Cicerone in My Class — I was attending a several weeks-long out-of-town training courses for my job — staying in an extended-stay hotel with other class members. The hotel had a happy hour each evening, serving different beers from local breweries. That was a great venue in which to learn more about my classmates. Even better, it turned out that one of them (a great raconteur, by the way) was a Certified Cicerone (basically a beer sommelier). Some of us thought he was putting us on, but he went home one weekend and brought back some of his own brews (which were fantastic). That led to wonderful discussions about beer, including, for the nerdiest of us, delving into the complex chemistry involved in brewing. That classmate is now retired, but we remain in touch periodically. He’s living his dream, having opened his own brew pub! Visiting him there is on my retirement bucket list!
