When did you first become interested in beer? (When was your first taste? How was the experience?)
I tasted my first mass-market beer when I was 12 -- I thought it was pretty disgusting! When I was in my late teens (it was legal in those days), I started drinking Guinness, which was the first real beer I ever had. I became actually interested in beer when I moved to England in 1983. It's in England that I really fell in love with beer.

What brought you into the brewing business?
The experience of moving back to the United States after more than a year in Europe. I'd had great beers in England, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and Czechoslovakia. When I got back here, the American beer tasted like dank, fizzy water to me. So I started brewing at home in order to have real beer again. I went to apprentice at The Manhattan Brewing Company in 1989 and that started my brewing career.

Do you have a favorite varietal or region?
No, I have fairly broad tastes. The beer that you want on a fishing boat is never the same one you'll want in front of a fireplace. That said, when it comes to variety, complexity and finesse, it's hard to beat Belgium.

If you don't order beer at a restaurant or bar, which beverage do you choose?
I can get fairly geeky about wine and cocktails. A lot of my friends own or manage wine shops, and I spend at least two weeks a year in Italy. Many of my other friends are mixologists. So, while I wouldn't necessarily call myself and "equal opportunity imbiber", I'm at least well-rounded. I also enjoy sake, though most of my knowledge is confined to a few styles. There is a lot to know about sake.

What's your least favorite drink?
I never drink vodka ("flavorless" does not strike me as a good quality in a drink). And I think Red Bull is almost unbelievably nasty. Its popularity is a mystery to me.

What's your best beer-drinking memory? What was the occasion?
Those are way too numerous to choose one. We spend many of the best moments of our lives around a table. Many of mine have been spent in the company of friends, family and great beer.

In your opinion, which country makes the best beer? Why?
That's also impossible to say -- it's like asking "which country makes the best music"? Just as music has classical, jazz, rock music, blues, hip-hop and more, beer also contains multitudes. Earlier I said that Belgium is hard to beat for finesse and complexity, but the Germans brew lager beer styles better than anyone else. The British make beers of wonderful subtlety. And American craft brewers make everything. You can argue about whether Americans make the best beer in the world, but I do think that we now have the most exciting beer culture on the planet.

What are your thoughts on recent trends within the industry?
Everyone is starting to realize that craft beer is not a fad or trend. It continues to grow rapidly and is clearly here to stay. The craft beer revolution is actually a return to normality -- we're getting our beer culture back after decades in an industrial beer wilderness. The same thing is happening with cheese, bread, and many other artisanal foods. Craft beer, which was once exotic, is now normal, just like sushi. And, not surprisingly, beer and food pairing is taking off.

What is the first thing someone learning about beer should know?
That beer has a far broader range of flavor than any other drink. Wine doesn't even come close. Beer can taste powerfully of coffee, caramel, bananas, cloves, smoke, chocolate, flowers, oranges -- just about anything. It's the most versatile beverage there is.

What are some of your favorite food and beer pairings?
Well, I wrote a 372-page book on that subject, The Brewmaster's Table! So that's an impossible one to answer. But I do particularly love beer and cheese tastings, especially when I get to compete with sommeliers and their wines. Beer always wins. Also, Americans eat a lot of foods where beer is clearly best. Off the top of my head I'm thinking of Japanese food (beer is much more popular in Japan than sake is), Chinese, Thai, Mexican, Indian, barbecue -- the list is pretty long.

Do you think any rules should be adhered to when pairing?
The first rule is balance. Don't overwhelm your food with a beer that's too big for it, and vice versa. After this, you look for the pleasant harmonies and/or contrasts between the flavors of the beer and flavors of the food. Unlike wine, beer can have many flavors of caramel and roast -- these are among the most important flavors in food. Beer can be excellent at harmonizing with the flavors in a wide variety of foods.

Are there any benefits to drinking beer?
Even the official FDA guidelines for healthy living point out that having a drink or two every day is better for you than not having any drinks at all. That's a fact, and every study bears it out. In Germany, doctors often prescribe Bavarian wheat beer, which still contains brewers' yeast. It's packed with B vitamins, as are many unfiltered beers. You shouldn't overindulge in any food, but real beer is a great part of a healthy diet.

What beer should no home be without?
Well, I'm quite tempted to say "Brooklyn Lager"! But seriously, you do want something versatile. I think amber lagers, with snappy bitterness balanced against caramelized sweetness, are probably the beers that we ought to have in the fridge all the time.

Do you have any favorite beer gadgets? Are there any new ones on the market? If so, what are they and where can people get them?
I'm afraid that my only beer gadget is a really nice glass!

What are your three best tips, tricks or techniques for beer lovers?
a. Try new beers and find ones that fit your tastes. Many of the best beers in the world cost less than a fancy cup of coffee.
b. Try pairing beers with your favorite dishes at home. You'll find some great pairings that will really surprise you.
c. Many people think they don't like beer. When these people come to beer tastings, they almost always find out that they were wrong. They thought they didn't like beer because they were drinking industrial beer. If you ate industrial bread or industrial cheese, you might think you didn't like bread or cheese either.

What type of beer is good for each season?
A very broad question, but you'll do nicely with wheat beers in summer, abbey ales in the autumn, rich brown ales and stouts in winter, and Belgian farmhouse ales in the spring.

What are the required ingredients for a good beer?
Barley malt, hops, yeast and water. There can be other good ingredients, but you can do a lot with just these four.

Do you think attitudes towards beer are changing?
Absolutely. As flavorful craft beers gain a larger share of the market, even great restaurants are paying attention to what beer has to offer. If you go to Gramercy Tavern one of NYC's finest restaurants, you'll see not only a great beer list, but even a vintage beer list. And in September, we hosted a beer dinner at Thomas Keller's Per Se, which sits at the pinnacle of American dining. That said, the average American can afford to have these beers at home whenever they like. That's a minor miracle.