The Author

Welcome to Accidentalis, where Great Beer is Never Accidental—it is ruthlessly edited. I'm Matt Chrispen, and this blog is the long-form record of my journey from a curious novice to an experienced Maker focused on beer, cider, and mead.

Google tells me I should list my "qualifications" - homebrewer of both beer, mead, and cider for over 18 years. I won numerous awards at the National Homebrew Competitions and various national competitions, including The Mazer Cup, Valkyries Horn, and even a Master of Homebrewing medal. I hold a National Rank with the BJCP, including a mead certification. I have organized numerous competitions and BJCP exams, and I remain a regular grader and proctor. Finally, I have commercial experience brewing mead for large-scale distribution.

My passion is rooted in the discipline of editing: taking simple ingredients and, through systematic technique and iterative refinement (the One-Change Rule), creating a consistently satisfying product. I believe that, like writing, a great recipe is not invented, but edited down to essentials.

My process is defined by rigorous curiosity and an uncompromising focus on consistency. I view my brewery as a controlled laboratory where detailed documentation is mandatory. Here, you will find verified successes, experimental breakdowns, and crucial failures. The most valuable pieces are the post-mortem notes—the analysis that forces a decisive edit to avoid a fleeting accidental win and achieve a repeatable method.

With a background in fine arts, I focus on design and refinement, coupled with an essential intellectual humility. I encourage peer review and believe all "institutional knowledge" is merely a hypothesis awaiting scientific editing. That said, I enjoy the occasional off-script random brew day, following what is in inventory and creating something wacky and undefinable.

Ultimately, this is about inspiring Makers to adopt the discipline of editing, ensuring deliberate edit an accident.

What I like most about brewing is the look on people's faces when they take a sip of a carefully crafted beer or mead.

This is the ultimate, non-monetary reward that fuels the entire journey.

It's the moment when a work colleague, seeing you smile wider than ever, connects with the quality of a shared ale after a hard week. It's the crusty veteran brewer, expecting a standard light lager, whose eyes light up as they drink deeply of a complex, unconventional style flawlessly executed.

This moment of shared pleasure is the final, objective verification of the entire process. It confirms that the hours spent on rigorous bookkeeping, the discipline of the One-Change Rule, the humility required for the Ego Edit, and the scientific rigor of the Triangle Test were all worth it.

The look on their face is the final, perfect edit: the tangible proof that accidental success was turned into deliberate, repeatable excellence. Style flawlessly executed

You are welcome to use any of the photos I have shot for this blog, with the caveat that I would like you to byline the picture with (c) Accidentalis Brewing and provide a link to the article. Thank you!

I live in North Central Kansas. You can contact me at mchrispen@gmail.com.