APRIL 5, 2018 / ROBB / EDIT
Do you want to take better photos with your smart phone? Do you enjoy trying new beers and documenting them with a picture? Do you use the craft beer social app Untappd?That’s a lot of questions to begin a post but if you answered yes to one or all of the three this blog entry may help you.

Today’s post is about three easy steps you can take to get better beer photos. I’ll also link a powerful free app I use to do some edits on my photos after I shoot them. Before the tips, just a couple pointers. Whether I’m posting to Instagram, Untappd, Facebook or Twitter I use the photo app on my phone to capture the picture I want. I also usually set the format to square since that’s the default display used on Instagram and Untappd.

Let’s get to it. Tip number one is about light, the basic element of photography. Not just light but the right kind of light can be the difference between a flat lifeless picture and a photo that tells a story. Take a look at this beer photo I snapped using my iPhone flash. It’s everything that’s wrong about beer photos.

Tip number one is kill the flash and seek out natural light whenever possible. The flash does nothing to improve the photo. It doesn’t highlight the beer or provide any valuable accents at all. Seek out filtered natural light wherever possible. Position your subject (beer) so that the light falls across it on an angle. This will add depth and highlight your subject. Take a look at these photos. Same phone but better composition and NO FLASH. Speaking of composition that’s tip number two.No flash. Just a beer, some window light and my iPhone.

Take a moment to compose your photo in your mind. Remember tip number one as you create the photo in your mind and once you find the lighting you want consider the background. Avoid clutter and anything that doesn’t add to the story. Look at this picture from Ethereal Brewing in Lexington, KY. It gets a check mark on the filtered natural light. In fact I’d say it’s not a bad photo EXCEPT, what’s that spotted thing in the background?

The bartender popped into the frame just as I was shooting my picture creating an unwanted distraction from my tasty craft beers. Not to be too picky but the background is also kind of busy and doesn’t help the picture. There’s a great free app that can fix the background and I’ll tell you about it after the third and final tip.

This final tip is probably the easiest and takes into consideration the previous two tips. After you have selected the lighting and composed your photo in your head the way you’d like then use tip number three to get good spatial arrangement. That’s as easy as shooting pictures using the rule of thirds. Divide your photo into verticals and horizontal thirds then use that grid to position your subject slightly off center. The off center position is more pleasing to the eye. It also avoids making your subject appear it’s been put in a box which creates a boring story.

Hope these three tips make your Instagram and Untappd beer pics better. Just remember angled natural light, compose your photo in your mind and take into account the background and shoot the picture using the rule of thirds.

Check out this powerful free photo editing app Snapseed by following this link. After a slight learning curve you’ll be adding fun effects like text, blurs, vignettes and lots more. Here’s hoping your photography is as fun as your beer drinking. Follow me on Untappd user RobbLee and on Twitter @robblee.

Kyle Simpson and Gayland Stouffer made an astonishing discovery on Sunday evening, following a day cleaning up the aftermath of historic Nebraska flooding.
— Read on vinepair.com/booze-news/full-beer-fridge-found-in-field/

I ran across Anna Archibald’s article Three things you should never do when it comes to bourbon. from Liquor.com and thought it was interesting. I found it more about expanding your bourbon horizons than three bourbon no no’s.

Sung to the tune of Bear Necessities from Walt Disney’s The Jungle Book. Feel free to sing along. “Beer accessories my favorite beer accessories.” I love all things beer so by association I am a huge fan of beer accessories. Here are three of my current favorites in no particular order.

Take your beer snobbery to the next level with these first I two items from Hide and Drink. This hand cut, hand sewn, 100% genuine leather pint sleeve looks amazingly cool on a pint glass with the added benefit of helping keep it cool. It will last forever and this full grain leather sleeve will only look better and better with age. I chose the bourbon brown for obvious reasons and now think it’s a must have for any legitimate beer snob.

