Apples, Pumpkins, and Stouts — Oh My!

I’m a big fan of Halloween. As a kid, I loved getting dressed up in a costume. Coming up with an idea, pulling together the various pieces and accouterments, occasionally teaming up with another fanatic — it was all great fun. And I not only relished what I looked like on the outside, but I also enjoyed playing the… Continue reading Apples, Pumpkins, and Stouts — Oh My!

Enjoying Beer ‘Week,’ One Bottle at a Time

If it’s true what Benjamin Franklin once purportedly observed, that “beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy,” then the heavens are certainly smiling down on my neck of the woods right now. For one thing, the city where I live and work is in the throes of the second-annual “Baltimore… Continue reading Enjoying Beer ‘Week,’ One Bottle at a Time

Six New Brews for an Easy Summer Evening

Summertime, and the living is easy. Or so the song goes. Nothing these days seems all that easy, that’s for sure. Not, at least, from what I can see, looking up from the bottom of my well. But things don’t have to be so hard this time of year, either. Take, for instance, the search… Continue reading Six New Brews for an Easy Summer Evening

Patriots of the Caribbean: Tasting Rum and Honoring America's True Spirit

Recently I have learned, from several sources, that rum may be the oldest and most American of beverages. Although the Pilgrims considered beer the drink of choice for their little “Gilligan’s Island” adventure — water apparently spoiled faster on board The Mayflower than did the alcohol-based drinks — the spirit that puts the “oh” in… Continue reading Patriots of the Caribbean: Tasting Rum and Honoring America's True Spirit