Bean to Barstool
A podcast exploring the intersections of craft beer and craft chocolate.
Bean to Barstool
Redux: Beer Educator Em Sauter
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Bean to Barstool Redux: Vintage but still relevant conversations from the archives without all the extra narration. Just classic interviews from really cool people in craft chocolate, craft beer, and other food and beverage fields.
In this edition, we talk with Em Sauter, creator of Pints & Panels and author of Hooray for Craft Beer. Em and I talk about the book, her creative process, why positivity is so important in the craft beer world, and she even tastes a few craft chocolate bars along the way. Enjoy!
Check out David's book Pairing Beer & Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together.
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Hey everyone, welcome to Bean to Barstool. I'm your host, David Nelson. Today is a Redux episode. That's when I take an older but still relevant interview from the Bean to Barstool archives, strip away all my narration from the beginning and end, and just share with you a really great conversation. Today is an interview with M. Souter about her book Hooray for Kraft Beer. We talk about the book, her creative process, why positivity is so important in the craft beer world, and she even tastes a few bean to bar chocolates along the way. Enjoy. And we're gonna talk a whole bunch about pints and panels and everything you do with that, but at the outset, tell us about your new book, Hooray for Craft Beer.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Cray for Craft Beer is published by Burr Publications. So they do a lot of beer books. This is their first kind of outside technical, you know, they do sensory books and how to brew by John Palmer, which is one of the best homebrew books ever. Uh, so it was really interesting that they wanted to take a chance on something outside their wheelhouse. And so it was really exciting to do 100% illustrated kind of beer 102, you know. I know about beer a little, but I want to know more, but in an easily digestible way. So I finished it in September of 2021 and it was published in April of 2022, and it looks great. People are really excited about it. It's been really awesome how positive and excited people are for the book. It makes pints and panels and myself like very, very pleased. I'm glad that people really like it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's it's a lot of fun. I enjoyed going through it, and I think it's interesting that you know, you and I are both advanced Ciceroans, but even having that level, it's fun to look at the information in this format and kind of makes you think about things in a new way. Take us back to how pints and panels got started originally.
SPEAKER_01I got my master's in fine arts from the Center for Cartoon Studies, which is a art school that focuses mainly on cartooning and the sequential arts in Vermont. I graduated in 2011 and in 2010, I started Pints and Panels as a drawing exercise. So I want to drink beer and try all the beer I want, but I also have other things I was working on as well that were not beer related. And so I started to review beer every day, just doodling, taking notes. So it was a great way to start. So pints and panels, I was driving, I was running errands, and I was like, I want to review beer and cartoon form. It'd be a great exercise, be really great to learn more about beer. And I got back to my boyfriend at the time's apartment and I told him, and I was like, I want to do this blog. What do I call it? And he just goes, You're gonna call it pints and panels. And I was like, That is the best.
SPEAKER_00You're right. I am going to call it that.
SPEAKER_01I am gonna call it that. I said, You're a genius. And so I always make sure to credit Ryland Ionelli. Thank you for coming up with that because he's still a friend of mine.
SPEAKER_00So, what's the scope of pints and panels today? What all do you get involved in?
SPEAKER_01I did mainly focus on reviews till about 2018, 2019. I did publish a book in 2017 called Beer is for everyone. And that focuses like on reviews, but I want to learn more about beer. So I'm gonna review, you know, big beer, easy to find beer, you know, your logging to CyPAs, your Dale's pale, and that's gonna be a way you can learn about beer. If like, oh, I like multi-beer. Oh, well, you should try like Bell's Amber, you know, things that are pretty easy to find. You know, beer is very regional now, almost hyperlocal. So it worked back then. But so in 2018, 2019, I switched to instead of reviewing beer, to doing beer education because as a visual learner studying for the advanced and then the master, I wanted an easy way to digest beer and try to figure out, you know, I'm not great at science. I I I only passed chemistry because my friend's mom was the chemistry teacher and she didn't want to have me again. That's a true story. She gave me, uh, I was supposed to get a D, she gave me a C plus, told me to get out. That is a hundred percent a true story. So when you're trying to learn about isomerization and mashing regimens and beta amylase or off flavors, why does diacetyl happen and whatnot? Those are very scientific things and processes. And so, how do I teach myself, but then also teach others about pretty scientific things? And that's how pensive handles switch to doing visual beer education. So teaching people about everything from raw materials to the process of beer to beer styles and beyond.
