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As a former resident of Richmond, Virginia, and with family and friends still there, I visit the city fairly frequently. But seeing it through the eyes of someone else and hearing them describe places like the James River, Ardent Craft Ales, or Mekong made me long to go back. But the story you\u2019ll hear about today isn\u2019t a typical travel piece: Rather, it\u2019s a bittersweet exploration of the city, an ode to a friendship that ended too soon.

In her first story for Good Beer Hunting, titled \u201cShare What You Have \u2014 Seeing Richmond, Virginia, Through the Eyes of John Stoner,\u201d writer and cartoonist Em Sauter takes readers on a uniquely personal journey to memorialize her friend John Stoner, a Richmond beer fixture and early supporter of her own work at Pints & Panels, her visual beer education and art business. John died unexpectedly in 2021, sparking a wave of grief Em couldn\u2019t help but ride until she decided to honor his legacy and friendship by visiting his town to remember him as he was and to explore what he meant to her.

In this episode, you\u2019ll hear how writing the story acted as a therapeutic balm for her, a way to sit with her feelings and memories as her own life moves forward. I\u2019m sure you can relate to the idea of having online friends\u2014and especially online beer friends\u2014whose lives may or may not ever come in direct contact with you, but help shape your experiences in unexpected ways. In the end, it\u2019s kindness that Em hopes people share with one another. That, and a love of beer.