Stan has a very interesting post and comments going all under the title "Does Anybody Read Beer Blogs?" For me, the same can be said about beer books, beer magazines, beer trade papers, beer web forums and beer social networks. Who the hell reads this stuff? And I don't think the medium in which writing is placed makes that much of a difference. The fact is there are about 100 million people in North America who like having a beer, 10 million who really like beer and about 100 people who like writing about it with any regularity. Between the two there are that fraction of drinkers who like reading the writing.
The fraction is small. Probably well under 100,000 people. I'm happy that I have a readership that can be measured as a percentage of that total but have no illusions that after all these years there is any chance of getting into six let alone seven figures of readership. The same thing applies were I working hard and doing the digging that badly paid paper publication takes. Beer writing success - whatever the medium - just isn't comparable to sports or pop music or other forms of pop culture commentary. Because it is a labour of love. Not sure if it's that pure monogamous love of a lifetime relationship or the crazed stalker obsessive love... but it's love. Sure ain't the money.
Do blog writers have a disproportionate influence on beer? I'd say the question really is whether any beer writers have any influence on beer at all.