Who is this guy and what is this all about?

The pages on this site were prepared by Jim Hodge, a homebrewer, BJCP-certified beer judge, and a relatively minor light on the Board of Directors of the Chicago Beer Society. Most of the travel articles on this site were originally written for the Chicago Beer Society newsletter. Some actually appeared in said newsletter, others make their first public appearance here. The opinions expressed here are the author's. He recognizes that your opinions may differ from his and advises that, if that is the case, this issue is best addressed by getting your own web site.

Outside of his beer-related activities, the Humble Author is a credible fisherman, a motorcycle enthusiast, a voracious reader and book aficionado, a fledgling HVAC technician/installer, and a Ph.D.-credentialed ceramist. He variously uses these latter three pursuits to pay his bills. He currently lives with the woman he travels with (referred to in many of his travel stories) and a somewhat fluid collection of feline pets in Lincolnwood, Illinois where he is visited on occasion by his two daughters currently living in Salt Lake City with his ex.

The Humble Author and his aforementioned daughters are shown contemplating the downtown Chicago street scene. For those readers with low resolution monitors, the author is appropriately attired in a New Glarus Brewery t-shirt which bears the logo, "Life's Too Short to Drink Cheap Beer". His oldest daughter, April, a recently graduated high school salutatorian is on his left (your right) and his youngest, Rachel, on whom the Humble Author relies for all of his movie intelligence and recommendations, appears on his right (your left).