Craft beer advocate Patrick Daniel Adams

Patrick Daniels is the beer program director at McNulty's Bier Markt and Bar Cento in Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood. A level-one beer cicerone and craft-beer advocate, Daniels hosts many beer-related events, including dinners, tastings and talks. He and his staff serve local, seasonal dishes that pair with an ever rotating beer list. A student of beer, Daniels spends his off time searching for that next great brew. In honor of Cleveland Beer Week, which runs through Saturday, PDQ's Michael Heaton spoke with Daniels about all things cold and sudsy in Northeast Ohio this week.
Beer Brewing
Do you have a brother named Jack?
I do have a brother, but his name is Phil.
Isn't every day in Cleveland Beer Week?
I think so, although I'm around beer every day, for business and pleasure (often overlapping). As for Northeast Ohioans, there is no other week of the year where they can find such a great concentration of beer-centric events and breweries from around the world coming to showcase their brews. For the beer lover in all of us, this is the time to get out and discover great beer.
You are a level one cicerone. Is that like having a black belt in beer making?
Not quite. The cicerone program is similar in structure to the sommelier program for wine. The program offers three levels of certifications, starting with basic information and increasing to complex and more demanding knowledge about beer. This program includes aspects of beer making but also will test one's understanding of beer service, history, styles, flavors and pairing beer with food.
How does a person become one?
Cicerone.org will have information on test dates, prices, suggested reading, etc.

Do you remember your first beer?
Ha, I do, it was Moosehead Canadian Lager. Of course, I don't remember the details of that day, but I'm sure I acquired the bottle in a similar way to most curious teenagers. For me, though, first beer and first real, gateway beer are two different things. I remember convincing my mother in the grocery store that buying me that one large format bottle of Delirium Tremens (a Belgian strong golden ale of 8.5 percent ABV) was simply research and educational. Bold move for a 17-year-old, but it was the truth. I wasn't in need of a buzz. I was searching for a heightened flavor experience through beer. I was locked in that night, enjoyed the eye-opening bottle, and the rest is history.

What are you most proud of about the local beer scene?
I'm thrilled to be working in a growing and thriving beer culture. I'm proud to offer so many beers from around the world right in Ohio City at Bier Markt and Cleveland brews from Market Garden Brewery. It's a full-circle feeling when beer brewed 3,000 miles away is offered next to beers made by us right in Cleveland. It's great to see people move away from mainstream beers to brewpubs offering fresh, local beers of different complexities and styles.

Do you ever knock back a can of light beer?
I did once. Joking. If I'm offered a beer, light or bright, I'll usually gratefully drink it.
Have you ever met a beer you didn't like?
Well sure. In the same manner that we all sometimes come across meals we don't care for. I've even had beers I knew would be bad or intentionally spiked them with off-flavor chemicals that mimic flavor faults sometimes found in beer. This is how we learn and train our palates.
What are the top three commandments of drinking beer?
For me: Have fun, savor the flavor, and branch out.
Brewing equipment
Have you seen the movie "Beer Fest"?
Yes. . . . I don't recommend trying to drink your way out of a fermenter after falling in, but there is something to be said about all the world's countries coming together for the love of beer.
If you were on a desert island and you only bring one beer, what would it be?
I would say a large-format Saison Dupont, classic Belgian thirst quencher. Plus, 750 milliliter bottle -- more beer. Unless a keg and party pump counts as one beer.
What is the most overrated mainstream beer in the world?
The 'light' offerings of Bud, Miller and Coors. Those billions of marketing dollars should be used for better brewing ingredients and products. Hot chicks shouldn't sell beer; good beer should sell beer.

Where can people find out about beer-week events?
Clevelandbeerweek.org will have the information to guide beer lovers through a weeklong Cleveland beer party, with events going on through Saturday.
What's your favorite event this week?
Culture Yourself. I love cheese almost as much as beer, and this event shows these two fermented products are perfect together. Market Garden Brewery will be hosting 12 breweries and 30 artisanal, locally produced cheeses. This will require the next day off work.
Will you be fighting any other cicerones in a death cage match?
Ya know, I can't see that ever happening. Cicerones, sommeliers and chefs are all here as guides. Beer vs. wine dinners and chefs pitted against other chefs is all good fun, but we still have dedicated ourselves to educating and enlightening to some degree. For me, I view meeting fellow beer lovers and brewers as learning and teaching opportunities. Doing this alone would break my first beer commandment: Have fun. Beer is a sociable drink.