“Craft beer is not just for the beer connoisseur anymore. The industry is starting to hit critical mass.”

Interview by Kelsey Meyer of MakeMeYourAd.com
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Melani Gordon, and her husband Jeff (aka Flash) have taken their love for beer to a new level.  These two beer aficionados are the co-founders of TapHunter.com.  According to the site, TapHunter.com is an online service providing the quickest and easiest path for beer aficionados to find their favorite craft beers. While streamlining the process of enjoying great craft beers and microbrews, TapHunter.com is also focused on building a community, inspiring beer enthusiasts and supporting craft brewers.

The Gordon’s have expanded this site to include beers on tap in San Diego, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Denver/Boulder, and Philadelphia, and plan to expand to more cities.  The site also includes, blogs, events, and even allows the users to win prizes!

MO:
Obviously you must have an experienced taste for beer in order to start a site such as TapHunter.com, but what drove you to turn your passion into a business?

Melani:
The sheer number of craft beer centric bars and restaurants in San Diego was key for us turning our passion into a business.  Tap Hunter.com wouldn’t be a viable website that anybody would care about if there were only two places in San Diego that had anything interesting on tap,” Greg Koch, CEO of Stone Brewing Co, said.

In addition, we were tired of looking at handfuls of different websites, newsletters and blogs to find this information. There was no central location for what’s on tap.

MO:
Tap Hunter.com has so many different features, could you walk us through what a user can expect when they come to the site?

Melani:
You can use TapHunter.com to:

• Find your favorite craft beer through our search function
• Find what’s on tap at your favorite location and stop wondering what’s empty and what’s not.
• Win prizes! By keeping bars tap lists updated you earn points toward prizes.
• Get awesome deals on craft beer – our craft beer deal program “Straight from the Tap” up to 80% of locally your favorite craft beer locations, events, tours and more.
• Find out about all the craft beer events around town

MO:
How do you find all of the different beers on tap?  Does it strenuous hours calling/visiting different breweries?

Video from TapHunter’s YouTube Channel

Melani:
There are a couple of different ways we find beers on tap.

• Bars and locations have access to update their tap list through our site and are provided a private login to do so. Some locations update everyday others update once per month.
• For those locations that can’t keep up or are short staffed, we have the fans to help. Any craft beer fan can login into TapHunter.com via Facebook Connect and help bars keep the tap list updated.

MO:
How can the average beer drinker benefit from TapHunter.com, just as the beer connoisseur does?

Melani:
Men’s Journal rated San Diego as America’s best beer town. This is starting to resonate throughout the city and beyond. This means that craft beer is not just for the beer connoisseur anymore. The industry is starting to hit critical mass. Our favorite thing to do is to connect with new beer fans on Facebook or Twitter and guide them to trying new beer.

MO:
How do you plan on expanding TapHunter.com to other cities?

Melani:
We’re proving the model here in San Diego and have aggressive plans to expand quickly in 2011.  We have a 15 person street team here, 2 in Denver and 1 full time rep in Philadelphia.  However; social media will be a driving source in our expansion

MO:
This may be the most important question of all, what is your favorite beer on tap, and your favorite local tap house/brewery?

Melani:
I’ve been crazy about IPA’s the last year, but recently found my way to Belgium’s.  My favorite beer on draft is Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale by Boulevard Brewing Co.  My favorite local brewery is Hess Brewing Company in San Diego. They’re a nanobrewery pushing the envelope in this space.

Jeff :
Like asking me to choose my favorite band, too hard to answer, as my favorite depends heavily on the situation and food.  Some of my favorite beers are Alpine Nelson, AleSmith Speedway Stout, Russian River Consecration.   My favorite local brewery is Alpine Brewing.