I love beer. I really do. I remember my first Rolling Rock in Taos, New Mexico, after the last ski run of my senior year Spring Break. Cool crisp and my very first. I didn’t really drink in High School, as I was “straight edge” and too cool to get wasted. But after I turned 18, I said, “That’s enough! Time to drink.” From that first Rolling Rock, up until about the year 2000, beer for me was a cool, wet beverage that gave me a nice buzz. Beer was the party beverage, while wine was the sophisticated drink. I studied wine, while I studied the bottom of beer bottles. Nothing new here, as most of you can relate, or at least a few of you.

However, around 2000-2001, I discovered beer in its true form, a beverage with historic roots, complicated ingredients and myriad flavors. It’s also when I discovered the beer site www.ratebeer.com. I still have over 500 beer ratings stored over there. You see what happened when I discovered Rate Beer was an awakening that few wine lovers will ever fully grasp. Beer and wine have more in common than most would expect. 99% of wine should be drunk tomorrow, and so should 99% of beer, but the best wines and best beers both age and transform into drinks that are worth the wait.

If I still lived in the US, Catavino, apart from being named something else, would be a beverage blog. Plain and simple. I love complex and beautiful flavors, and for me, …