LAKE PLACID -- Brooklyn Brewery Brewmaster Garrett Oliver's interest in beer started during a year in England.

He told area restaurateurs at a special luncheon that he fell in love with cask-conditioned ale during his stay. Oliver returned to the United States in 1984 and was disappointed to find that nothing matched the complex flavors he'd experienced in England and Europe.

"There used to be more than 4,000 breweries in the United States. What happened to beer is the same thing that happened with American food."

He said the country is finally moving out of the period when supermarkets were like "The Matrix" of food, offering facsimiles of freshly produced goods. Those products can be rapidly produced with a long shelf life, Oliver said, but they lack flavor.

It was the same with beer, with only a few mass-market brands available. Oliver said he could no longer enjoy them since his time in Europe, so he began brewing beer at home.

He started as an apprentice at Manhattan Brewing Co. in 1989 and was appointed brewmaster there in 1993.

He became brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery in 1994, where several of his beers have won national and international awards.

"All over the world, beer is coming back," Oliver said, and the rise of American craft beers is huge.

Oliver is working to show people how well the many varieties work with a meal. He's conducted about 500 beer dinners in nine countries, extolling beer's ability to match almost any type of food.

He has been a judge at the Great American Beer Festival for 14 years and is often a judge at the Great British Beer Festival and the Brewing Industry International Awards.

Oliver is the author of "The Brewmaster's Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food," which received a 2004 International Association of Culinary Professionals Book Award.

He has made numerous television and radio appearances, including "Martha Stewart Living," "Bobby Flay's Food Nation" and "Emeril Live."

dheath@pressrepublican.com