Scott Scanlon, a Buffalo native, is health editor with The Buffalo News but believed five years ago that the state craft beer movement was too important to go largely uncovered by Western New York’s largest new source, so he tackled related stories on a freelance basis. Those stories have included features on the opening of most of the region’s major breweries, advances on Buffalo Beer Week and big-picture pieces on how beer has helped fuel the Buffalo resurgence. Scott worked at the Syracuse Post-Standard for 15 years – during the first iteration of Empire Brewing Company in Armory Square – and started work with The Buffalo News in 2004. He never travels anywhere without stopping into a local craft brewery. His favorite 5K ever: the 2014 Dogfish Dash, in Milton, Del., where at the finish line he was handed a bottle of water and tin cup of 60-Minute IPA. He embraces regional breweries that have added running and other exercise into their promotions and, predictably, has written a story in his 16-page weekly health section, WNY Refresh, about the health benefits of beer.