Photo: Paul Cyr

Photo: Paul Cyr

WRITERS’ GUIDELINES for the Maine BrewGuide Spring/Summer Issue


THEMES AND “BIG PICTURE”

Focus

When the spring/summer issue drops in late April, it will encompass the season from May through August. Many locals and visitors to Maine will be centering their free time around touring the state and socializing with beer and cocktails, hitting the Maine Beer Trail, being outdoors and sampling Maine’s finest with friends and family. Spring and Summer seasonal beer releases will be a hot topic, as always. Maine BrewGuide readers are not just thirsty for finding great craft beer and distilleries; they want it with an experience, some ambiance and a view. Our lakes, mountains, rivers and oceans provide the back drop for adventures, such as a self-guided brewery tour that takes them to a region with scenic or adventurous options. They are also looking for ideas for activities and places to visit around the tasting rooms, whether it is sightseeing, hiking, shopping, fishing or restaurants.

Readers also enjoy learning the beginnings of and back stories of brewers and insights into Maine’s Craft Beer industry and economy. We also look to tell the stories of breweries old and new, tackle issues they are facing and discover what is trending in the beer biz. As editors, we’re interested in craft beer events, brewfests, specialty beer gatherings, running or obstacle course races, run clubs—anything where people gather in the name of craft beverages.

We want this issue to reflect the best of late spring and summer, why you can’t beat living in Maine. See departments below for related story ideas.

Regions to Cover

Maine has eight regions. Here’s the latest Beer Trail put out by the Maine Brewers Guild and the latest Distillery Trail. Our focus for the summer issue is the outdoors, beer & fitness and business of brewing . If it’s got a deck, if it overlooks the mountains or a lake, if it’s on an island, involves camping, hiking, water sports or places you can bring your bike or dog while enjoying a brew, it’s likely to be a story angle we want to see. We want to also make sure we represent Portland, Bangor (and north of that in The County), something in the western regions and something in the Midcoast (a good mix of urban and rural) to make sure all bases are covered.

Departments

Our regular departments include:
•  Brewery profiles
•  Ideal food beer/spirits pairings (interviews with chefs)
•  Distillery profiles or industry articles
•  Tasting room directory
•  Beercations: Centering your trip to Maine around breweries
•  Seasonal beers/Reviews and releases
•  Fitness and beer: how to incorporate fun activities and lifestyle choices
•  The Businesses around brewing (Peripheral businesses that assist brewers)
•  New breweries roundup

We invite our established writers to pitch us one or two ideas in any of these categories before opening it up to new writers. Content comes first so if it’s a tiny one-man operation in the woods you want to write about and it works for this issue, we might be interested, but in the back of our mind, we’re naturally inclined toward anything that will give us advertising possibilities (such pulling a unique angle out of a big sponsored event). We are also interested in hearing from you on any ideas you might have for new departments in the future.
 
Note: with the Brew Road Trip, we’re looking for local pitches for a fun mid-week getaway from writers who’ve already experienced an event (whether it’s a one-day road trip or a three-day journey ending with a festival).

ACTION ITEMS

Specific interests for this issue not yet assigned:
•  Angles around local ciders and meads and even craft sodas made in Maine.
•  Maine ingredients and products; utilizing local businesses.
•  Female brewers or those associated with the overall industry.
•  Northern Maine: Bangor and breweries/distilleries above that region.

Pitch Deadlines

Story deadlines are March 23. If it’s something that will work for the issue, we’ll let you know with a Writer’s Assignment. If it’s not this time around, don’t worry, we might ask you for some more ideas. Please pitch to: submissions@activitymaine.com. Thanks for being a valuable part of the writers’ team.

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