It seems I have a birthday coming up, for those looking for a last minute gift of Stone Brewery coasters from their first year a rare item.

Of course with a current bid of $200 for them the chance I'll get them as a gift is even more rare. That said as I was taught, it never hurts to ask.

For those not so wealthy, my Amazon list is on the top right column.

It's easy to get cynical about corporate blogging efforts when you look at past examples such as Raging Cow or Juicyfruit gum. That said I tried to keep an open mind when I read in the Good Beer blog about the Brew Blog by Miller Brewing Co.

It does look like they are trying to make an honest attempt, so rather than simply be negative, I'll note potential issues and suggest an alternate path that may improve the quality of the site.

Author
According to the About page Jim Arndorfer is "a reporter who spent many years covering the beer industry for magazines like "Advertising Age," with occasional contributions from other folks." Who is Jim? Why does he like beer? It's impossible to know from what this site provides. Jim, you need to tell us, the audience, something about yourself. A sentence of work history isn't really going to explain why you like beer enough to write this blog. The second problem is no author tag on the posts so while Jim may run the site he may have an intern posting all their material and we would have no way of knowing.

Posts
Since May 1st there have been 64 posts not bad, better than I have been doing. Approximently 25% of the posts are promoting Miller and 30% of the posts are about A-B, mostly in a negative light. I can understand disliking A-B, heck most of my friends and fellow homebrewers would agree. That said we see no difference between your bosses at Miller and them at A-B. So prove me and my friends wrong, pull a Scoble, seek out what makes Miller great and tell us about it, but also be prepared to tell us when they screw up. Do that and you will start to gain some creditability on the web.

Sources
I don't know much about Harry Schuhmacher but you must think a lot of him and his publication since you mention them almost as often as you do Miller. Get out and read the web more Jim. I am sure Harry has a great publication but the majority of your audience won't since his material is locked behind a subscription wall. Same goes for Wall Street Analysts, they are fine to mention if you provide a link or perhaps an article title, but otherwise leave it out. That said you have done a great job of linking to newspaper articles, I just think you need to start linking to beer blogs as well.

Off Topics
What do Malt beverages, Wine, Spirits, and a Walmart energy drink have to do with a Beer blog? I don't know either but they all have been mentioned. How about sections on beer history, craft brewing, homebrewing, beer podcasts, and beer blogging (yes I suppose I am harping on this) instead. They keep closer to the point of the blog which is supposed to be beer and the beer industry.

Links
I see you mention industry, associations and news sites. I worked in DC and went to a fair share of Beer Wholesaler sponsored events, that said I don't think any of your readers will care enough to go to their website. I am a beer and politics geek and I doubt I would. Link to places your readers want to read, or places you like to read. And beer blogs (last time I promise).

Comments
Last I think it's great you have comments, but do your commenters a favor and set the comments to hide email addresses please, we already get too much spam.

To sum up, the problems I see with the Brew Blog may be easily cured. Jim, don't be afraid to show us your voice, it comes out in some of the posts so I know there is a human posting to the site. Expand your reading, there are a lot of people out on the web writing about beer and willing to give you a chance. The reason I don't dismiss this effort immediately is I have seen how Scoble has been able to show us the human side of Microsoft and perhaps you can do the same with Big Beer. I am willing to at least listen. Last and most important have fun. Good Luck.

From TechCrunch

Ether lets you set a price for people who want to call you on the phone. The company provides a phone number, billing services and will also do pay-per-view for documents or other files. A button on your website lets potential callers click for information about your services. All of this for just 15% off the top of what ever you decide to charge callers.

I think this a great idea that people should get out and support. I am thinking we should set our levels at $10,000 a call or so. We get enough buy in across the country and telemarketers will go broke, or we will get rich either way it doesn't sound so bad.

XM makes a direct appeal to musicians in regards of payment of royalities and the recording of songs. Like I noted in the past I think they are definately a good actor in the current music environment trying balance new developments in technology with making sure artists get due compensation. Besides who are you going to trust in this debate the RIAA? I am sure they have never lied to artists or customers in the past, never sued little girls, nor sued a person who didn't own a computer.

One of the best ways of stopping thugish behaviour is supporting those folks who stand up to the tactics.