SPEAKER_00So drawing these cartoons helped you learn these concepts as much as it is for other people.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I started drawing just for myself, and then I was like, well, that's selfish. Let's put these on Pines and Panels website and make them free so people can learn about beer in an easy to understand accessible form. Beer education can be expensive, especially when you get into the later, if you're really going for certification. So making it free, making it accessible was kind of a very important early part of switching to doing visual beer education, making sure everything that I drew for myself was available for everybody else for free.
SPEAKER_00One of the great things about Pines and Panels, and I think we could probably hear this from just about everybody who's a fan, is the positivity and the the welcoming tone, the non-intimidating tone of everything you do there. Why is that so important to what you do?
SPEAKER_01Why would I tell someone what they can and can't drink? It's none of my business. So I work part-time at Fox Farm Brewery, which is a small farm brewery in Salem. I put a mango popsicle into a smoked telus.
SPEAKER_00I saw that picture.
SPEAKER_01And and my friend's girlfriend brought us popsicles as a break because it was very hot. People were just kind of looking at me and I was like, Well, why not? Like, why not a popsicle and a beer? And some people were like, That's that's too much. And I was like, why? Why is it too much? You know what it if you don't want to drink that or try it, then don't. But why would you be upset about that? There's beers for every perfect example is my local brewery, Alvarian Brewing Company, brews unbelievable flagship beers. Their flagship uh is a Hefeweizen, straight Hefeweizen. They do great traditional European styles, and then they brew, you know, the green beer that looks like ectocooler from the 80s, you know, it's got slimer on it. And there's some light IP theft, and they do the hype stuff and the line out the door, and they brew with peanut butter and you know, donuts and all that stuff. And I love the way that they do everything. And it's like, hey, you know, come in for that beer that tastes like a rocket pop, let's go put a Vienna lager in your flight. And so there's there's a very like welcoming and kind of all-encompassing mantra to their beers. And I find that you can do whatever you want with beer. There's beer flavors for everybody. And if you're kind of like, oh, I don't know about that, then don't drink it. Pints and panels is for every beer flavor, every, you know, every beer flavor welcome, every beer geek welcome, every new drinker is welcome, everyone's welcome. Positivity is rare, unfortunately, nowadays, I find. And I kind of dislike how, you know, oh, you're so positive is such a weird, weird like thing that's, you know, oh, so wholesome, so positive, like, oh, what a breath of fresh air. And it's like, uh, but shouldn't we all be kind and accepting and tolerant and understanding when even when it comes to the beverage that people drink? My, you know, drink what you like with a little bit of an asterisk, get out of your comfort zone once a while. That's uh yeah, not I I almost sound not like positive when it like comes to um people's lack of positivity, but pens and panels is 100% positive all the time. We celebrate beer, I celebrate beer, pens and panels celebrates beer, and that's that's what we're here for.
SPEAKER_00Well, on Bean to Barstool, we celebrate beer and chocolate. So I'm going to have you taste some chocolate. Yay! I've sent M three different chocolate bars, three different bean to bar chocolates. Uh, we've got one from Bellvy out of Vietnam called Good Morning Vietnam. It's a 70% cacao with cacao and coffee, both from the Lamdong province of Vietnam. We've got Fire Trees, 73%, Philippines, Mendoneo Island. And we've got definite chocolates, Dominican Republic, Oko Karibe, 70%. So, where do you want to start with those, um? Pick one.
SPEAKER_01Uh, I'm holding the definite. So let's do the definite check before.
SPEAKER_00So you obviously are a seasoned beer taster. Uh, the process for tasting chocolate is basically the same in terms of the principles involved, it's just slightly different details. So we still engage all of our senses in the process. Start out by taking a look at the packaging because I love chocolate packaging. It is right up there with really cool beer labels. This one from Definite is a little understated, but still classy. And then once we get this open, you're going to take a look at the mold of the bar, looking at the color, the shine, and then we'll move on from there.
