Posted By: Stevie Caldarola

Melissa Ward knows the exact day she fell in love with craft beer: May 19, 2007. When Iron Hill Brewery’s Cherry Wheat hit her tastebuds at the Brandywine Valley Craft Brewers Festival, she knew she wanted more. A year later, she and her then-boyfriend, now-husband Ray brewed their first homebrew—an ESB—and launched their homebrewing blog; there was no looking back.

Together, Melissa and Ray write recipes that stretch the conventions of style and ignite the imagination, all the while maintaining a relaxed attitude about homebrewing (even when they don’t hit the final gravity reading they were shooting for). When Melissa isn’t busy with her day job as a magazine editor, she can be found haunting her favorite Philly and South Jersey brewpubs, or simply wandering the aisles of her local liquor store, looking for a new release or two (or five, c’mon, let’s be honest here).

Melissa blogs at Bathtub Brewery and MelBee Says, and can be found tweeting away as @melomel.