GOOD BEER HUNTING STYLE GUIDE

Welcome to the Good Beer Hunting Style Guide. We do things a little differently than other places that write about beer, and we hope this document will explain those differences clearly. The GBH Style Guide goes beyond basic grammar stuff (though there’s some of that, too), opting instead to define what it is that we do, why we do it, and how to do it every time. This is a living document which will evolve as GBH—and GBH’s style—evolves.

WHAT WE DO AND WHO WE DO IT FOR

Our mission statement says, in part, that “GBH is not a voice speaking only from the outside looking in, but rather, from the middle of some of the most rapidly changing dynamics that just about any industry has ever seen. The interviews go deeper and the articles work harder to balance the culture of craft beer with the businesses it supports, shifting the conversation with our readers toward the future of the industry we love and the tenacity of its ideals.”

Indeed, our team is made up of journalists, marketers, brewers, career photographers, and folks from other varied backgrounds. We find many of the stories we write because many of us are in the middle of the beer industry. Another way to think of it is that we’re a pop-culture-obsessed industry rag with the spirit of an alternative weekly newspaper. We swear, we have fun, we try not to take ourselves too seriously, and we care deeply about the “why” of every story.

IT’S ABOUT MORE THAN BEER

We use beer as a platform to explore everything else we’re—broadly and deeply—interested in, from economics to politics, internet memes to food, urban design to civil rights. None of these topics are off limits at GBH. We disagree strongly with those who might tell us to “stick to beer.” Beer has always been—and always will be—more than that. Yes, it starts with beer, but it never has to end there.

While our audience often skews a little industry-centric, we write for everyone, and that requires clarity. So as to not confuse or alienate a reader, we must always be sure to explain a little more than might seem necessary—to teach as we tell stories. We also write from a strong, educated point of view, which means going a little bit further on every story than many writers might.

HOW TO USE QUOTES TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

The success of a story is built on its reporting, which often means purposefully seeking out sources and angles that sometimes seem to have nothing to do with beer or are only tangentially related to it.

When using quotes, we want them to build context, depth, and understanding of an important detail, moment in time, and the story you’re telling.
We do not want quoted points of information: “This beer was made with ginger and lemon,” he says.
We want quotes to lift up points of information that are included in the text: The beer, made with ginger and lemon, is meant to give drinkers a feeling of time and place. “There’s something special about sipping it that reminds me of summer and feels refreshing in a way that no other beer can do,” he says.

Most of all, we enjoy speaking truth to power—and truth to conventional wisdom.

Want to pitch us a story idea? Use our pitch portal. This thread from X/Twitter can be helpful to hone your pitch.

THE GBH VOICE

Good Beer Hunting’s voice is more relaxed than a newspaper, but more buttoned-up than most blogs. Our voice is human, friendly, and confident. We don’t shy away from slang, internet jokes, or a conversational tone, because that’s how people talk to each other in real life. We pride ourselves on our ability to tell a comprehensive and insightful story, word counts be damned. (Just don’t be ridiculous about it.) We strive to educate, entertain, and delight while maintaining our position as a critical, creative, and curious voice in the world of beer.

One way to think of our voice is to compare what it to what it isn’t. GBH’s voice is:

opinionated, but not snobby
smart, but not rude
funny, but not try-hard
authoritative, but not close-minded
conversational, but not sloppy

THE STORIES

These are the story categories that make up GBH, including tips that will help you do your best job writing them.

Signifiers (3,000-4,000 words) — These are the backbone of the GBH ecosystem, the OG story style that started it all. The subject of any Signifier should be a brewery that’s pointing the way (Get it? Signifying!) for other beer producers around the world, doing something unique and special. These well-rounded profiles paint a complete picture of how and why a brewery became special, providing context and human-led storytelling. Here’s are two of the best Signifiers we’ve published:

Critical Drinking (2,500-5,000 words) — This category focuses on reported pieces that are often op-eds or explore beer trends and history. When you’re doing a Critical Drinking, your points should be sharp, thoughtful and, yes, critical—in multiple senses of the word. We want pointed, insightful queries that take ideas to interesting places and offer readers something they don’t already know. It’s important to chat with your editor about sources and direction before you dig in. Here are two of the best Critical Drinking pieces we’ve published:

GBH in Residence (2,000-4,000 words) — “Sometimes to get the real story, you have to go beyond the brewery tour and the tasting room,” goes the description for this category. We’ve gone foraging, camping, and grafting. These stories are evolving toward bigger ideas, too, and we’d like to take this series beyond beer. They’re less play-by-play recaps of trips or events, and more about the story that runs underneath them—the reason why these experiences are bucket-list-worthy in the beer world. You have the opportunity to be somewhere special in real time with the people who make a story sing, so transport us there in your reporting and storytelling. Here are two of the best GBH In Residence pieces we’ve published:

Unrated (2,000-3,000 words) — GBH doesn’t do beer reviews, but we love digging in on a single beer. (And these next three stories show how we do that in different ways.) With Unrated, we talk to the people responsible for conceptualizing, brewing, marketing, and selling the classic beers that we love, and the game-changing beers that have made breweries. What is the context around these beers, that makes them so special? How do they stand out in the market? Here are two of the best Unrated stories we’ve published:

Perfect Pour (800-1,200 words) — Perfect Pour celebrates the platonic ideal of a beer. It’s “a series devoted to those moments in which we feel we may have discovered the perfect time, place, and people with which a beer's best life has been lived.” Here are two of the best Perfect Pour pieces we’ve published:

House Culture (2,000-2,500 words) — What started as a way to invite the internet’s best writers to the GBH party has turned into an interesting little sandbox where our team can muse on the stuff they love that’s adjacent to—or even outside of—the beer world. From dive bars to beer bongs to one-night stands to Tom Petty, House Culture is one of the liveliest parts of GBH’s editorial world. Here are two of the best House Culture essays we’ve published:

In Good Company (1,500-2,000 words) — We meet plenty of interesting characters during our journey through the beer world—not just brewers, bar owners, and beer writers, but also old friends who visit the same bar every week, or restaurant critics who have an affinity for beer, or devoted folks who wait hours in line for their favorite brewery’s releases. In Good Company comprises profiles of non-famous people we come across during our adventures who deserve a shoutout, as well as fascinating, well-known figures in and adjacent to the industry. Here are two of the best In Good Company profiles we’ve published:

b-Roll (100-300 words) — While b-Roll seems simple enough (take a photo, write a few words, done?), it’s actually one of the trickiest GBH pieces. Rather than just general blurbs of bars or beers or events, we’re looking for rare moments, and that’s more difficult than it seems. Rather than just a shot of a bottle at a bar, a b-Roll shows and tells about the important people and action happening around the bottle. These are the moments GBH staffers identify because they’re often in the middle of them as they happen. (All photo submissions must be at least 3000x2000 pixels and shot horizontally.) Here are two of the best b-Roll stories we’ve published:

Dropping Pins (2,000-4,000 words) — These are not your usual travel stories. We're not interested in a list of places and the beers that visitors "need" to try when they come through. Instead, we immerse ourselves in a place and culture to get a sense for what makes people tick locally and how beer fits into that. Sometimes, we just have a lot of fun and the beer happens to be nearby. These kinds of stories are made better with interviews of regular people you meet along the way, not just owners and staff at a business. Keep in mind how unaffiliated voices can deepen the context and importance of the people and place you’re writing about—local residents, a regular at a taproom, city planning board members … they’re all great. Here are two of the best Dropping Pins travelogues we’ve published:

GBH Provisions (2,000-3,000 words, including recipes) — At GBH, we’re passionate about good food and the way that it intersects with beer. Provisions lets us celebrate that. These pieces always include recipes, but they go way beyond simple beer-and-food pairing recommendations: they also capture those special moments of conviviality and hospitality where beer and food are organically enjoyed together (often with a seasonal angle). Here are two of the best GBH Provisions we’ve published:

Olly Olly (2,000-3,000 words) — These stories do not require anything to do with beer. Our Olly Olly section shares stories of the outdoor world that explore nature as the character. Sometimes nature is a refuge, sometimes a threat, more often some combination of both. Just as elements shape a landscape—a river erodes a canyon or gravity shapes a hoodoo—nature is a force that shapes our physical and psychological realities. We want stories of adventure, joy, risk, reflection, heartbreak, and how nature pushes us to the brink of understanding those concepts. These are two of our best Olly Olly stories:

Read.Look.Drink (150-300 words) — What’s something great you’ve read? Photography or other visuals that amazed you? The best beer you tasted this week? It’s simple, it’s self-explanatory, it’s Read.Look.Drink. We can never have enough of these, so please submit early and submit often. Get to know our style and how to write your own: Find our RLD archive here.