SPEAKER_01I love all the gold of labels. Yeah. They're they don't mess around.
SPEAKER_00No, and fortunately, because well, I think there's a variety of reasons, but chocolate has avoided a lot of the pitfalls of beer labeling. Um, not just the more problematic things is sexism and all that, but some of the just the outright silliness. I feel like consistently chocolate labeling is just really eye-catching and really appealing.
SPEAKER_01It's very high-end.
SPEAKER_00So the mold on this definite bar is pretty simple, but still has a nice texture to it. So after we've taken a look at the bar, we're going to take a smell of the chocolate. Now, chocolate doesn't release its aroma quite as readily as beer does, but you can still get a little sense of it. Just the fact that it's a solid, it doesn't obviously volatize quite as easily.
SPEAKER_01Smells like chocolate.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It does. And honestly, that's pretty consistent with a lot of these. You're going to smell the chocolate before you get any nuance. But yeah. One way to get a little bit more is to go ahead and break off a little bit and smell the uh the broken end.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00One of the fun rituals of chocolate tasting is the snap. It's one way that we actually get to use our sense of hearing, which we don't usually as much with beer. The snap of the bar is going to tell you a lot about the tempering of the bar. So basically how well they've put the bar together, the process of getting this to melt at a high temperature and have a nice firm snap. So you can hold it up toward your ear and then just snap the piece. You should get a nice firm little snap. It's not terribly important, but it's a nice little ritual that I like. And then you can put the chocolate in your mouth. Don't chew it up, just let it melt. And this is where you're going to get a lot more of that perception of flavor as it starts to melt and volatilize.
SPEAKER_01It is a lot like beer in that regard, where you want to let the beer warm up in your mouth. I mean, there's no melting aspect about it.
SPEAKER_00So while you're tasting it, I'll give you just a little more information here. Dominican Republic is a pretty prominent origin for fine-flavored cacao. Tends to be pretty expressive, but there's a few different origins within the Dominican Republic that differ. Oco Karibe is actually a collective, so they gather cacao from different farms in their region. And generally they're known for having like uh honey and and berry type of characteristics.
SPEAKER_01I get the berry. Like I find when sometimes you have like really dark, because these are all pretty like high, like 70%, 73%. I find that that like kind of coffee berry or like raspberry, even a blueberry note comes out. I just want to say I love chocolate, so I'm really glad that we're eating chocolate together.
SPEAKER_00And then of course, while you're tasting it, you're also getting the the texture, the mouthfeel of it.
SPEAKER_01It's nice and silky. The finish is slightly there's like an acidic dryness to it. That's quite that's quite appealing. I like that about it. Almost like a there's like a it's almost like slightly astringent. Yeah, a little bit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, once you get into a lot of these single origins, you do get varying levels of acidity. Some of them will be quite notable. So tell me a little bit about your process as a cartoonist. What does it mean when you're going to start doing a new page in the book, a new graphic, whatever it is? What is your process?
