About the Author

Food and beverage writer Kirk Richardson is on a quest in search of North America's best craft breweries. Pint in one hand and pen in the other, he's sampled some of the best beer on the planet, from luscious lagers to enticing IPAs and seductive stouts, while visiting with the brewmasters who made them. In the first of his four-book North American series, Craft Beer Country: In Search of the Best Craft Breweries from the South Pacific to the Pacific Coast, Kirk captures the best in the west, from the shores of Maui to beer-crazy cities like San Diego, Portland, and Seattle; to remote outposts in Port Townsend (WA) , Hood River (OR) , and Juneau (AK) . Although he is often on the road, Kirk's home base is in Oregon's picturesque Willamette Valley, where he lives wife Lisa, dog Tally, cats Louie and Daisy, and two refrigerators stocked with craft beer. He enjoys those ales and lagers with good backyard barbecue and other cuisine, unless he's off somewhere meeting old beer buddies and making new friends at breweries near and far. In his limited spare time, Kirk writes a Craft Beer Country Blog, his observations and reviews of brews, pubs, and places worth exploring.Q&A WITH KIRK RICHARDSON1. Craft Beer Country is more than just a guide to the best beers in the West. What was the experience of traveling for this book like? The journey was unforgettable. Although I had some experience with craft beer prior to writing the book as a magazine food and beverage writer, I wouldn't have called myself anything but a novice. The people I met along the way -- from the guy sitting next to me on a barstool, to knowledgeable servers, to brewers and brewery-preneurs -- taught me about their beers as we sampled them. We talked about the flavors and aromas and where those came from; we compared our perceptions of the textures. These "teachers" transformed me into one of their own -- a true beer geek. Even after tasting hundreds of beers, I'm still climbing the learning curve.2. Do you feel that the personality of the brewers shows in their beer? There personalities show up like the microbubbles on top of a well-crafted lager. You can't miss them! Reading Craft Beer Country, you get to know the brewers, some of the servers, and others in this rapidly-growing industry. Many of these people, like Sergeant Klint Sheets (owner of 3 Sheets in Albany, Oregon) , aren't known outside of their own hometown, but that doesn't mean that they don't have a good story to tell. As much as this book is about travel and the people in Craft Beer Country, it is also about the liquid masterpieces the brewers are creating using their technical skills.3. What do you hope readers will take away from Craft Beer Country and your take on the Craft Beer Boom and the industry as a whole? I'd love to hear that someone read the book and it inspired them to visit a brewery, meet the people behind the beer, and relax with a pint after a hard

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