Sitting in a classroom, anxiously awaiting his fate, SF State alumnus Samuel Molmud said he was laser-focused when judges from local publications came to his contemporary magazine class to judge the students’ ideas and business plans. His Liquid Bread Magazine project– focused on the beer scene in the Bay Area– won the judges over unanimously then, and now, as a fully-fledged online publication, has won SF Weekly’s 2015 Best Drink Publication award.

“When you are doing something new, its not always easy to tell when you’re hitting the right notes, so getting the nod from SF Weekly was a pleasant temperature gauge on how we were doing,” Molmud said.

Molmud graduated from the journalism department in Fall 2014 and is currently the founder, owner and editor-in-chief of Liquid Bread Magazine in San Francisco.

Molmud said his idea for starting Liquid Bread Magazine was born in the contemporary magazine course that he took at SF State in Spring 2014.

“I made up Liquid Bread for a class project in contemporary magazine, and after the class, I fine-tuned it to be an online-only and Bay-Area-focused online publication,” Molmud said.

Molmud explained that the main project of the class was to create the concept for a magazine business, pitch the idea to the class, get into groups and make a business and a launch plan.

“When I started putting my ideas on paper for the project, I quickly realized that I had something really strong, so I decided I would make Liquid Bread a reality after the class,” Molmud said.

Maegan Tingling, photographer for Liquid Bread Magazine and SF State journalism alumna, was there when Liquid Bread Magazine was first transforming into a reality.

“I was present during the first talks of turning Liquid Bread from a class project to a live publication, so I was at the right place at the right time to become, in the future, a part of the photo staff with the magazine,” Tingling said.

Managing editor of Liquid Bread Magazine and 2014 SF State journalism graduate Lovelie Faustino first met Molmud in class with the Golden Gate Xpress newspaper.

“Initially, Sam was the quiet guy who sat in the back of the classroom. He kept to himself, but spoke with true eloquence,” Faustino said. “I quickly learned that Sam was the one to listen to when he raised his hand in class because whatever he was going to say was going to be thoughtful and add to the class lesson. He didn’t raise his hand just to participate; he spoke with purpose.”

Faustino said Molmud is an industrious leader whose ambition and passion for producing quality content is evident.

“Sam’s a diligent editor-in-chief. He hustles to produce content and will make sure Liquid Bread Magazine has a story in the pipeline ready to go, even if he has to take the pictures, interview and write the story, edit and publish the article,” Faustino said. “He is a one-person team when he needs to be and that’s why Liquid Bread Magazine has sustained over the year. Sam is Liquid Bread Magazine.”

Molmud said he enjoys writing about beer because of the taste and Bay Area festival organizer’s heartfelt mission to give back.

Bay Area Festivals, such as the Monterey Beer Festival and the SF Craft Beer Festival raise money for charities to donate money to the local and regional community.

“I was really surprised when I first started writing about beer how community oriented and nonprofit a lot of the beer industry is,” Molmud said. “So many beer festivals are geared toward raising money for good causes like fighting cancer or youth recreation, and many of the breweries and businesses partner with their neighbors to help bring awareness to each others’ businesses.”

Liquid Bread Magazine is currently an online-only publication, but Molmud said he hopes to expand to print in the future.

“Craft beer, like music and any other art forms, is very unifying at the local level,” Molmud said. “And, of course, it usually tastes awesome.”