For many working women, the decision to start a family is fraught with anxiety. Will I be physically incapacitated? Will nurturing a tiny, shrieking beast affect my ability to do my job? For a certain subset of us, that decision is made more complicated by one ineluctable fact: We built our careers around fetus poison,... View Article
My first encounter with homebrewed beer was an unusual one. It happened in 1982 when I was the Middle East correspondent for The Associated Press, based in Cairo, Egypt. I had moved to Cairo from Beirut in August 1981 after a couple of crazy years covering the wars in Lebanon, Iraq and Iran. No sooner... View Article
Have you ever had that moment when you smell the perfume or cologne of a long-lost love and you smile, just a little bit, to yourself as long-buried memories bubble to the surface? I think we’ve all experienced something like that because it’s a powerful thing is smell. Not only is it a primal link... View Article
Gary, would you like to talk to your father?” “Umm, sure.” An eternal moment passes as my father takes the phone to hear my voice for the first time. “Gary?” “Hey, Ed.” Pause. “How are ya, man?” Longer pause. “Good, Ed. How are you?” “Good. It’s nice to meet you.” Excruciatingly awkward pause. Finally, my... View Article
On the walk up Putney High Street, my toes turned to little frozen nubs. It was the first of many pub nights I’d share with two friends I made through our semester exchange program in London—Kayla from Oregon, a left-wing blonde with a lip ring, and Sissel, my hall-mate from Stockholm with old Hollywood curls.... View Article
I’m a lover of all good beers, but especially those Belgian. I’ve traveled extensively in Europe to Germany, the Czech Republic and throughout the Netherlands and Belgium on work-related trips before my retirement several years ago. One of my great loves is De Koninck beer made in Antwerp, Belgium. Expertly poured, this amber ale forms a... View Article
As I reflect on my journey into craft beer, I feel obligated to address the elephant in the room, the same pachyderm that many of us in the industry delicately tiptoe around in an effort to avoid being hip-deep in a pile of dung. My family has a long—sometimes colorful, sometimes bleak—history of alcoholism that... View Article
Growing up in a family with three Heisman Trophy winners and NFL running backs (John Cappelletti and, through marriage, Alan Ameche and Glenn Davis), I never had to go far for my football fix. Games, memorabilia, awards banquets—I was blessed to have intimate access to a sport I loved. But it wasn’t until I left... View Article
All beer lovers have their story. Mine began in an unlikely way, but looking back now it all makes sense. When I was young, my brother, Billy, had a beer can collection. I remember following him on my banana-seat bike (sans tassels ’cause that’s how I rolled) as he’d score collectibles in shopping mall parking... View Article
