All new, All About Beer

Durham, North Carolina-based All About Beer Magazine invited folks in the trade (like me), press, and friends to the Brickskeller in Washington, D.C. on Thursday afternoon to celebrate with them the relaunching of its magazine.

That's a photo of publisher Daniel Bradford (on the right) giving a plaque to Dave Alexander, host of the event and the owner of the Brickskeller, which is itself 50 years old this year (not Dave). On the plaque is a reproduction of the cover of the new issue ... and a photo of Dave! More photos.

Against a fascinating slideshow backdrop of covers and stories from All About Beer issues of years past, we enjoyed a big food spread. Daniel then took the stage to regale us with stories of the magazine. The magazine was founded in 1979. When he and Julie Bradford purchased it in the early 1990s, issues had often been published haphazardly, and sometimes stories could be as far afield as what constituted a good hunting knife!

Daniel then introduced his staff, as well as the firm which did a lot of the creative work on the new design - a firm based in the DC area. The magazine has a glossier look and feel, and masthead.

Among the many attendees were Nick Matt of F.X. Matt/Saranac (wearing the suit and tie to the right), Greg Kitsock and others from Mid-Atlantic Brewing News, reps from importers Legends, Ltd. and Phoenix Imports, Ltd., local brewers from Gordon-Biersch (Jason Oliver who brought his wood-chipped Schwarzbier), District Chophouse (Barrett Lauer with his barleywine), Vintage 50 (Bill Madden brought a cask of Molotov Hoptail) , Dogfish Head (rep Devon Arloski and head brewer Andy Tveekrem with several beers including their neo-Berliner Weisse Festina Peche), Sweetwater Tavern Merrifield (the brewer's name has slipped my mind), and Clipper City (me with a firkin of our Hang Ten Weizen Dopplebock).

I took the opportunity to chat for awhile with Mr. Matt. I found him to be quite a gracious patrician of the beer industry.

Hugh Sisson, owner of Clipper City Brewing, was not able to attend due to a prior commitment. Years earlier, when he had owned and operated Sisson's Brewpub in the Federal Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, Julie and Daniel had enjoyed one of their first dates together there.

The rest is published history.

More photos here.