One thing I love is snacks. If I’m not eating, I’m thinking about how far away from snacks. Thus, doing a beer pairing with classic high tea finger sandwiches seemed like a natural idea.

The Belhaven Scottish Ale paired perfectly with the vegetarian version. The caramel maltiness tempered the heat from the spicy Italian Beyond sausage as well as highlighted the Maillard flavors from the deep frying. The herbal and earthy hop flavors highlighted the beer horseradish mustard I paired with the Scotch eggs.

I enjoyed Newcastle the best because it accented the earthiness of the tofu and basmati rice while highlighting the umami and acidity of the tomato-based sauce. The sweetness of the malt cut the spiciness from the chiles and spices to let the flavor really shine through and tamed the heat just enough that I was ready for another bite.

The virtue of whatever dish I'm making is that the individual ingredients taste good when you cook them into one dish - I'm not making toothpaste and orange juice casserole.

As an adult, some nights I spend my time looking over open enrollment paperwork, trying to decide which plan really feels like "me." Other nights I tell my husband not to fill up on dinner because we have seven different kinds of candy to pair with beer while we watch Stranger Things 2.

Let's get bananimated about esters! Why does some beer taste and smell like banana? That banana flavor and smell are caused by isoamyl acetate, an ester, which is the largest group of flavor compounds in alcoholic beverages. Esters are formed by the reaction of organic acids and alcohols created during fermentation.

"To-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another."

I held out on becoming a BJCP judge for a surprisingly long time for someone who is obsessed with getting points and advancing ranks. There are plenty of times, even for me, when I want to just. drink. a. beer. Not evaluate it.

"Meh" is not acceptable feedback for competitions. Or anywhere, really - stop leaving "Meh" as beer feedback, everyone

I was curious enough when I first wrote about the 45 Million-Year-Old beer that I contributed to its Indiegogo campaign and received my bottle a little before Christmas.

The brand I bought fell into the euphemistically-named subcategory of "supermarket sherry," so my suspicions about the quality of my sherry choice were confirmed.

Thanksgiving is a weird holiday – it’s basically like a dress rehearsal for how everyone is going to get along at Christmas. This year, why not shake things up a little by pairing beer with your Thanksgiving dinner?

A word of warning: as great as American craft beer is, I would buy the commercial examples listed in the BJCP Guidelines rather than buying an American craft version of a style because there is a high likelihood that an American craft beer that purports to be a style like an ESB is probably not going to be the best way to train your palate and brain to recognize the classic beer style.

Beyond the expense of the exam itself the other costs can up quickly. However, the good news is that if you don’t have a lot of cash to throw around, it’s still completely possible to have all the study materials you need for next to nothing.