Sightlines (600-2,000 words) — Along with longform deep dives, GBH brings context and understanding to topical news stories on a daily and weekly basis in our Sightlines section. Whether it's breaking news or getting ahead of trends, these pieces dig into "Why It Matters," and don’t just present basic who, what, where, and when data points. The "why" is what differentiates GBH's approach from other industry publications, and creates understanding around complex issues. When approaching a Sightlines piece, it's important to always think critically and dig deeper. What quote would add context to what's going on? What statistic backs up the point we're trying to make? These are not opinion pieces, but deeply researched articles that are written in such a way that they allow us to tell as much of the story as we can. When news breaks, we're not looking for a simple recap, but a story that tells the reader why they should care throughout. Here’s one of the best Sightlines we’ve ever published.

Some more things to consider with Sightlines:

Audience:

While so much of what we cover at Good Beer Hunting can be interesting and applicable to everyone, there are cases where some in-the-weeds analysis is needed. Sightlines is the leading voice covering the latest news in the beer industry, and these pieces require a sharp, journalistic focus that includes depth (to give that context) and skillful writing (to make sure details are shared and nuance is explained). These news stories are often read by industry professionals and enthusiasts, but that doesn't mean we aren't aiming for a wider readership. The "Why It Matters" section is our way of thoroughly explaining the story to everyone.

Structure:

When approaching these stories, the inverted pyramid journalistic style is key. We offer the opportunity to break Sightlines pieces into two sections:

The Gist: This is the up-top section that summarizes the news succinctly, followed by pertinent facts of the story. Within the first 50–100 words, we want to make it clear what the news is, but also why it matters, which leads to...
Why It Matters: This is not opinion, but a section that allows you to flex your knowledge and understanding of the issue. Where many outlets will stick to straight info-gathering (what we include in The Gist), the analysis we do in Why It Matters is what separates GBH from others. This could come from statistics, sources, or other avenues. The key here is that we should always work to find the greater context underlying the news, plus ample citation or insight to back it up.

What Separates Us:

We are always looking for analysis or angles that explain a story in ways nobody else is considering. For example:

Brewers Association Report Shows Lack of Diversity in Hires, Offers Path Forward We compared employment data from the Brewers Association to national averages as a way to explain where the industry stands with diverse staff. Nobody else did this.
Creepin’ on Summer — Is Pumpkin Beer Sneakily Returning to Success? The narrative in the industry for years has been that Pumpkin Beer is dying. That was factually incorrect, so we proved it with sales figures and anecdotes from a leading producer of the style.
Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car — Lord Hobo Staffing Changes Cause Division During Ambitious Growth Period A Boston-area brewery laid off a collection of workers, but it was part of larger challenges facing the brewery, which nobody looked into. The speed of growth and sales figures didn't match up, so we wanted to explain where these narratives were at odds.

SO YOU’RE WRITING SOMETHING

That’s great! We love it when you write things. Some guidelines:

Google Docs: It’s our preferred word processor for any story that’s more than a few hundred words. Please set your “share” settings to “Anyone who has the link can edit.”

Angles: You should have them. “I want to write about this brewery” isn’t one, unfortunately. Think about what makes a brewery or subject interesting, special, complicated, or unusual. Then come up with some thoughts about why that is and what it all means—a solid paragraph should do the trick in terms of explaining the importance of this piece. Even if your thoughts end up being wrong, the journey to figuring out what’s right will lead to a better story.

Sources: Please try to have at least three if you’re doing a longform piece. Make sure none of them (or maybe only one of them, at most) are a member of a brewery’s marketing or public relations team. We value voices that give context and depth—find people outside of a business or organization to talk about them, while you’re at it. People who sell the beer, regulars at bars, a brewmaster’s mom (no, really, she’d be a great source)—these are all great ways to get new perspectives and provide context you’d never get from the person working at the brewery. When using quotes, we aren’t looking for cited points of information. We’ll ask you to focus on context and the why someone loves what they do, cares about a person or business, and wants to be a part of your story. Having trouble finding sources? Ask our team for help.

