What is Hop Culture?  

Hop Culture is a digital craft beer magazine. We started in 2017 and wrote articles about the craft beer industry and its culture. Since then, we have started an event series. [Earlier], we were doing an event a month at places around the country, often tied to a brewery. Since then, we have done a few digital festivals; that’s something new we are tinkering with. In addition to all that, we do merch—glassware, T-shirts, and hats. We try to talk about beer in a way that people who know a lot about and love beer can understand, but also we want to introduce people to it. 

I think the reason Hop Culture first started was that in 2017, craft beer was still a pretty niche topic, but there were a lot of people curious about it, and there were more breweries popping up. So I think it really started as this platform where—let’s say you are interested in craft beer and you want a roadmap to it, but we are going to do our best to demystify everything that’s going on. We also are going to show you some of our favorite places and the interesting people making this great liquid.

What drew you personally to writing about craft beer?  

I was interested in beer mostly because there are such cool stories if you peek a bit beyond the beer itself. In college, I had a small podcast where I would go to breweries, interview the brewer, and try the beer. I realized that there’s a lot more to it than this liquid people enjoy casually. I love finding out what the story is behind those things people are working on, and the reason why I still love the industry is the people at the heart of it. I think it’s cool that people are working hard to do this thing they’re passionate about. 

What are you drinking these days? 

I was introduced to this really cool brewery in Austin, Texas called Yokefellow. They are focusing on some low-ABV drinkable lagers, which is one of my favorite styles of beer. I reached out and got a chance to try them, and they’re making some really cool stuff. North Carolina has some of my favorite breweries around. In my opinion, Fonta Flora Brewery in Morganton is one of the best breweries on the East Coast. 

Visit hopculture.com to learn more and to read John’s writing.

Comment on this story at backtalk@indyweek.com. 

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