Bloggers have been talking about ethics for a while. It's nothing new really. That said beer bloggers have recently jumped into the fray and examined their position. Considering the recent talk among beer bloggers about the future of writing, a natural fact after the most influential writer passing it's not unsurprising to me. We have had time to mourn and now we are trying to figure out what's next and where do we go?

Beer writing is something I am interested in but I understand the reality clearly. The chances I'll ever actually be employed by this habit are slim at best. Travel is not cheap and we all have to pay the bills. If breweries offer to ship you beer or send you on a junket how do we approach it?

I look back to my Congressional experience and while I drooled over the trips I saw some coworkers get to make, mostly they were very work relevant and provided greater insight to their daily work. You can't understand the banking industry without going and experiencing Wall Street. You can't understand the military fully without seeing the equipment, training, and operations in person. You really don't want someone working on foriegn affairs issues unless they can understand the culture and people from another land and maybe used their passport occasionally. You couldn't understand policy locked in the beltway and likewise with brewing you can't sequester yourself.

Now yes obviously abuses can and will occur it can't be helped. But people who commit such abuses in time will be uncovered by their own admission or just their reputation catching up with them. It happens all the time.

Disclosure is my plain and simple answer. Ray Daniels had it right. As for the Bud hop trip I have heard people talking about them the last year or the current 'Here's to Beer' Exhibit, as long as people tell me Anheuser-Busch sent them on this great trip covered my travel, board, and expenses I am good. Declaration and honesty is the key. The reader is smart enough to figure out if you were biased by the experience. Furthermore as a beer writers I think we'd be remiss if we didn't take advantage of such a trip to see the origins of beer or some events. The more we get to see of the process the better we understand the final product.

PR and marketing, yes perhaps but with proper disclosure people can balance it out. Jeff Jarvis shows us a great example, if not a bit excessive on disclosure but I prefer too much rather than too little information.

Beer writing flows from a passion for the topic and writing without it would ring false. Honesty and perspective will show our love for the topic and let the truth of our voices shine through.