Introductions are in order

So we've welcomed you to the place, but we forgot some vital info: Who are these guys?

As my creative handle makes clear, my name's Ryan, and as I alluded to in the first post, I'm a college student. More specifically, a senior at Penn State, smack dab in the middle of Pennsylvania -- not exactly a beer lover's haven, but we'll talk more about that another time. (SC is making big strides.)

My favorite beer? I probably haven't tasted it yet. I like a big, hopped-up monster of a beer, but I really respect when someone can brew a complex, tasty, low-alcohol session that intrigues the taste buds without overpowering. There's much to be said about subtlety. I also tend to lean domestic rather than imported. Decades ago America's cities boasted a bounty of small, local breweries producing palatable -- not great by any means -- beer. In 1910 there were nearly 1,600 active breweries dotting the American landscape. By 1980 that number dwindled to 82... only 82! That seven-decade span, buffeted by Prohibition, was nasty for American beer. But we've been saved from that calamity by a surge of American craft brewers making very good beer, so why not, as a way of saying thanks, support them?

Though I won't pin down a favorite, a few have piqued my interest more than most. A year ago, Phil brought a bottle of Hair of the Dog Brewery (Portland, Ore.) Blue Dot Double IPA, 7% abv., back to State College after Winter break. Citrusy, pineapply-deliciousness in a glass. Thing is, you can't get Blue Dot anywhere near Pa., which might actually be a good thing. Getting a taste of it only once a year, if that, adds to its hoppy mystique. Hopefully Phil's nice enough to keep supplying me with my yearly fix.

Well, that's enough for now. I'm really not that interesting. Beer, on the other hand, is.