SPEAKER_01So when I'm working on normal pints and panels stuff, so like Hop Variety Simple or Beer Style Simple, those are all in a template. My work's like a puzzle. So you would have like beer style simple, all the flavor attributes and everything are all already drawn, the glassware is already drawn. You just have to do the research. Right before I post it, I double check my research. I want to make sure that pines and panels is as accurate as possible. If I want to learn about something and I Google it, a lot of the time it's wrong. Like not my work, but like when you Google something to look up something about beer, there's so much misinformation in beer. Another reason why pints and panels is free, because you know, I want to make sure people have accurate, easy to get information about beer that's going to be true. I also tell people if you see something that's you don't understand or you think is inaccurate, or you want to discuss with me, like please message me on social media because I will, you know, we can talk about it. You know, everyone's wrong sometimes. So sometimes I'll miss something. Like I'm not gonna double down. The thing about beer is there's a lot of right answers in beer. And you can brew a porter, you know, with multiple different grists and still get a porter. So there are a lot of right answers. Um, but normally if I'm drawing, let's say something new, I would write it out first. Uh all my work is hand-drawn. I use the computer for color and font uh because my font is my handwriting is digital. So I digitize my font, like my handwriting into a font, so I can type it in. And then I'll pencil and then ink over the pencils. And I've been using the same sketchbook for since I mean all the same things I use, I still use from 12 years ago. I'm all my classmates have moved to the iPad from graduate school, and I'm just I cannot be ready. I'm not ready. Uh, I don't know if I'll ever be ready. And then everything's done in Photoshop. So color, uh laying everything out, and handwriting. And I usually draw in the mornings. I can't draw in the afternoon. I have no idea why, just can't do it. And then digital work is usually done in the afternoon. And every morning I set clear expectations of what needs to be done, and I need to achieve those. It's difficult when you're at home and you get distracted by chores or errands or doom scrolling or petting the cat. You know, like there's a lot of stuff going on. So right now I'm in the doing more hop variety simple for the end of the year. So Belma hops and all the like new weird, like Altus and Triumph and all these kind of like new hops. That's been really fun to learn about the newer ones. I know I'm gonna run out of hops soon.
SPEAKER_00Um keep making new ones. Yeah, I am very, very close to giving up trying to keep up with them.
SPEAKER_01I can't, I am always like, which ones am I missing? And I'm sure there are a bunch, but it's hard to keep track. So, and then I thought about going into doing yeast strains. So I did a sample one, and then someone was like, No, but they're nuanced. And I'm like, it's called yeast strain simple, you know, like come on. I know that I know that the Y East American Ali East and the White Labs, California East, yeah, are a little different, but they're American aliased. So let's just stay, you know. I mean, that's the thing about Hop Variety Simple, you know, they're simple in the title. So we're not gonna dig down into a bunch of stuff, but you're gonna get kind of the basic information about what is this? Why would it do it this way? What does it taste like? What is it used for?
SPEAKER_00So what are some of the limitations or challenges of doing beer education in a visual format like this?
SPEAKER_01Um, this it's it's it's simple. So you do miss the nuance, you miss certain aspects, like a dark mild. Can that was the beer style simple today on my website? And I say it can be brewed with pale, crystal, and dark malts, plus maybe sugar and maybe flaked corn. But what does that mean? You know, can I brew just with the three things? Do I have to brew it? There's I didn't mention brewer's caramel because I lumped that in with sugar. There's flaked corn, but could you use other corn? There's, you know, there's ale yeast, but what ale yeast? Would you use London ale yeast? Which kind of English ale yeast would you use? Because there's lots of different ones. So there is the simplicity of it, and that's why it's called Beer Style Simple, is it's basically as simple as possible. But when you want to get into a more intermediate stuff, you're going to get bombarded with so many, so much information that I think that would be really hard to illustrate because there is so much. Whereas a written book can fill hundreds of pages with explanations and whatnot. You are inhibited by the art that you do, but you said it yourself. You're an advanced Ciceron and you enjoyed it. So just because the art is simple doesn't mean what you're explaining has to be simple.
SPEAKER_00So sure. Yeah. Did you have any particular favorite pages or drawings or things that you had to do for this book?
SPEAKER_01Oh, geez. I don't look at the book anymore because I'm too scared. I think the yeast pages are really fun because I like that like yeast brother and sister. I like that aspect. I like when things get whimsical. So like the hop in the hot tub, you know, I liked drawing little scenes in the style section where like I'm catching a football or you know, I like to be a big book. Like the goats in the the box. Yeah, the goat, yeah. Like there's talking, people love talking, yeah, talking animals. I liked that I got to draw a lot of my friends uh and Patreon followers into the book. Um, I got to draw pioneers, people that I really look up to and respect and give their due, because I mean without them, we wouldn't be here. And then I'm really looking forward to like the next generation of who would be in that list of you know, some of the best and brightest in the people who are really making a difference in the industry. I'm a big nerd, if you can't tell. And so I love to research. So it was fun to do all the research and then draw it. That I think was my favorite part where I got to read a bunch of really cool books.
SPEAKER_00And was this book a ground-up build, or did you have content that you had just been accumulating for a while?
