Pat Fahey

The Personal Trainer.

- Nora McGunnigle

Every office needs a designated grown-up, someone who won’t let anything subpar slide, a person who volunteers for the toughest tasks, and does so with good humor. At the Chicago based beer server certification program Cicerone, that role is occupied by content director Pat Fahey.

“It’s not something that the world sees,” says Cicerone’s founder and global director Ray Daniels, “but it’s something that we spend a lot of time making sure of—if we say something or put it in print, that it’s verifiable. We’re not making it up or repeating something that somebody else made up. That’s how a lot of the myths and misinformation get out there in the beer world.”

Correct and verifiable information is Cicerone’s stock in trade, since the organization is dedicated to educating, testing, and certifying beer industry professionals. As one of the authorities on beer and brewing information, Cicerone requires Fahey’s academic precision. His degree in organic chemistry, combined with a longtime love of beer and teaching, help him assemble and disseminate information with meticulous care.

“It doesn’t happen very often, but there have been instances when Pat’s held my feet to the fire about these things, and that obviously improves the overall content and the overall quality of what we do,” Daniels adds.