Sactown Magazine's Best of the City (Special Issue)

While we're on Sactown's Best of the City issue (definitely go pick one up), we should point out that they ran a page on one of our absolute favorite non-wine people. Sactown Magazine makes him out as the "Best Guy to Trade Places With," implying that his job is all fun, but in actuality, Charles Bamforth is an Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Brewing Science, and the Department Chair of Food Science and Technology at the University of California, Davis. It may be fun to drink, but he's certainly serious about what he does. Bamforth is all about beer, and if you've never thought about beer in the terms usually reserved for wine, you should take a read through Bamforth's delightful book, Grape vs. Grain. If you've ever had the pleasure of hearing Bamforth speak, then you know he's incredibly intelligent and informative, but equally entertaining and approachable. His book reads in the same fashion, and like the best educators, Bamforth teaches a great deal while keeping you entirely interested in the subject. He has a unique gift - and, in spite of his promotion of beer, he has a great fondness for wine as well. How can you not like that?