Headlines and sub-headlines: Please write some! Yes, we know they’re hard, but they’re even harder for someone who didn’t write the story. Promise. Just puke up some bad ones. We’ll figure it out from there. Have you ever read Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird? Fun book. In it, she talks about an idea she calls “shitty first drafts.” We’re big believers in shitty first drafts. (Please note, however: shitty first drafts are not the drafts you turn in to your editor, thanks.) Think of these as shitty first headlines.

Pull quotes: When you’re completely finished with your story, please pick out a few of the most interesting quotes, the quotes you’d like to see made slightly larger in between blocks of text, and put them at the top of your Google Doc before sending it on. If you didn’t write or say the words yourself, please also include the name of the person who did.

Gut checks: If you have a weird, nagging feeling in the back of your brain (“That quote is boring” or “This part of the story isn’t working” or “Why did they do that thing? I should’ve asked about that thing!”), chase it, fix it, kill it. Chances are, your editor is going to have those questions, too.

Go the extra mile: it’s a cliché, but it’s also a way to make your story better. (And remember: Ours Is Better™. Again, the team is here to help. Hit us up via Slack or email or whatever way feels most comfortable to you.)

PESKY LITTLE STYLE THINGS

For most style questions, we defer to the AP Style Guide. However, our house style includes some unique elements to be aware of. Below, find a list of stuff that you should try to keep in mind while writing for GBH.

Language: Please submit all articles in U.S. English.

Em dashes: We love them! (But as with everything we love, don’t go overboard.) They’re helpful for including an aside in the middle of a sentence. Here’s an example: “Austin told the team—which is now made up of people from all over the world—that em dashes are dope AF.” An em dash is different than a dash or two dashes. If you’re on a Mac, shift + option + - will get you an em dash. If you’re not on a Mac, you can copy paste from this doc or somewhere on the internet. Em dashes should never have spaces around them. Don’t force an em dash when some parentheses will do the trick.

Semicolons: We're not in the business of leveling all-out bans on punctuation marks, but semicolons aren't our fave. Use them thoughtfully and sparingly. Otherwise, default to the trusty em dash (see above).

Spaces between sentences: Only one. Thank you, you monsters.

Serial commas: We love these, too. Please use them.

Keep your punctuation inside the quote marks: “This is good.” “This is bad”.

Capitalizing beer styles: We don’t do that.

Capitalizing yeast and bacteria: Please always capitalize the genus names, but not the species name (Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Brettanomyces bruxellensis). Capitalize the genus name even when used alone or abbreviated (as in “Brett” or “Lacto”).

Capitalizing hop names (Citra, Centennial, and so on): Please do this as well.

Referencing people and breweries: On first reference, use a brewery or a person’s full name. On subsequent references, use the informal version of the brewery’s name and the last name of the person. Example: “Mark Spence founded Ambitious Bearded Man Brewing Co. in 2024 shortly after stepping down as President of the United States. ‘I just figured it was about time someone as ambitious and hirsute as myself, not to mention a former President, opened a brewery,’ Spence says of Ambitious Bearded Man’s early days. ‘But it wasn’t easy.’”

Abbreviations and acronyms: Always spell these out on first reference. Include a parenthetical of the acronym if you think it won’t be obvious for the reader. On second and subsequent references, use the acronym or abbreviation. Example: “Steph Byce founded the Beer Drinking Hockey Players Society in 2017 following her team’s winningest season yet. BDHPS’ membership ranks would skyrocket in the years to come.” State names should be written in full (San Francisco, California, not San Francisco, CA).

Numbers: Write out the numbers one through nine. Use numerals for numbers 10 and above unless they’re the first word in a sentence.

Anheuser-Busch InBev: First reference. AB InBev or ABI on second reference.

Quotes: We use a magazine style/present tense “says” throughout our stories, except in special cases where a past tense “said’ makes more sense. (One pertinent example: when quoting from a story or interview that took place in the past. “Bryan Roth said in a 2016 GBH podcast.”) It’s OK to change up the attribution (i.e.: exclaims, sighs, shouts, etc.), but don’t overdo it. If a person says something a certain way (i.e.: “she says, shaking her head,” “he says after a long pause”), do note that—personality is good! Otherwise, just a simple “says” will do the trick. Example: “This is our house style for attributing quotes,” Austin says. “Isn’t it simpler and clean and nice and lovely to read this way?”

