It’s never boring with Melissa Cole. The first time we met remains a bit of a fever dream for me. We get into it in the first few minutes of this interview and, in character, Melissa manages to recall micro details of what we ate and drank that night six years ago. 

Melissa’s work is similarly colorful and a bit hard to characterize. She appears to have transcended the role of journalist and become somewhat of a presenter, as the Brits might say. She’s an accomplished author of several excellent books, a brewer of many collaboration beers, a widely respected international judge of beers, a frequent television guest offering both piercing and critical social commentary, related to beer, but also an accomplished speaker about food and tasting. 

Melissa is also a powerful advocate for classic styles, British beer excellence, but most importantly, for equality and calling out bad behavior by boorish breweries. Recently, she has been in the media quite a bit for her continuing criticism of BrewDog and its corporate culture and its treatment of workers and females. We’ll get into this subject in detail in the second part of our conversation next week.

But for this week, we discuss Melissa’s background, her books, and her secrets to pairing beer and food. 

We conducted this interview via Zoom and I spent most of the session with a huge smile on my face or laughing. Next week’s episode concluding our interview with Melissa will be a bit more serious. But for this week, let’s get to the first half of my conversation with the indefatigable Melissa Cole.  

For more information on the Beer Edge Podcast, follow us on Twitter @thebeeredge. And visit Beer Edge for more articles and engaging content.

Host: Andy Crouch
Guest: Melissa Cole
Sponsors: Lallemand