Seamus Campbell, my co-author, on what it’s like to be a beer critic

Here’s the first of Seamus’ weeklong series of blog articles about The Beer Trials for the Powell’s website. In the article, he discusses a phenomenon that’s familiar to my experience as well: “conversations about how I could possibly have given famous and best-selling products poor ratings.” It is a basic human instinct, and (for those of Full Article…

The Beer Trials: a sneak preview

Here’s a sneak preview of The Beer Trials, which I co-authored with Seamus Campbell. The preview (in PDF format) includes a press release, the preface, our list of beer ratings, and a few reviews from the book. The book, due out on April 15 from Fearless Critic Media (distributed by Workman Publishing), rates and reviews 250 Full Article…

Do you think the Spanish and Italians are drinking wine? They’re really drinking beer

The wine cultures of Spain and Italy are idealized. But much of the time, in real-life situations, their populations—whether it’s old men guzzling at midday or twentysomethings at night—actually favor beer. Wine is still the thing to accompany a family dinner or elaborate restaurant meal in southern Europe, which is why their per-capita wine consumption Full Article…

Have we all been pouring bottled beer wrong? How to pour beer…

Randy Mosher, one of America’s leading experts on the topic, thinks so. Randy’s new book, Tasting Beer: An Insider’s Guide to the World’s Best Drink, was recently published by Storey, which shares a publishing umbrella (Workman) with my own Fearless Critic Media. It’s an excellent book, totally accessible yet technical enough to take readers into some Full Article…