CL-068 Kristen Foster is Done with Dry January

Kristen Foster has been a part of Good Beer Hunting’s Fervent Few community, as well as a contributor, since 2017. Since then, she’s written a number of pieces and published a lot of great photographs — especially her poignant and candid photos of people in and around beer.

Some of her recent Signifiers for Good Beer Hunting about Athletic Brewing Company and Notch Brewing also manage to capture that same candid honesty from people who’ve built two very different breweries. Athletic’s approach to non-alcoholic beer is literally redefining what beer is and what it can be, while Notch focuses on constantly perfecting classic styles that reach deep into European beer history.

In our conversation, Kristen talks about the differences between the two breweries and how she approached both stories, illuminating her process, personal experience, and how the beer industry itself continues to evolve.

We also talk about her first experience doing Dry January, what she foresees developing in the non-alcoholic beer scene, and what NA beers she liked during her month-long foray into intentional sobriety. (Hint: it’s Athletic.) Of course, as a seasoned travel writer and photographer as well, she shares her insight into what trips she had to put on hold due to COVID-19, how her local spots in Boston have weathered the last year, and where she wants to visit next. Finally, we talk cocktails — or at least, she does, while I try to keep up. Maybe if we’re lucky, one of these days we’ll be sipping tequila together in real life.