The Unabridged Story of How I Started PorchDrinking

Over the past three and a half some years, I’ve been asked countless times about how PorchDrinking got its start. In most instances, I’ve re-hash the same elevator pitch for sake of time, simplicity, and continuity.

That version reads something to the effect of: I moved to Colorado after graduating from Miami University in the fall of 2009, to serve a term with AmeriCorps through the Fort Collins Boys and Girls Clubs. As an AmeriCorps member, you’re paid less than minimum wage as a way to better relate to the hardships of those you’re serving, that and it’s a government funded initiative. On that meager living allowance, the only form of opulence we could really afford, was the weekly run to New Belgium for three free tasters in the Liquid Center tap room (oh the glory days of free tasters). It was here that I befriended the knowledgeable servers who eventually built the basis of my beer education.

More importantly, they also imparted the core of what the brewing industry represented, the ideals of fostering community, supporting other local businesses and non-profits, stewardship of our environment, reinvesting in our fellow beer industry comrades, and viewing beer as a vehicle for greater good. I wanted to find a way to reflect those ideals, without actually starting a brewery of my own, because in all actuality, I knew little to nothing about brewing beer.

So I did decided to translate their stories in the form of this blog. I reached out to my fellow journalism classmates, most notably my close friend and eventual co-founder Kate Stark and asked if they’d be crazy enough to start a random side project. Our goal was to promote the craft beer industry in a positive manner through positive, meaningful storytelling. We also wanted to capture our college porch drinking experiences by incorporating music, pop culture, sports and life in general alongside our beer focus, basically anything you’d talk about while shooting the shit and sipping on a porch beer. It’s a great story, and it’s all completely true, but it’s not the whole story.

Consider this the director’s cut.

In February of 2012 I was in rough shape. I had just been dumped by my first serious girlfriend of a year and a quarter, and spent the better part of two weeks sobbing. The kind of booger & slobber out of every pore crying, that looks just downright pitiful on everyone not named Leonardo DiCaprio (thank goodness he finally won that Oscar). That same month, I was also dealt the hand of battling a gnarly cold, getting my phone stolen (upon my 20/20 hindsight, having that Blackberry stolen was probably a long term blessing), and having my car break down for good. By the second half of February I was a hollow heap of a kid, who decided to shave a faux-hawk into his head because, well why not.

My roommate Chase, likely beyond having lost patience with my incessant pity-partying, sat me down one day and insisted that I do something radical to shake off my 1000 pound funk. “Do something different” he shouted. “Do something, I don’t know what but just do anything. Start a beer blog, you like beer, you like writing, so write about beer.” The answer was just that simple, and yet it wasn’t. See I, like many other millennials before me had started some form of a blog only to leave it rotting in digital obscurity many times before. I didn’t really think starting ANOTHER blog had any legs. But the idea sat there, planted firmly in the stubborn caverns of my mind, tugging at me over the next few weeks. I’d casually bring it up in conversation from time to time, more so convincing myself it was viable rather than actually seeking validation those peers, who were clearly skeptical about my cliche resolution.

However, after those two weeks of lingering despair, I decided to refocus my anger and sadness toward bettering myself, putting in time at the gym, eating healthier, praying, and earnestly attending church. I hadn’t grown up in the church, save for volunteering at my Aunt and Uncle’s church’s VBS as a resume builder during the summers. My parents had always preached that it was more important to be a good person, than put on the facade of holiness on Sundays, only to perpetually play the part of sinner throughout the week.

The skeptic in me, had always sided with my parents logic. I had seen way too many of my peers pick and choose what elements of Christianity they chose follow, while turning their backs on those of races, appearances, beliefs, sexual preferences, different from their own. And yet I also saw Christianity represented in its purest form by that same Aunt and Uncle Bingham who constantly housed church members, who were exchange students, or on mission trips from other countries, or in some cases were victims of abuse. They gave constantly and demanded nothing in return. Eventually, I was lucky enough to be drawn back to church on my own terms, by high school friends like Angela, and Natalie, my college buddy Laura, later down the road by roommates like Shane, Kyle, Rachel and Chase as well as post grad friends Nate, Lindsey, Nicole, and Steve.

It was here in the heart of downtown Denver, slumped over and dejected in the old dusty wooden pews of Pathways Church, during the spring of 2012, that I was inspired to start PorchDrinking. For several weeks, Pastor Gil had spoken of Nehemiah’s task of rebuilding the wall that protected the city of Jerusalem. God had called upon Nehemiah to complete this task and throughout his efforts he was called by temptation to distract from his mission. However, in every instance he’d respond “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.” For some reason this determination, this calling, resonated deeply with me as I sought my own “great work” to focus my attention. As ridiculous as it may sound, I soon realized that PorchDrinking could come to represent my wall, my great work, my way to create something meaningful for others.

It may sound a bit odd that God, Christianity, Nehemiah, and my buddy Chase, being a good friend, were the impetus for starting a beer blog, but that’s the real unabridged version of how PorchDrinking was founded. Despite living in a city where Christianity can sometimes feel taboo, I’m not bashful about my faith. Because at its core, Christianity is about fostering community, loving thy neighbor, stewardship of our environment, reinvesting in our fellow man/woman, and being a vehicle for the greater good. Sound familiar?

Don’t worry, I’m not going to continue to proselytize in subsequent posts, this isn’t some propaganda piece and I’m not going to try to convert our entire staff to Christianity. I wrote this because PorchDrinking was founded on telling great stories, and I wanted to share ours. Over the past three and a half years, writing for PorchDrinking has lead to various staff members finding other job opportunities, it’s been a vehicle for launching breweries, it’s created deep friendships, it has connected strangers from all across the world and it’s also been a rock in my own struggles with unemployment, heartache, and insecurity. This site is so deeply personal and it would have been a disservice if I didn’t share that side of the story with you.

In the face of adversity we can respond in a number of ways. So no matter your faith, no matter your beliefs, no matter your upbringing, or your current state, I hope that you too can find your version of your great work, your wall. And in the meantime know that I aim to share ours with you.

Over the new few months, we aim to share more of our raw, emotional personal stories and learnings via a revival of our series, Faking Adulthood. We hope you’ll continue reading, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting PorchDrinking.com. Now back to your regularly schedule programming pairing beers with Final Four teams.