First the forest closes and then I have friends either get sick or get called into work in the last 12 hours. I have lost half the party. So I am rescheduling the party to July 22nd as a pre-Made in Shade tasting. It will hopefully make it a little easier on folks. I wanted to do this when we first heard about the forest closing but since the date was set I hated to reschedule. In the end if I kept the date today the turn out would be unimpressive and I'd rather it be a success than a flop.

That said the guest list is open, I have enough wine from our friends at Stormhoek it shouldn't be a problem. Sheskabob will be on the menu and it will be a light hearted start to a day of tasting, first wine and food, then at Made in the Shade beer. So if you are in the area drop me a line and come to the party.

I had a great lunch today, with an old friend I hadn't seen in a few years. We met when we first worked together for the same Member of Congress. A long time passed now we traded latest news about our former coworkers, our current jobs, and stories only that people who have done our jobs can understand.

The difference in the end is I left that world, he stayed for a bit longer. I respect his choice but glad I took my different path. We shared sympathy over the problems we had to accept as part of our daily life but had to face with the full knowledge our best efforts would likely bring little improvements to the issues at hand.

Politics, it's a cynical life. But regardless it's mostly people who approach the job with the best of intentions, who want the best but live in the world of grey. I think that the chance to have an honest discussion about the reality of this life of grey is what raised my spirits today. Only a handful of people will truly know what I experienced on the Hill. Today I met with one of them.

You have to salute those people living a life of grey.

100 Days ago I set out to post 100 times in 100 days. Now it's June 22nd. I did not make 100 posts, but that may be a function of lack of internet access rather than effort. On the postive side I did post more than 50 times the majority of which were posted after I got high speed access at home. I think if I had internet at home the whole 100 days I would have easily cleared one hundred posts.

So where does that leave me?

The obvious thought in my head is keep going another 100 days and see where I stand then. I will be a lot closer to next years NaNoWriMo so it would be good preperation at the least. But it doesn't seem quite enough, I have more to do to drive my writing, but what we will soon see I have something to work on.

Drudge used to be one of the top News site aggregator sites. Even if you didn't care for his politcal angle you could respect the throughness of his work. That said I suspect he may have to major redesign to stay cutting edge or else his days may be numbered.

First the AOL employee story currently on the main web page, Today show had it on Monday, I heard about it last week. Next the Sedona fire has been burning since Sunday, but he discovers it today. Though this may simply be the case of taking advantage of aliteration on the first day of Summer. The point here I have noticed the last few months is he picks up on stories long after they have hit the big time, news appears on digg or blogs a week or more before Drudge seems to be finding them.

Last the site is dated. It never has had a major facelift and looks much like it did in 1998. Not that there is anything wrong with the look but since I have started to use an RSS reader I have come to appreciate how handy that little feed can be to your reading. Much as Scoble touts his RSS feed I have around 100 website constantly monitored and sending me updates when people post. A shame the Drudge Report isn't one of them. But the web is a fluid organism and change is on going, that 15 minutes of fame may have passed the Drudge Report by.

Say a reporter writes a story you know isn't true? Twenty years ago maybe you write a letter to the editor and take your chances.

Fast forward twenty years, you get to your blog and tell your side of the story. I don't know if Mark Cuban is telling the truth or not, on a certain level it's secondary point. The playing field has leveled, media is no longer the voice upon high to tell us the truth.

The truth about the "NBA is Rigged" comment?

I don't know, but I am just glad I can read Mark Cuban's blog and make up my own decision.

With the closure of the forest it looks like I'll need to find another location for the picnic Sunday. Location update today or tomorrow.

You see these pictures and you think that would make a great all grain brewing setup.

Okay, maybe that headline isn't exactly fair. But if someone goes into a Starbucks and orders basicly a milkshake with a hint of coffee, it is not exactly surprising that the drink contains a lot of calories and fat. But don't tell it to the Center for Science in the Public Interest they evidently don't think people can access a website or read a brochure of their own.

I am sorry any drink with a name like Venti banana mocha Frappuccino with whipped cream, I can't seriously expect to be healthy. Chocolate, banana and whipped cream, toss in a scoop of ice cream and you have a sundae. (Via Radley Balko, again, yeah I read his site often)