One Chapter Ends and Another Begins

I made a big change in my employment status yesterday.

Yesterday was my last official day with TAPS Media, the parent company of TAPS The Beer Magazine and the Canadian Brewing Awards.

I joined TAPS in April 2010 to look after all the Sales and Marketing initiatives for the Canadian market. My role was to sell ad space for the magazine, help organize the Canadian Brewing Awards, market the TAPS brand using various traditional and non-traditional avenues and to increase our distribution and subscription numbers. I'm proud to say that in just under the two years that I was employed with TAPS Media we accomplished many of those items and helped put TAPS The Beer Magazine into the hearts and minds of craft beer drinkers across Canada.

I'm extremely proud of where we've taken the magazine since the first issue I worked on in Summer 2010. Perfect binding, thinner pages, better contributors, terrific advertisers, good layout and more. We've been able, in less than two full years, to put the magazine into the hands of beer drinkers throughout Canada using grassroots distribution methods - getting to festivals and events, getting Canadian craft breweries to sell the magazine at their retail stores, and by offering bars and pubs with the opportunity to showcase the magazine at their establishments. TAPS is a beer magazine, created by and written by beer drinkers for beer drinkers.

The biggest comment I used to get during my time with TAPS was "man, you have the coolest job in the world!" I'd get that at every festival, at beer dinners and at various meet and greets around the country. And to tell you the truth - I did. So why leave?

I was offered a position within the industry for a company that will allow me to bring the skills and beer knowledge that I developed with TAPS into their family. It's an exciting opportunity to be part of this company as they continue to grow in the brewing industry here in Ontario. In next couple of weeks I'll be joining the team at Toronto's Great Lakes Brewing Co. and will be part of their sales team.

There were a number of amazing people I met in the industry through my role with TAPS. People that I consider close friends and many of whom I admire greatly for the hard work and efforts they put into making their product and selling their product. TAPS has allowed me to get to intimately know the Canadian brewing industry, of which I am very thankful for.

So now I begin another new chapter with the exciting team at Great Lakes.