Calling All Beer Lovers — Smithsonian Will Pay You to Study Beer

It’s the career prospect of a lifetime for sudsy sippers and beer buffs across the country.

To anyone who ever told you drinking alcohol would get you nowhere in life (thanks mom), here’s your chance to prove them wrong. The Smithsonian Institute's Museum of American History is looking to hire a beer historian/scholar for a three-year appointment based in Washington, D.C.

The Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History recently announced the job opening to spearhead its American Brewing History Initiative and is proposing a pretty handsome figure of $64,650 — plus plenty of bubbly benefits — to the right candidate.

The job is a brand new position funded by the Brewers Association, a national trade group that represents craft beer makers. According to the museum's curator Paula Johnson in the Washington City Paper, the Smithsonian is looking for a candidate who can "focus and dedicate efforts towards research, documentation, and collecting American brewing history."

Granted, this gig entails a lot more than traveling the country and Instagramming your aesthetic cocktails. This new initiative will require you to collect, document, and preserve brewing history through a spectrum and analyze how it connects to larger themes in American history.

Brewing and beer have been a monumental element of the American experience since before the nation’s founding and — as we all know —continues to significantly shape community life and culture into the present day. After all, what would our college days have been without beer pong and Edward 40 Hands?

Although the Museum of American History currently holds information about beer history dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they actually hold very little know-how from the 1960s to today, which many consider to be the pinnacle of the craft beer industry.

The historian/scholar position will need individuals to travel in order to interview beer industry professionals and write articles for all platforms. They will also have to perform research for exhibits and archives and — of course — drink the stuff. Candidates with an advanced degree in American business, brewing, food, cultural, or similar specialization within history are encouraged to apply.

But beer enthusiasts should hurry — applications for the coveted beer history position are due by August 10. Sadly, your record-holding beer count in college doesn’t appear to be factored into the final decision.