Other beer-related terminology:

Dry hopping, not dry-hopping. When used as a compound adjective, however (“a dry-hopped IPA”), do use a hyphen.
Six-pack, not six pack or sixpack
Homebrew/homebrewing, not home brew or home brewing
Tallboy, not tall boy
As a unit of measurement, “barrels” on the first mention and “BBLs” after
We prefer to refer to breweries as singular rather than plural entities, i.e. “After Ours Is Better Brewing expanded, it made way more beer.”
Liquid/glass measurements: please use abbreviations, and do not include a space between the number and the unit. IE: a 12oz glass, a 750ml bottle
Spell it “foeder," not “foudre” or, for the love of god, “foedre”

WORDS YOU’LL NEVER SEE ON GEE BEE AITCH

We’re pretty positive—and, OK, occasionally cynical—folks here at GBH, but we have a few hard-and-fast rules about words we never want to see in the pieces we publish. Read on for a few broad categories of our least favorite words, and please be vigilant about keeping them out of your copy.

Bland superlatives—It’s rare to write a strong sentence that rests on bland, unimaginative, or otherwise overused superlatives. “Amazing,” “awesome,” “breathtaking,” and the like are overused to the point of being meaningless. And if we’re talking about taste, “yummy,” “yum,” “nom” and any other such iterations should, as far as we’re concerned, be launched straight into the sun.

Cringeworthy beer synonyms—“Beer” is a word that doesn’t have many synonyms, so there’s a temptation to use alternatives like “suds” or “brews.” However, see this constraint as an opportunity to creatively rephrase your sentences, rather than reaching for some of these cringey options—”suds” will never appear on GBH, and “brew” (as a noun) only occasionally. Likewise, we never want to see “lubricated” to mean “drunk.” Just no.

Other clichés—Clichés, by definition, are tired and overused—why would you want them bogging down your writing? Be rigorous about scrubbing them from your copy. Phrases like “hidden gem” or “off-the-beaten path” make your editors very sad. :(

ON INCLUSIVE WRITING

Beer is for everyone, right? To be forward-thinking within this industry requires us to think not just about the topics we cover, but the language we choose to use. With that in mind, here are a few—by no means is this list exhaustive—things to think about when writing a story for us.

Don’t use words like “crazy,” “insane,” etc.
Don’t assume gender! Please ask the folks you interview for their pronouns, and introduce yourself with yours if you feel comfortable doing so. If you don’t know, use they/them.
Ask yourself why you’re including a personal detail about someone. Does mentioning their race or gender move the narrative? Do you mention the gender and race of the person that’s not of a marginalized identity?
Don’t use words that denote a foreign place as “exotic.” Resources on travel language are here.
Words that have a gendered term in them, like “mankind” or “man-made” to imply work (“man the station” or “man the phones”).
Try using “spouse” instead of “husband or wife” or “parenthood” instead of “mother/fatherhood.” These words assume a person’s gender.
Avoid ableist language. “Tone-deaf” and “blind to…” are phrases that can likely be said in a different way.
Avoid using “gypsy,” as in gypsy brewery — use “nomadic,” “itinerant,” “cuckoo,” instead
Be mindful of descriptors. If you’re using words like “industrious” or “hard-working” for a man and words like “delicate” or “lovely” for a woman, you probably need to adjust this language
Beer is a jargon-heavy world, which might be difficult to understand if English is not your first language or for any reader who might be new to the GBH world. Likewise, idioms can be exclusionary. Avoid phrases like “hit it out of the park” or “everything is coming up roses.”
Words that reference master/slave relationships should also be avoided. This is more common in tech language, but words like “master key” should be avoided
Consider your sources. While you want the best folks for your story, you also want folks with different ideas and opinions. Inclusion starts with the folks you choose to interview.

GBH RESOURCES

Read Look Drink: https://www.goodbeerhunting.com/readlookdrink

Password: F3rv3ntf3!

Additional reading and writerly help: Some tools and resources collected by Gray Chapman

OUR RATES

Features - $700

* Dropping Pins

* Humanity in Hospitality

* Cultivated Beer

* GBH in Residence

* Uppers & Downers

* Provisions

* Dope Girls

* House Culture

* Signifiers

* Into the Wild

* Mother of Invention

* In Good Company

* Critical Drinking

* Unrated

Mini-features - $325

* Perfect Pour

Podcast episode - $250

One-off Sightlines primary sources, interviewed - $200

One-off Sightlines secondary source recap - $125

Blog posts (for this with GBH blogs) - $100

B-Roll - $60

Good Beer Hunting