Heritage, Women's Beer Blog in the Making

For over ten years my partner, Mac, has tried to get me to start a beer blog, but the idea was daunting. In light of recent events, I have felt the need to have a creative outlet, so I have taken the first (of many) steps. I have been inspired to do this for a long time. Maybe I was even born to love and share the beauty of beer with others.

Many of my friends (including Mac,) and I have found common ground in beer. We frequented pubs and microbreweries, tasting beers and making a game of picking out all the subtle flavors. Over time, I developed my skills of tasting and identifying the bouquets (pun intended) of flavors and aromas in beers. This also led to me playing around with the pairing of beers and foods. I found this to be a sort of sport, trying to find the best beers and pairings for my friends.

I was raised with a strong sense of heritage on both sides of my family. On my mother’s side, there is a powerful Irish pride, which I gladly took on. On my father’s side, my grandparents were so proud of their Scottish heritage that our family crest and tartan could be seen in every room of their home, including in the kitchen, on the toaster cover. 

I loved hearing about my Irish and Scottish family history and in high school I would often research both just for fun. Almost every summer of my childhood included a trip to New Jersey where we visited my mother’s family. One summer my mother let me choose somewhere special to visit while on our trip. I chose Ellis Island, once again, relishing in my family history. However, it was this trip where the idea of who I was, was drastically changed. After being raised with fierce Irish and Scottish pride, I discovered that I was in fact quite a bit GERMAN! From both sides of my family, my German heritage was strong. I later recounted this to Mac. While I felt like I was raised living a lie, Mac sweetly pointed out how awesome it was that I came from nationalities strongly rooted in beer. I embraced this idea, I mean everyone loves a German-Irish-Scottish girl, right?