The Brewers Association recognized the work of three journalists during a presentation Oct. 1 at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. The awards, sponsored by Rogue Ales, were given to Ken Wells for work that appeared in the Wall Street Journal, to Mike Reidel and Sandy Riesgraf for a feature piece that appeared on Fox 13 News at 9 in Salt Lake City, Utah and to Fred Eckhardt for an article that appeared in All About Beer Magazine.
“American consumers have learned more about the flavor and diversity of the beers made in this country as a result of the work done by these journalists,” said Ray Daniels, Director of Craft Beer Marketing for the Brewers Association and coordinator of the Beer Journalism Awards program. “Thanks to Rogue Ales, we are able to both recognize and reward the work that they have done.”
The three honorees received awards for work published or aired during the last half of 2004 or the first half of 2005.
Wells received the Consumer Print award for three articles that appeared in the Wall Street Journal between August 13, 2004 and April 1, 2005. Wells’ writing was based on research done for his book, Travels with Barley. Between its print and online editions, The Wall Street Journal reaches some 2.2 million people with each issue.
The award in Consumer Electronic Media went to Riesgraf and Reidel for a television feature entitled The Queen of Beer which appeared on KSTU Fox 13 News at 9 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The story focused on brewer Jennifer Talley of Squatter Pub & Brewery to tell the story of how beer is made.
Eckhardt won the Trade and Specialty Beer Media Award for his magazine article entitled “Cocoa Bean and Grains of Barley” which appeared in All About Beer Magazine. The article discussed matching the flavors of beer with those of chocolate and chocolate-based desserts.
Eckhardt has been writing about beer since 1969, earning him the title of “Dean of American Beer Writers.”