We recently connected with Mandy Naglich and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mandy, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I first started studying the senses of taste and smell on my path to become an Advanced Cicerone (a certified beer expert). I knew paying attention to what I tasted could enhance my enjoyment of more than just beer. However, what I wasn’t expecting was how expanding my abilities of taste an smell would improve my whole life.

I started noticing how individual forests had different scents and appreciating small differences like coffees from various origins in my lattes. These developments were exciting and added more color to my life. I became curious about exactly how paying attention to taste affectes our overall well being.

From there I discovered that because of the way our sensory system is wired in the brain, the sense of smell is one of our best indicators of overall health. A decrease in sensitivity to aromas is considered one of the first signs of Alzheimer’s disease and loss of smell is the best indicator of mortality in the next five years other than liver disease. (Even cases of cancer were not as closely tied to mortality as smell loss.)

If these basic senses of smell and taste are so important to our health and happiness, why aren’t people paying attention to them? I made it my mission to teach people how to taste so they could derive as much joy from every thing they eat, drink, and even smell as I do.

Mandy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started my journey to becoming a taster as a homebrewer. I entered my first homebrew competition in 2016 and it was a big one: the National Homebrew Competition (NHC). Out of almost 8,000 entries my French Saison won gold. Not only was this quite a feat for a first time competitor but I was also the only woman to win gold that year. This attracted attention and soon I was chatting with representatives from the Cicerone Certification Program who urged me to work my way toward certification.

I continued to brew (and pick up another gold medal and a silver at NHC) and became one of the first hundred Advanced Cicerones. During my studying process I started sharing my learnings about beer and my travels around the world to understand it better on my Instagram. Rather than a point of view from the back of a brewery my perspective was a curious traveler out in the world and people responded to it. I became the homebrew columnist at VinePair and started writing for various print and online piblications. As I continued to study fermentation my focus widened and I got certifications in hard cider as well as my Wine Spirits Education Trust in spirits. Today, I have 22 thousand followers on @drinkswithmandy.

My followers wanted in person experiences and my in person tasting classes sold out immediately. After traveling with classes and teaching them around NYC, they were abruptly shut down during the pandemic. With a little more time in my hands I started work on my first book How to Taste, which comes out this June. I talked to tasting experts that specialize in everything from tea to chocolate and of course whiskey to see what truths about tasting were universal. More than 100 interviews later, I had what I needed.

How to Taste is the culmination of my classes, my travel experiences, and my training coming together to create a usable (and fun!) guide to your senses. I’m looking forward to taking new and improved tasting workshops and classes on the road in 2023 to help others learn to taste for fun, or in pursuit of a professional certification.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

There are countless “experts” out there that use half hearted research to back up their opinions and advice. I’ve always focused on thorough study and using proven science in the lessons I teach and stories I share. I’ve built a reputation as a resource for people and brands that want reliable education about tasting and drinks. However, reliable doesn’t mean boring! Many clients that bring me back again and again do so because the experience is memorable and fun.

There is nothing I love more than people telling me they show my posts or videos to their staff or co workers. Educational content that is delightful can be hard to find, so it’s something I’ve built my reputation on.

I believe in following my curiosity and sharing my discoveries with others. So far it’s been a great way to inspire people and get booking through word of mouth.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I’ve built my audience by sharing things I was genuinely haply to learn. Every time I see something and think “Huh, I never knew that!” or “Wow, that’s cool!” I’ll make a note. Sometimes those notes become freelance articles for publications, but they often become an Instagram or Blog post (and now sometimes even a TikTok if it feels right for the platform). I also go out of my way to share useful recommendations on my accounts and answer follower questions. I’ve helped my people through their first brew day or build out their bar collection in direct messages!

I definitely don’t have as large of following as other people in my space but its important to me that each post gives my audience something to come away with that makes their life more interesting. Rather than sticking to an aesthetic or a certain look for my posts it had always been all about the content first. This has led me to have a very engaged audience and loyal followers that have been around for years. (My page turns five this year, ah!)

I did post more frequently when I first started out and I think that’s good advice for anyone starting out. Just getting your face out to people frequently when they are first “getting to know” you helps you stick in their memory. Now, when someone comes to my page they can get to know me by scrolling through more than 400 posts I’ve made.

I would also say when it comes to social media it’s about quality of followers rather than quantity. I worked as a social media consultant for years and there are definitely easy ways to grow quickly. However, if you have a huge following but no one knows your face or your brand message, it’s basically worthless. Jumping on trends may gain you followers but make sure its a trend that is meaningful to your message or mission, otherwise those followers don’t really matter.

Contact Info:

• Website: howtotastebook.com / beerswithmandy.com
• Instagram: drinkswithmandy
• Twitter: beerswithmandy
• Youtube: Beers with Mandy
• Other: tiktok: drinkswmandy