world: I’ve sold out every beer dinner I’ve ever planned, and am constantly hounded for when the next one will be (specifically,  Notoberfest.  I’m working on it.)

Which brings me to today, and my newfound status as “self employed”.

So what will I be doing?  SodaCraft and Almanac Beer.  These are what will be my “real” job now.  I’ll be brewing beers and sodas and then taking the city of San Francisco by storm with my fermented treats.

First up: SodaCraft

The reception to SodaCraft has been nothing short of phenomenal. I suspected there was a market for sodas made in the style of local, seasonal ingredient driven San Francisco cuisine, and so far my sales have supported this theory.  Starting in June, I’ll be brewing these kegs full time, and selling directly to the public.  Where will you find me?  Thanks to the unbelievable support from Hapa Ramen, I’ll be jerking (yes, that’s the real term) sodas at Ferry Building Farmers Markets on Tuesdays and Thursday (and the occasional Saturday), inside the Hapa Ramen stand. Look for a rotating selection of seasonal flavors, as well as more floats featuring Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream.   We’ll be growing fast, and are already laying plans for addition markets and food cart meet ups to host us. Keep an eye on the SodaCraft blog and twitter feed to see where we’ll be popping up next.

 

 

Oh, and then these’s my other project: Almanac Beer. Damian and I have been hard at work building our brewery from scratch, and are very happy to report that our beer is in the bottle, and nearly ready for it’s public release.  In fact we can even put a date on it.  June 30th.  We’re extremely proud of what we’ve made and hope you’ll love it as much as we do.  It’s dry, with a fruity aroma and a sturdy malt and oak structure to hold it all together. Head on over to the Almanac Beer Blog to see us blending the final beer together and putting it in bottles.  We’ve got some great events up our sleeves, and are busting at the seams with excitement.

Lastly, there this blog, the one you’re reading right now.  For better or worse, things are going to change around here.  Now that we are licensed, I have to observe a set of rather strict (and yet at the same time amorphous) legal guidelines regarding what I can and cannot say publicly. I’d love to use this blog as a billboard to tell you exactly where to get our beer, but I’m afraid I can’t.  A slew of post-prohibiton laws designed to protect consumers and business from the alcohol production side of things means that Beer & Nosh will be changing.  To what exactly, remains to be seen, but a lot of what I’ve done here in the past, especially involving restaurants, is going to have to be evolve on a new tighter leash. (Not speaking my mind has never been my strong suit, so we’ll see how this works out.)

This isn’t goodbye to Beer & Nosh, so much as it’s a new chapter and evolution.  Of course you’ll have no shortage of places to hear from me moving forward.  I’ll be writing on the Almanac Beer Blog, The SodaCraft Blog, and maintaining a presence on twitter under my handle @beerandnosh.

So to you, loyal Beer & Nosh reader – I owe a huge debt of gratitude. This is the place where I evolved my voice, my vision and lasting friendships and relationships I’m building my new ventures on.  You’ve suffered through my typos and convoluted grammar over the last 3 years, through 290 posts and left 1,172 comments.  You’ve left feedback and questions, engaged in debate with me, and come out to dinners where my heady ideas about beer and food come together into an actual meal.  Without the community that’s grown around this blog I’d never be able to take the jump off this cliff I’m doing now, and land safely as the bottom.  So thank you, family and friends, for all of your support on this journey so far, and I hope to you soon for a soda or beer.

- Jesse

PS – Please, please buy my sodas and beer.  The wife doesn’t want to be homeless.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 3rd, 2011 at 9:25 am and is filed under etc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.