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Help Wanted: beer historian

The Smithsonian Institution is hiring a beer historian and the gig comes with a $65,000 paycheck.

Men in their traditional Bavarian clothing clink beer mugs on the second day of the 2014 Oktoberfest at Theresienhoehe on Sept. 21, 2014 in Munich, Germany.
Men in their traditional Bavarian clothing clink beer mugs on the second day of the 2014 Oktoberfest at Theresienhoehe on Sept. 21, 2014 in Munich, Germany.
Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

The Smithsonian Institution is hiring a beer historian. Seriously.

The National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., is looking for a beer expert to research the history of beer and more specifically, for “archival and field research for a new initiative on American brewing history, with special emphasis on the craft industry,” according to the job posting.

The 3-year research project is called the American Brewing History Initiative. It will cover beer and its relationship to social, cultural, environmental and economic movements in the U.S. over the last 30 years. The goal is to, “explore how beer and beer history connect to larger themes in American history.”

The museum already has several collections related to brewing and beer drinking. The bulk of these objects and documents are from the 1870s to 1960s, with the most recent items donated by a former brewmaster — one Walter Voigt of Ruxton, Maryland.

What does the job pay? $64,650 a year, plus benefits.

I’m not (and I repeat, I’m not) quitting my job, but if I were, it’d be for this.

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