Native Creator Kevin Holsapple Combines Love Of Beer, Hiking, And Journey In New E book – Los Alamos Reporter

Los Alamos creator Kevin Holsapple together with his new e book, ‘Beer Hiking Southern Rockies: 54 Hikes and Microbreweries in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah’. Photo by Maire O’Neill/losalamosreporter.com

Kevin and spouse Kris on a Colorado beer hike. Courtesy photograph

BY MAIRE O’NEILL
[email protected]

Los Alamos is residence to Kevin Holsapple, a journey author, blogger, and licensed journey advisor who has not too long ago co-authored a brand new e book, “Beer Hiking Southern Rockies: 54 Hikes and Microbreweries in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah”. The e book is certainly one of a 14-book sequence from Swiss writer Helvetiq designed to mix two standard loves of many individuals all through the world: mountaineering and beer..

Holsapple took up journey writing about 12 years in the past after retiring from a profession in a wide range of enterprise and neighborhood roles.  This included vacation spot tourism administration, neighborhood growth work, advising small companies, working leisure excursions, and even working a beer corridor. His weblog, Prime Passages, is a curated assortment of articles, tales, opinions, opinions, and hyperlinks to sources that goal to encourage people who’re lovers of beer, mountaineering, and journey. The weblog focuses on distinctive, genuine experiences with locations, folks, meals, drink, and delicate journey. Readers can subscribe to obtain notices when new tales are posted. The weblog is ad-free and non-commercial. 

“If a reader is inspired by one of my stories to make up their own adventure, that feels like success,” Holsapple stated.

The new e book, “Beer Hiking Southern Rockies,” launched on August 12, options 54 completely different hikes and breweries within the 4 corners states of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. Each chapter pairs a hike with an area brewery and supplies particulars concerning the hike, the neighborhood, the brewery, and its beers.  Holsapple wrote the chapters for New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, whereas co-author Yitka Winn wrote the chapters for Colorado.

Publisher Richard Harvell of Helvetiq says that he was searching for somebody to jot down about New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, so he Googled “Beer Hiking writers”  and Kevin and Prime Passges had been all around the search outcomes.

“I contacted Kevin and we agreed to do a test chapter, which is the one about Los Alamos and Bathtub Row Brewery, said Harvell. “I immediately saw that Kevin is the perfect Beer Hiking author. His love of the outdoors and deep knowledge about the Southwest get readers excited about the hikes. But it’s his respect for the craft of brewing that made him a real joy to work with.”

Holsapple’s private “beery journey” started within the mid-Nineteen Seventies whereas serving within the military within the Franconia area of Bavaria, the place he was uncovered to all kinds of artisanal beers.  “My buddies and I would strike out in a new direction on Fridays after work, hiking the countryside, exploring villages along the way, and trying out the local beers.  Wherever we made it to on Sunday afternoon, we would climb onto a train and make our way back to our kaserne ,” says Holsapple. “I guess that was the start of my love for the niche experience of beer hiking.”

For Holsapple, beer mountaineering is about extra than simply train; it’s about including one other layer of sensory and cultural expertise to a hike, whether or not it’s having fun with a beer after the hike, carrying one to a good looking spot, assembly different beer lovers alongside the best way, or planning a route that features breweries or attention-grabbing beer-drinking venues. He has developed his personal method to planning his beer hikes by on-line analysis, using mapping instruments, tapping his intensive community of beer lovers worldwide, and making native contacts with breweries and tourism organizations.  Since ending the e book, he has accomplished analysis journeys to Munich, Cyprus, and Bhutan for extra beer tradition and mountaineering tales.

“I have dozens of stories in my writing queue and the recent trips piled even on even more,” he stated,

As a journey advisor, Kevin makes a speciality of serving to folks put collectively one-of-a-kind beer-themed adventures, typically involving beer mountaineering.  He is affiliated with on-line journey company FORA (https://www.foratravel.com/advisor/kevin-holsapple). 

“The travel advisory is a side gig for me. At this point in life, I am more interested in sharing my experiences to help people craft a great beery adventure more than I am in the travel agency business,” stated Holsapple. “I think there is a real potential for small breweries to offer interesting beer travel to small groups of their interested customers.  It could be a way to build customer loyalty and camaraderie and have a lot of fun in the process.”

Holsapple says that there are not any strict guidelines for beer mountaineering past being protected and having enjoyable, noting that “beer always tastes better to me after a nice hike”. 

Kevin is collaborating on a e book launch occasion with Bathtub Row Brewing to be held on Saturday, Sept. 27, on the brewery.  Tentatively, Kevin might be there within the beer backyard at 9 a.m. with map handouts exhibiting the numerous beer hikes you can also make, beginning and ending on the brewery.   You can use the map to design your personal hike for the morning, or accompany Kevin on a straightforward beer hike that may begin at 10:30 a.m. and return to the brewery by midday. He will aid you choose a hike that’s the proper distance and issue for you. There is not any cost for the maps or the hike. Books and beers might be accessible on the market on the brewery starting round midday.  Kevin might be accessible to talk and signal books for anybody who desires that till about 2 p.m. A drawing might be held for prizes, together with a Beer Hiker’s Kit and Beer Hiking Journals. Watch the Los Alamos Reporter for updates as particulars agency up for the occasion.

Kevin may also current a travelogue that includes beer mountaineering adventures from around the globe, together with many featured within the e book, at Travelbug in Santa Fe on Saturday, Oct. 18, starting at 5 p.m. Get there early for a seat. A drawing might be held after the travelogue for prizes, together with a Beer Hiker’s Kit and Beer Hiking Journals.  Travelbug has its personal nano-brewery, so you’ll be able to get pleasure from their beers throughout the occasion.  Books might be accessible on the market, and Kevin will stick round to talk and signal books for many who need that.

The e book can also be accessible on Amazon and different e book retailers.

Kevin can also be the creator of the Beer Hiker’s Journal, a print-on-demand e book accessible from Amazon.  “I developed this one to use for my own adventures, so I thought it would be fun to formalize it and offer it to others.” Journal pages immediate customers to file details about hikes and beers, and every journal web page incorporates a chalkboard picture with snippets of beer-hiking knowledge Kevin gathered on his travels. Reference tables are included to assist with discovering simply the appropriate phrases to explain the beers they struggle.

Editor’s be aware: The Los Alamos Reporter spent 1978-1983 in Bavaria, near the place Holsapple lived within the 1970’s and in addition loved the German beer mountaineering expertise round Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Kevin and spouse Kris navigate Fat Man Pass. Courtesy photograph

Kevin and Kris Holsapple on a beer hike in Vermont. Courtesy photograph