Simpsonized!
Besides being a member of the Buyer’s Guide Tasting Panel and a regular contributor to Wine Access, Canada’s most influential wine magazine, Craig Pinhey is wine writer for the New Brunswick Telegraph Journal, CBC Radio’s Friday Wine Guy, and also writes regular beverage columns for: New Brunswick’s weekly [here] newspaper, TAPS (Canada’s Beer Magazine), Halifax’s The Coast, East Coast Living and Progress magazine. He covers pop culture in his [here] column – Culture Schlock – and reviews restaurants (Fork It Over). He also has his monthly BruBlog up at Diningpick.com. He makes his living writing, teaching, designing wine lists, doing restaurant service training, and conducting educational tastings in the region’s restaurants.
He also judges at both of Canada’s National Wine Competitions, as well as the International Value Wine Awards, the Atlantic Wine Awards, The Moncton Wine Expo Awards and the Canadian Brewing Awards.
Craig was born in Halifax and grew up on the South Shore of Nova Scotia, in Head of St. Margaret’s Bay. He attended Dalhousie University and graduated with a B.Sc. in Math, then went to TUNS (now part of Dalhousie) where he graduated with a B.Eng. in Metallurgy, and M.A.Sc. in 1987.
He had his booze epiphany circa 1985 with his first pint of Ginger’s Best cask conditioned real ale at the original Ginger’s Tavern in Halifax.
Craig moved to Hamilton, Ontario to work, and immediately got heavily involved in the local craft beer scene, and homebrewing. He became a Certified Beer Judge, won a few amateur brewing awards, and got his first paid freelancing gig at the Great Lakes Brewing News. He also found himself increasingly attracted to the emerging Niagara wine industry.
After 10 years in the steel industry, Craig quit to move back east to New Brunswick to start a writing career.
Craig graduated as a Certified Sommelier in Halifax in 2000, finishing with the top marks in Canada in the Canadian (now International) Sommelier Guild program, and is now a member of the Atlantic Chapter of the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers, for which he also teaches. He lives in Rothesay, New Brunswick with his wife and daughter, and travels regularly in the region, and around the world, hunting for great food & drink, and stories. Craig loves all types of wine, beer and spirits, but is, in particular, a Riesling fanatic and a lover of English Real Ale.