SPEAKER_01Um, no, everything was from scratch. So I did all the style pages first. Um, I actually had way more style pages, and the BA was like, What? It's a lot of pages. This is a folk color book print in America, that's expensive. Could you not do that? Um, so I had to cut a bunch of them and then I work kind of chapter by chapter. So beer history, and then so the work is also a puzzle. So everything's drawn, and then you kind of lay it all out. And so I did all the style pages first because they were all the same. So you could kind of keep a template and then work off of those, and then history, and then you know, doing the research for it. I think the la I did the last section, the how to enjoy beer that was done last, mostly because I didn't know how the book would end. Beer slang was a really fun one to do. I'm a new drinker. What the heck's a mule? Or a whale. I don't understand. These are animals. I don't, I don't understand how they, you know, in the beer world, where do they come from? And so kind of creating a small dictionary. I think that was Dr. J was like, you should do a beer slang page. And I said, Yes.
SPEAKER_00Nice, thank you. Always a good source of advice, Dr. J.
SPEAKER_01100%.
SPEAKER_00Well, let's taste another chocolate. Why don't we do the fire tree?
SPEAKER_01Sure.
SPEAKER_00And I will just say that I love their packaging.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's very nice, it's very high. It feels like a like a fancy book because of the like the design on the front. It looks like you know, those books from like the 19th century that would have the colors on the inside of the yeah, the marbling. The marbling, that's what it reminds me of.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so they they maintain this format for all their packages, but each origin has a different color theme for that artwork at the bottom. So this is from the Philippines. This is Mindanao Island, which I believe is the southernmost island in the chain. Fire Tree is out of the UK, but they focus almost entirely on uh the Pacific Rim. So they do mostly Pacific Island origins.
SPEAKER_01It has a good snap.
SPEAKER_00It does. The snap is so much fun.
SPEAKER_01Damn, that's a good one. I really like that they have tasting notes.
SPEAKER_00I've never seen that on a chocolate bar, but that's yeah, an increasing number are doing that.
SPEAKER_01That's very helpful because with chocolate, you're kind of I don't know to the untrained taster like myself with chocolate, it just tastes like chocolate, but you really can drill down. Same thing with beer, you know, beer tastes like beer. What the hell does that mean? Um, but if you drill down and kind of know what you're looking for, it's easier to find.
SPEAKER_00This one has a definitely a different aroma than our first one. What do you pick up here?
SPEAKER_01I already went in and tasted it. I'm sorry. You're fine. I got grit, I got greedy. I couldn't help myself. Well, in terms of flavor, this one's softer, although the the acidity when it starts to melt is quite pronounced, especially on the tip of my tongue. Wow, that's really interesting. Aroma, I am being I'm being swayed by their notes. But I'm okay with that. The like the citrus, the honey. Honey, especially.
SPEAKER_00I always get a touch of sweet banana from this origin or this bar specifically.
SPEAKER_01That's really good. That's a lot. I mean, I I I think I got chocolate on my nose too.
SPEAKER_00So I know you're doing it right.
SPEAKER_01I could see the banana is a really good, that's a really good uh uh note. I I can see that.
SPEAKER_00I think one thing that's interesting tasting these first two right after each other. The second one is a slightly higher percentage, 73%. But it honestly seems like you said, it's a softer, gentler uh chocolate. I feel like the flavor nuances are more in front, whereas in the first bar, the definite bar, it is more fudgy chocolate. I feel good, but they are one of my favorite single origin makers.
SPEAKER_01I can see why, but it's really good.
SPEAKER_00And I think you would would be fascinated if you can go on their site and order a tasting pack of their origins, all the same percentage, and taste them side by side and really be able to see the nuance in in origin.
SPEAKER_01I want that after dinner. That's the thing I really like about chocolate, especially like the higher percentage chocolates. They almost stand in for like a digestif, like an after dinner drink or a big beer or a palette. It's a great palate cleanser. There could be the acidity in it. It's such a great end to something. I have a very big sweet tooth.
SPEAKER_00Me too.
SPEAKER_01I love, I love desserts. I'm always like, I'm gonna eat less sugar, and then I fail miserably.
