About me

Me at Utobeer in Borough Market, London

My name is Mary and I love craft beer. I am very fortunate to live in NYC and be able to attend beer events on a regular basis, meeting and speaking with brewers, reps and fellow beer geeks. I am the former president of the Malted Barley Appreciation Society, a group of craft beer lovers who meet at Mugs Ale House on the second Wednesday of each month to learn about craft beer while drinking good beer in good company. I also homebrew occasionally and belong to the New York City Homebrewers Guild. Two years ago, I attended BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) classes through the Guild and am now a Certified BJCP Judge. In the process of studying for the exam, I learned a lot and highly recommend taking classes and the exam through your local homebrew club.

Motivated by the lack of availability of craft beer compared to wine at finer restaurants, I’ve been studying the subtleties of pairing beer with food and formed a beer and food study group in New York which helped to inspire the formation of The New York City Degustation Advisory Team.  My business partner Chris Cuzme and I lead food pairing sessions twice a month at Jimmy’s No. 43 in the East Village in which we combine education of and appreciation for the complexities of the relationships between craft beer and food.

Last year I started traveling with a focus on beer – either planning trips around craft beer or fitting as many beer-related activities into a business/family/any-other-reason trip. I started this blog to share my love of craft beer with others and would like it to be a reference when planning a beer trip (or at least a place to start). I’ve got a lot to learn about the technical aspects of blogging, but am really excited to be writing about one of my favorite subjects.

And if you’re curious about how my love of craft beer came about, scroll down to page 21 of this Gotham Imbiber.