Beer snobs will look down their nose at the age old beer kookzie once they see this Rustic Leather Beer Glove. Be honest, just the name rustic leather beer glove makes you feel the need go buy one. I bought mine in Bourbon Brown and just holding it in may hand and feeling the supple leather and drinking in the smell makes me want to put a beer in it. Walmart has some leather koozies that look pretty good. I can’t personally vouch for them because I haven’t actually bought one but the price seems decent and they look ok on the website.

Finally, who doesn’t like a growler of beer? Seriously, who doesn’t? You must be singled out and made fun of if you’re that person. I’ve had two of these growlers for a few years and can honestly say I’ve never once gotten them filled without someone asking about them. My marginal coolness jumps up a couple notches when people see how strong my snob growler game is. They work VERY well and keep your beer fresh twice and long as the standard screw top growlers used by peasant beer drinkers.

These are a few of my current favorites. The list changes as I discover new things. Do you have any fun beer accessories you can’t do without?  If so please let me know.

RL

I almost never buy novelty beers but I gave in when the guy at the liquor store said it was a big mover.

Horny Goat Brewing’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter certainly gets a five out of five rating for creative naming but that’s where the five star ratings end.

Here’s the commercial description from Beer Advocate : “A full bodied porter that gets its dark luscious color from the generous use of roasted malts. You’ll get just the right amount of chocolate and peanut butter to question whether you’re drinking a glass of delicious suds or popping a peanut butter cup in your mouth.”

Peanut Butter Porter received a generous 3.74 rating from Beer Advocate and a 3.71 from the beer app Untappd. I originally gave it a 3.5 which correlates to “good” or “decent” but after sampling it more than once I would downgrade it to 3.0 which means “okay.” You can see my YouTube video review here.

Based on my tastings you can’t miss the chocolate and peanut butter nose. The porter hit my mouth almost as heavy as a milkshake. Then it gave way to a lighter, thinner finish with a bitter burnt malty taste. Bitter can be good but in this case it wasn’t the good kind of bitter.

Final summary Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter is true to its name which certainly sounds fun. It might be a fun novelty or dessert beer but certainly not an every day drinker. In the end, unless you’re offered one for free I’d pass on it. I have four left if you want them.

Pint nights, who doesn’t love them? You buy a beer and get to keep the glass. What’s better than that? I got a liter of some Octoberfest for six bucks and got to keep the mug. I almost had a second because it’s not good fiscal responsibility to pass up a liter of beer especially when you get to keep the glass. I’m practically making money on a deal like that.

The question I keep getting from my wife is WHERE DOES IT END? She says we don’t have space for any more logo’d pint glasses. I don’t think she understands the difference between a Bell’s Oberon from last year vs one from 2018. I didn’t argue with her when she said I didn’t NEED a Sierra Nevada pint glass. I did however point out that the reason I needed another was because mine didn’t say Forecastle on it. COME ON, that’s a pretty obvious one isn’t it? Obvious on my side I mean.

She says I concoct all these silly rules to keep my pint night habit going. She doesn’t get that you have to use an Apocalypse glass for Fallout Dust. It’s just common sense that you shouldn’t put beer from one local brewer into another’s glassware. A Monnik beer in a Akasha glass is just plain wrong. Hold on, I don’t think I have a Monnik pint glass. I like that Hauck’s Pilsner. I’m going to have to get to work on getting my hands on one.

In her defense there are some pint nights she understands, kind of. She didn’t argue when we got the Warstiner Liter boot. I don’t think she realized how big a liter is. Hobgoblin is probably one of the coolest glasses I’ve collected along the way although I will confess I rarely use it. I have Yazoo from Nashville. There’s a pretty cool Anchor Steam etched logo glass and several varieties of Bell’s glasses which I’m sure you understand. There’s Hopslam, Oberon and Two Hearted to name a few.

There’s hundreds of others as well but I’m not sure I have enough. Soooo, you may see me out at a pint night here and there. I just don’t think it’s a problem. I can quit any time I want.

Here’s my sixty second video on Pint Nights. Give it a look in you have a minute. https://youtu.be/Nw6KL5nrVow