SPEAKER_00Um, with something like this, you take your time on a piece of it, you really haven't had all that much.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's true. I have I'm gonna have a lot left over, and then I will 100% just probably eat the whole bar tonight.
SPEAKER_00So let's talk about tasting beer then. Do you have any special processes or rituals when you're tasting beer for yourself?
SPEAKER_01If I'm at home, no. Uh, usually when my husband gets home from work, we share a beer. I think 16 ounce, 16 ounce cans are just the best sharing conveyance. I don't drink out of any fancy glass. I usually my favorite glass is like an old mason jar. Um, I just really like that kind of utility of, you know, it's forever, you know, bourbon, wine, anything, juice, any, you know, it doesn't matter, tea. Uh it's a really nice, easy drinking glass in general. Uh, and so I usually will drink at like an old jam jar. I'm just enjoying beer. That's the best part about beer is to just enjoy it. Uh, it doesn't matter like what style or where, you know, respecting it and enjoying it is something that I really, really like to do.
SPEAKER_00Do you find yourself continuing to grow as a taster now that you're no longer studying or prepping for the next exam?
SPEAKER_01Uh, there's always something new to try, and your palate is always changing. A great way to expand your palate is to try different foods, sticking with the the descriptures that we know or have kind of an American point of view. Foods that we eat. I use graham cracker a lot, and I realize that like most people in around the world don't know what a graham cracker is, it's not something that they have. Um, in England, they have like that like digestive biscuit, which is like, you know, it's like a thicker, hardier graham cracker, but it's kind of in the same plane. But like other places all over, you know, the world have different flavors and whatnot. So if you want to be a better taster trying different foods, when I do beer and food pairings and I'm not familiar with the foods of that particular country, I always ask someone from there to do the food pairings. We did a beer and chocolate pairing together where you did it and I drew it because I don't know a lot about chocolate. So I had to defer to your expertise, or I try different things and you learn, and then that makes you a better taster. So going to a different country, trying their foods, going to different restaurants that you've never been to and trying the food there and doing recipe research. I did a beer and noodle pairing, and there were a lot of noodle dishes that I had never had. So I got to do a lot of research about what does this taste like? Who eats it, when, where, you know, you're kind of like a journalist where you're like learning about different cultures, and then you can do pairings, and then that'll make you a better taster because your palate has been expanded by different cultures and different foods, and then different beers from different cultures. The world loves beer, and so if you can kind of experience what other people are eating and trying and maybe what they're tasting, it makes you a better taster as well.
SPEAKER_00Do you have a favorite recent beer?
SPEAKER_01When I was at CBC, Surly had a Belgian table beer brewed with lemon drop hops, and that beer was so that sounds perfect. They'd run out of cups, classes, so they gave it to me in this like solo cup. And I was like, okay. And oh my gosh, was that beer just unbelievably good?
SPEAKER_00It was one of my favorite formats of beer, that low alcohol Belgian pale ale or table beer.
SPEAKER_01It's was so, so good. I was in the ladies' room at Surle and I tweeted at them like, this is a triumph exclamation point. Like in the ladies' room, because I was just like, this beer is so good.
SPEAKER_00Well, let's taste our third and final chocolate. This is Belvi Good Morning Vietnam. So both the cacao and the coffee in this bar are from the same province in Vietnam. Bell V is a uh Vietnamese maker, and so all of their bars are from different origins within Vietnam. Much like hops, cacao grow in a specific latitudinal belt around the world. So uh for cacao, it's 20 degrees north and south of the equator.
SPEAKER_01Very fancy mold.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and this is their smaller bar mold. They have a larger one, and it is a little bit more geometric, even than this.
SPEAKER_01And it's thinner than the other ones. The coffee is really good. Almost more espresso.
SPEAKER_00It's very assertive.
