Hi, thanks for stopping by. I am a syndicated Newspaper Columnist with the Bay Area News Group and a freelance Beer Writer living in the San Francisco Bay Area, in Sonoma County, California. I've been covering the beer industry for over thirty years.

I've also been judging beer competitions for decades, and have done so on every continent (every one save Antarctica), including the Great American Beer Festival, the World Beer Cup, the Belgian Beer Challenge, GBBF and many others. I co-founded San Francisco Beer Week, and also the North American Guild of Beer Writers, where I serve as its current president.

I wrote my first beer book in 1992, and have written several others, including contributing to many beer books, such as the Oxford Companion to Beer, 1,001 Beers To Try Before You Die, and the Pocket Guide to Beer. I created and taught a beer course at Sonoma State University, and have appeared on radio, television, and film talking about beer.

I'm currently working on several projects, including a coffee table book on brewery hoses, a collection of beer quotations, and a comprehensive guide to frites, tentatively titled "The World Atlas of Fries" (using my experience in beer judging to create a consumer standards to judge the quality of fries).

I accept samples of beer and hard cider for review, just drop me a note with your contact info and I'll confirm a good shipping address.

You can click the "contact me" button above to email me. I will happily consider any freelance work, offers to judge in competitions, and/or speak at your event. You can also reach me through any of the social links below.