Hello! I'm excited to be one of the beer bloggers for AnnArbor.com! I wanted to introduce myself and say hello.

Tragically, I never drank beer until I was in my early 20s. I can tell you the first time I drank beer; I was at a law school orientation event and someone handed me a can of Budweiser. Desperate to fit in (I was a stranger in a strange land ... lifelong Michiganian in Madison, Wisconsin), I accepted. I remember it tasted like liquid corn. But I drank it and I drank subsequent beers, though I never truly enjoyed them. (Similarly, I never enjoyed anything about the field of law, but that's another blog post!)

Fast forward 10 years. A brewpub opened up just a few minutes from my house. My husband and I went in and tried the pilsner...and it was love at first, er, drink. Since then, that brewpub closed, more have opened and we found a new drinking "home" in Ypsilanti. We've also brewed beers, gone on a beer trip and consumed pints and pints of beer, none of which even remotely tasted like liquid corn. (Although the Chips and Salsa beer did have corn chips in it...).

By profession, I am a special education teacher (visually impaired) of middle school students in the Detroit Public School system (it is NOT a long drive). I live in Ann Arbor with my husband and my very smart dog, Buddy Smith-Bletch. He is a good dog. I am also a lover of local food, cooking and baking, blogging (I also blog for ArborUpdate and Get Downtown), reading, hosting parties (born to be a hostess), and getting together with friends to generally just hang out and enjoy life.

I am not affiliated with any brewpub or any particular beer and I am not a professional beer judge. Through this blog, I will tell you about the beers that I drink, the events that I attend and the brewpubs that you might want to try.

I have a couple of blogs: Drink Beer, Think Beer (all about beer! go figure!) and A Good Life (mostly about food).

Thank you for reading! I look forward to getting to know folks! Please email me atTeacherPattiS (at) gmail (dot) com and say hello.

Until then, keep your belly up to the bar and keep reaching for the taps.

Me, during the beer trip that my husband and I took last year. I have no idea what it is that I am doing with my tongue