Most people may know Kevin Mardorf better by his online nickname, “Mister CT Beer.”
For more than 10 years, the Norwalk resident has run various online resources, including CTBeer.com and BeerFests.com, which promote craft breweries and festivals around the state.
Maldorf noticed how much passion there was for the local brewing industry and “realized that a community was forming and that there wasn’t a central online presence to promote the industry.”
So it became Mardolph. “Everybody who works in a brewery knows Kevin. He’s probably in contact with just about every brewery,” Riccardo Ruggiero, co-owner of Berlinetta Brewing Co. in Bridgeport, said these days.
Customers have noticed: Mardorf has amassed more than 300,000 followers on his social media accounts, which have turned it into a full-time job.
“The response has been overwhelming,” Mardorf said. “People love to support local breweries and they love discovering new craft breweries.”
With that in mind, Muldorf launched his latest project, the Connecticut Field Trip Passport, a little booklet that lists 29 different breweries in the state and gives you two-for-one deals on beers at each brewery when you visit.
The goal, Mardorf said, is “to help people get out, explore and discover, and what we hear most often from consumers on social media and when we speak to them in person is that they’re having a lot of fun.”
Meanwhile, breweries like Berlinetta say they are seeing results, with customers coming simply by having the passport.
Ruggiero told News 12 that the exposure could pay dividends in the future. “I’m more than happy to offer up some free beer to get a few new customers in, because I think our place is great and our beer is great. If we can get people to come here, they’re going to love it,” he said.
Maldorf is already working on next year’s passport, and said he wants to expand its scope to include coffee shops and distilleries.
