Today I knew the transformation was complete. I was passing a magazine rack where an open book caught my eye. A story about the thrills of drink splashed its colors across the page, demonstrating the rush of a champagne bottle on the pop.

For a novice beer judge, the first morning of judging can be an intimidating affair.

Add the eloquence and knowledge of British-born Michael Jackson, the World-class authority on beer and whiskey, and the British Isles breathe with life, “where the patter flows nonstop.”

Airport security was unusually tight. Under watchful eyes, laptop owners removed battery compartments and disconnected PCMCIA cards, while the contents in their backpacks were carefully scrutinized. Tourists endured frisking at random, and the air was abuzz with confusion.

Women who love beer are still in the quiet minority. These roots are silently growing, however, spreading out like magma beneath a dormant volcano, ready to explode in a climax that will draw other women to beer as quickly as they were drawn to wine two decades ago.

So what does a craft beer enthusiast do when they discover a forgotten, half-used case of macro-brew in the back of their garage?

To a brewer and a restaurateur, magical pairings between drink and food is the key to magnifique. When Brewmaster Tomme Arthur of Port Brewing/The Lost Abbey in San Marcos, California, merges his talent with Tom Peters, co-owner of Monk’s Café in Philadelphia, the earth moves.

The porch boards are slightly worn, with knotholes big enough to suck a teacup Yorkie into the bowels of hell. As the warm weather begins to wane, impatient winds moan through the grand oaks like a somber hymn, mourning those buried at nearby Glen Spey Cemetery.

Imagine what it must have been like during Prohibition. Crazy and romantic, in its own way. Little shabby restaurants in brownstone houses…whisper the name of a mutual friend through the crack in the door, and the whiskey world would open to you. Or maybe you would drink beer.

Every year during Mardi Gras, the Queen of the Mississippi rises to the grandeur that has become the signature of the South. In the spirit that surrounds the city, Crescent City Brewhouse in the Vieux Carre, blends Old World traditions with nouvelle class and style.