SPEAKER_01It's really good. Also earthy. Yeah. I love coffee. Any like sweetened coffee. My grandmother used to give us coffee ice cream for dessert when I was a kid. And I always have very fond memories of any like kind of sweet coffee for that reason. Like, who gives a five-year-old coffee ice cream? But I know you said not to chew, but I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's okay. It's just when you first put it in your mouth, like when you're having a candy bar, your instinct is just to chew that up. It's just best to let it melt a little bit and then you know, do what you want.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, when you chew it and it's twilo, your the flavor is almost like it doesn't it, it's it's very muted. Whereas if you let it sit, this is real. This one, I mean, I know I know everything you have last is usually like a favorite, but that this one's really good.
SPEAKER_00Is this your this is your favorite, you think, of the three?
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, yeah, it's really, really nice. I really love the addition of the coffee. The coffee is a a lot, it almost kind of pushes the chocolate m away slightly, but I don't care.
SPEAKER_00So, what's next for you and pints and panels?
SPEAKER_01I always say we, but it's just me because I don't really like to talk about myself and solder. I like to talk about pints and panels as its own thing. This isn't really about what I'm up to, it's about what pints and panels is doing. Working on constantly making sure the website looks good. Uh I've started to work with a Spanish translator to put pints and panels into Spanish. Uh, I have a quite a large Central and South American uh following on social media. So I want to make sure that they have access to Spanish language stuff. So I'm working with a translator for that. Continuing, I do the adventures of Nelson and Goldie for Pellicle every month. So just drew a new care, and there's a new villain.
SPEAKER_00I guess the cat chamberee is coming up.
SPEAKER_01The cat chamboree, and there's a little bit of a wrench thrown into their plans. They thought they could do it all themselves, but so that catch I drew that. I colored I drew it yesterday and then colored it in this morning. So there's that the thing is about pensive panels is you never know. You know, there's always new things coming up that are fun and interesting that you don't know. That's the thing about you're self-employed, so you know, like it's a little stressful because you're like, man, if this something happens, then you know, what am I gonna do? But then you get that email from someone that's like, hey, I want you to draw this, or hey, for you, like I want to write, I want you to write this, or your pitch is accepted. So it's really exciting the way that every day is different. With hooray for craft beer being out now. I've been doing more pop-up events, which my first book came out. I did beer, like I would do book signings, and you just kind of sit there, and I'm sure you'll end up writing a book one day. And when you do, you will sit in front of your life's work and people will go, and then they walk on. And you're like, well, that sucks. With hooray for craft beer and pints and panels getting more visibility. Book signings are a little nicer. It's fun to see pints and panels growing and hopefully continue to grow. It's been a lot of work. I work every day. You know, I've started pints and panels in 2010. So this wasn't just like an overnight thing. I mean, it took nine, eight, eight or nine years of hard work. And it's really nice to see it start to pay off and have people really respect it and enjoy it and use it. I know, people who email me go, I used your visual syllabus online and I passed my level one or I passed my level two. That gives me this thrill. That's the thrill, you know, when people are like, I bought my I own a brewery and wherever, and I bought your book for my tasting room staff and they use it as a reference guide. And that's just really fun. Yeah, and you're like, oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00What story are you telling with pints and panels?
SPEAKER_01The beer's for everybody, and then everyone can joy beer, you know. If you're just crushing the hype stuff, fine. If you're, you know, a stickler for the traditional, then great, good for you. Uh, if you're a new beer person and you're intimidated, you know, because there's a lot of people who are trying to change the narrative when it comes to certain beers. That's, you know, Heights of Handels is there for you to say it's okay, you know, don't worry. Drink a beer, have a good time, try things, ask questions, go, oh, I like this, why do I like this? Uh, or, you know, I'm at a brewery and this tastes weird. Why does it taste weird? You know, maybe the brewery is not super great. You know, there's some not great breweries out there, which is a shame. And it's, you know, question everything, drink everything responsibly. Everyone can enjoy beer. You know, it's one of the most popular beverages on earth. And so many people drink it in so many different ways, so many different styles, so many different flavors. And it's such a welcoming, it should be, and it always should be a welcoming beverage. And that's what Python Handels is saying. You know, come on in, sit down, have a beer. Let's learn about beer. And it's not intimidating. I'm not gonna tell you, no, that's wrong. This is about you know, learning at your own pace and just enjoying and celebrating beer. Yeah, yes, yes, yes.