Last week, when I first served as your designated driver through the beer blogosphere, the first comment I received was from Alexander Mitchell.

Mitchell pointed out a deficiency in our blogroll. We neither listed his blog, Beer in Baltimore, nor distinguished the blogs (like this one) that are members of the Chesapeake Region Alliance of Beer Blogs, or CRABB. He was right, of course. It was an egregious oversight, one that we quickly corrected.

Mitchell, I discovered, is a very interesting guy. He is a railroad writer, photographer and historian who also writes a column for the Mid-Atlantic Brewing News, which he describes as a "bi-monthly brewspaper."

He launched his blog a little over a year ago with a post on Max's annual Belgian Beer Festival. Since then, his blog has been a wonderfully rich compendium of information on other beer events throughout the region, brew reviews (check out "Nirvana in a Glass"), tavern overviews (here's a recent one on Taverna Corvino in Federal Hill) and news on important beer-related issues.

In an e-mail exchange with Mitchell last week, I asked him what's his favorite beer. Silly me. That's like asking a parent to name a favorite child. He responded, "There's a universe of great beers out there, a huge number of which I've never had, and there's almost always a terrific, life-altering beer hiding in the next beer bar or brewpub. Furthermore, there's never any telling what mood I'm in, or what I'm hungering and thirsting for. Right at the moment, for example, I'm hankering for a good Greek gyro, hold the onions, and let's see, what beer would go well with that? Maybe a nice ESB or a crisp, snappy pale ale like Uinta Wildfire. Get me late at night on a cold night, and I may want a barleywine or old ale, or a strong Scottish. Throw me in Max's, and I'll be skimming the list for any draft I've not had before. Lacking that, I've been known to tell them to pour me a beer "blind" and let me see if I can pick it out of the 70-some drafts."

Unfortunately, and ironically, Mitchell is unable to imbibe any of the above at this time. I'll point you again to his blog for the reason why. But even though he's not drinking at the moment, he continues to write about issues important to all us other beer sippers in Baltimore. Do yourself a favor and give him a look.

And, if there are other beer blogs you think we should check out for future posts, add a link in a comment below.