All About Beer

Now THAT's what I call a fun photo shoot. 

I know a lot of food photographers don't like to branch out into the drinks world, but it's become one of my favorite things to do. I love solving puzzles, which is what so many of these drinks shoots end up being — adding and subtracting light to control reflections while illuminating the beverage, performing styling magic to ensure a perfectly frosted or water-beaded glass that'll last for hours, or simply playing around to get the head on a beer looking just right. That last one took us a little while for this All About Beer cover shoot, but once Jeff, the creative director, and I nailed it, the heavens parted and the angels sang. (Or at least that's what it felt like.)

The part of this day that stands out most in my mind is a delicious little sense memory caused by a mistake I made. To revive the head, I stirred a touch too vigorously with a wooden chopstick and the glass overflowed onto the honeycomb and all over the marble surface. The smell of beer and honey flooded the room and I'm pretty sure Jeff and I both audibly groaned (and possibly salivated). Those scents were just made to go together. If you'd like to sample the goods, the beer is High Five, a hopped honey ale by The Pike Brewing Company. And if you do, let me know what you think — I didn't try the beer because I was doing Whole30 at the time!

So pick up a copy — it's on stands now. As I get older and one glass of red wine leaves me with a hangover, I'm turning to beer more and more often. I look forward to reading this issue and finding new beers to love!