…my life story.

They’ll write it at the New Old Lompoc. Same as I did.

Possibly the best beer I have ever had in America.

I have been going to the weekly presentations at Xerox Parc on and off for several years. This one - next Thursday - looks like the best one yet.

Brewing is the original biotechnology. For 6-8,000 years it has been a delight in the diet, resulting from a tremendously consistent process founded on intricate understanding of the underpinning science. It is an industry that informed all modern day fermentation processes. Beer looks good, it tastes good - and it does you good. This talk will explain all this and much more besides.

Charlie Bamforth, Ph.D., D.Sc. Professor of Malting & Brewing Sciences at the University of California

How come my Careers Advisor never told me that I could have been a Professor of Beer?

I had Spanish for lunch today with Jeff and we went with the paella negre. I was expecting something with a certain tinge of blackness but it turned out to be very black indeed. All afternoon I have had a variation of The Cheese Shop going around and around in my head.

Wensleydale : It’s a bit black, sir.
Mousebender: Oh, I like it black.
Wensleydale : Well as a matter of fact it’s very black, sir.

Fortunately, it was quite delicious and there were no bouzoukis playing. But, honestly, food should not be that colour.

The red beer with fruit floating in it was most excellent. Just the right amount of redness and fruit floating in it.

Lager shandies at 7 years old. Pints of lager by 12. At 16, I became a man and switched to bitter.

A little after that I had my first craft brew - Marsden’s Old Thumper - and never looked back. Trader Joe’s has just started stocking it…ah…takes me back…

Definitely makes my top 5.