It’s hard to believe West Coaster has been covering San Diego beer for 10 years now. Within that time, I’ve watched the rise of Instagram with great curiosity and how it interacts with the culture of San Diego beer and society as a whole. In regards to the beer influencers, I’ve people do the same thing time and time again. When I find something unique, then that’s newsworthy.
Enter Brian Bates (@BDacht & @N2CRAFTZ). I’ve never seen anyone put Hype Williams-style mini beer music videos, so when he started showing up on our @WestCoasterSD feed, I thought it was cool. We virtually sat down in early September 2020 for a few questions.
Who are you? What are you doing?
My name is Brian, and I’m the owner of N2Craftz. My goal is to be an influencer and brand to showcase craft beer in a different light. I’ve always had a love for music and music videos, and there’s nothing better than enjoying a delicious Hazy IPA while listening to some cool jams. Growing up in the 80s – an overall great music era – the idea of music videos for craft beer just came natural and made sense to me. My mission is to give the beer community solid content from head to toe. I’m not the “review beer” type of guy fully because everyone’s palate is different. I will try my best to steer you in a direction if you like the style of beer I’m enjoying in that post. At the end of the day it’s the style of beer not the brewery that creates it.
Why should anyone care?
Don’t get me wrong, I love all the craft beer enthusiasts putting out fabulous lifestyle photos of beer, but I wanted to take that love a step further and showcase the beer in more of a music video style format along with those lifestyle photos. I want the craft beer community to dance, to reminisce. Memories and music are powerful. Where were you when you heard that song?
Music is definitely for the soul, and so is good beer. I’m a YouTuber with a focus on the beard lifestyle, too, for over three years now, so I learned that it’s important to stay fresh and exciting in that format. I asked myself when coming to Instagram: How can I stand out? What is nobody else doing on IG?
How do you produce your content?
All of my photos are captured with my Canon SL2 with either a kit lens for coverage & vlog format, or my 50mm 1.4 for portrait photos & higher quality video moments where I want attention to detail. I’ve always had a creative side, hence the YouTube platform, but I’ve always wanted to get better while trying new things. I edit all of my own photos and videos. As I grow, I want to collaborate with a videographer.
Where do you see this going?
Instagram lowers the quality of your photos and videos posted. So, it’s a bummer to put the extra work and attention to detail. That said, I see the bigger picture goal for myself and my brand is to start a website or a magazine. For now, I will continue to produce the best quality content.
What’s your favorite San Diego Beer and/or Brewery?
That’s a tough one. I’ve been a San Diego resident for only a year. I’m originally from the Midwest, where craft beer is okay but nowhere near the quality we have in San Diego. I love my hazy IPAs, and couldn’t have chosen a better place to reside for that. I have a few favorites in no particular order: Resident, Half Door, Modern Times, Fall, Pure Project and recently, for me, Chula Vista Brewery. What’s my #1 pick? This will always be a difficult decision to make, but that’s a good problem to have. Shout out to San Diego.
Follow Brian on Instagram and Youtube.
Know someone that we should feature in this column? Drop us a line!