In this episode, Advanced Cicerone® Cliff Mori and I discuss beer education as a business, the sophisticated beer scene in Asheville NC, and how restaurants and bars can easily differentiate themselves and improve sales through better beer education.

With so many choices, beer can be overwhelming. Ray Daniels created Cicerone.org to make sense of all the noise and facilitate a great drinking experience for those who seek something better.

My next guest is an American expatriate and professional writer who has since become the authority and unofficial ambassador between Eastern Europe and the U.S. for beer. We talk about why we should enjoy Czech beer and, why it matters.

CAMRA, or Campaign for Real Ale, began in 1971in response to industrial beer. Since then it has become one of the most successful consumer and political campaigns… ever.

With 1,000 plus breweries, France is on its way to becoming an influencer in world beer culture. Ninkasi Brewery in Lyon has become an American inspired, Belgian influenced French brewery in the heart of the gastronomic capital of France for two decades.

Barcelona is making its way into the world beer community due, in part, to the Barcelona Beer Festival, but especially to one of its organizers, beer writer Joan Villari-Martí.

My next guest is a young man caught between two countries who found adventure by becoming an accidental ambassador to the Netherlands for craft beer and, ironically, American BBQ.

My next guest literally wrote the book on the artful world of beer cocktails. He speaks to us about the 7 ways to use beer in drinks, and that boiler makers aren’t even the half of it.

Bitterness in beer is complex and poorly understood. Judging a beer’s bitterness by IBUs is similar to gauging one’s fitness level by looking at his weight on a scale. I discuss all of this with global expert and hop researcher, Dr. Tom Shellhammer.

What would you do if drinking one beer sent you to the hospital? In this episode of Good Beer Matters, we talk to a woman who endured this experience and ended up with a beer in her hand and a worldwide blog that helps others with similar problems.