Meet Sam Layle

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sam Layle.

Sam, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
About 10 years ago, I started a simple blog to chronicle my idiotic experiences in my 20s in the framework of craft beer. I brewed, I drank it, I wanted to be in the industry, and since no one would hire me, I decided to just get involved myself. I wanted to talk about craft beer in a way that wasn’t pretentious and focused solely on tasting notes. I didn’t realize it, but my goal was to try and subvert a lot of gatekeeping.

What started as a blog, eventually turned into a podcast. I was always interested in audio production, so I self-produced the show with a partner based out of Grand Rapids Michigan. The whole show was an eye-opener into the logistics of running a show, and also became my proving ground for all sorts of social media promotions that my day jobs didn’t really need to utilize.

After a few years, we decided to sunset the podcast, and I invested in some equipment to begin working on video content. This arena has always been a passion of mine – I bought my first digital camcorder in college and made a ton of awful videos of my friends and I wakeboarding, snowboarding, and snow skating. Now I wanted to take my basic-ass video chops to YouTube and spread my message of “Craft beer is for everyone” to the masses.

It started with a simple show called “The Chug,” a quick one-shot rip-off of the Daily Show or any talking-head-delivers-jokes-among-news show. It was a challenge to myself to try and make something interesting that is taken in one shot and could be recorded and edited in an evening. This eventually led me to meet some wonderful people who helped me come up with ideas for other shows and expand our YouTube lineup. We now host shows that involve cooking, spicy food challenges, and random interviews with folks in the brewing and cider industries.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s been about as smooth as running a site and several different shows with only a few people on the team could go. The biggest struggle has always been the time commitment. It’s all still something I do in tandem with a full-time job, so a production company side hustle really becomes more of a labor of love.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m still trying to figure out what I specialize in. I’m not a videographer by any means, but I can put a complete package together with good sound and lighting. To compensate for the lack of flashy shots, I try to bring a casual and fun atmosphere to any of my productions.

I don’t want to candy-coat things that are happening in the beer industry, but my goal is always to build folks up and bring people who are doing excellent things into the spotlight.

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
The only luck I’ve experienced is the good fortune to meet some amazing people along this journey. I’m humbled to be able to call many of these folks friends.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.beernloathing.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beernloathing/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beernloathing/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/beernloathing/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Beernloathing