Overzealous beer geekery: "back to basics"?

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by Dennoman, Jan 13, 2013.

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  1. brewbetter

    brewbetter Initiate (0) Jun 2, 2012 Nauru

    I have too much non-whale beer. I'm not going fast enough. All of you guys have slayed all the whales out there and now the oceans are left dry for us n00bs. :slight_smile:
     
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  2. Svendozen

    Svendozen Initiate (0) Dec 3, 2012 New Hampshire

    My wife bought me a subscription to a monthly beer club. And to be honest I was thinking "I wonder what kind of crap these guys will send me". But after thinking about it, I'm going to use it as an opportunity to try something I would have normally overlooked. Who knows...maybe I'll get something from some struggling brewer who's destined to be the next big thing. I remember being at a small brew fest in Claremont New Hampshire and went to a Smuttynose booth and raised to my lips a small cup of Old Brown Dog Ale...and it was like a revelation heheh. Thats some exceptional stuff! And their Finest Kind Ipa? Wow.
     
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  3. danedelman

    danedelman Initiate (0) Apr 3, 2011 Pennsylvania

    The best come from the ones least expected!! The worst come from the ones most anticipated.

    My fortune cookie tonight could not be more correct
     
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  4. wesbray

    wesbray Initiate (0) Feb 29, 2012 Canada (AB)

    I changed my mind from an overpriced Belgian to a beer from Del Ducato and Black Butte Porter.
     
  5. LeRose

    LeRose Grand Pooh-Bah (3,509) Nov 24, 2011 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I am a relative noob when it comes to taking beer seriously, but have been drinking craft for quite some time. To me, everything is a new experience as far as paying attention to what I am tasting rather than just drinking beer. I read some of the weird ass threads and I am amazed at a lot of the content. There is just so much out there to experience for me that I can't imagine being focused on finding a relative few beers. It is very difficult not getting caught up in the hype and run out to find some brew I just read about...trying to stick to my slow steady approach. I see prices being paid, the gray market, eBay, stores jacking up prices and I am amazed, but not totally surprised. The guy that bought the case of whatever and is afraid to drink it? Yes...I've asked about aging a few things, but not because I don't want to drink it. I can understand the appeal of enjoying something ultra rare and I do hope to experience that myself some day, but i am not driven to look for the rare.

    Dogfish was the first brewer I really explored. Then Victory and Boulevard. Founders has been a revelation for me. Jacks Abby right up the road knocks my socks off. I was shocked that I actually enjoyed Ruination. I still enjoy Spotted Cow when i am in Wisconsin and yes I like Blue Moon, but my first Brown Shugga today was great stuff. I think if I was focused on one style or seeking out certain beers, I wouldn't enjoy it nearly as much. I am willing to try anything, but not spend my time seeking specifics. Will I miss out on things? Sure, but there is plenty to choose from.

    Started doing reviews and back filled a bunch from my notebook in the past six months. It isn't a race to me. I drink the beer rather than just taste it, I write stuff down, and do the best I can. I don't like everything, but I try and be fair and respect the product. Run across something I don't understand, I will ask about it. Part of the fun for me is hitting the bottle shop with zero plan and just buying on impulse.

    I work in research and development in the food industry, so I understand pushing boundaries, but I think that goes too far sometimes. How many threads have there been lately about "is my palate ruined"? I love hot sauces...love them...but if I can't use a hot sauce to elevate the food flavor other than blow your head off hot, I am not interested. How much hops is too much? Does everything really need to be barrel aged?

    So yes...I think it can get crazy, no doubt.
     
  6. beerjerk666

    beerjerk666 Grand Pooh-Bah (5,081) Aug 22, 2010 Florida
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I don't try new beers for the badge on Untappd or worrying about "ticking" either.
    Don't we want to try as many different styles and variations of those styles from as many different brewers as possible and discussing them with other BA's? That is what it's about, isn't it?
     
  7. beerjerk666

    beerjerk666 Grand Pooh-Bah (5,081) Aug 22, 2010 Florida
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Amen, brother!
     
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  8. ColinStClaire

    ColinStClaire Initiate (0) Jul 31, 2012 Washington

    Yes, I do. There have been times when I have spent way too much money just to have some special or rare beers. While most of them were delicious, having expectations about them weakened the experience for me. Ultimately, drinking beer for me is about the pleasure of the taste and feeling, and mostly about sitting down with some friends and having a well crafted brew. Good beer is ridiculously easy to find for me, so why bother spend so much time, money and energy on some super hyped beer when something local and delicious is half the price and readily available? Not that I won't ever buy whales, but it doesn't need to be a focus.
     
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  9. beerjerk666

    beerjerk666 Grand Pooh-Bah (5,081) Aug 22, 2010 Florida
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    This whole thread has me thinking that 2013 should be the year of buying blind...?
     
  10. wesbray

    wesbray Initiate (0) Feb 29, 2012 Canada (AB)

    Or letting the missus pick...




    ...maybe not.
     
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  11. DelMontiac

    DelMontiac Initiate (0) Oct 22, 2010 Oklahoma

    I just like beer treking. Big or small. Rare or common.
     
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  12. LeRose

    LeRose Grand Pooh-Bah (3,509) Nov 24, 2011 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    She who must be obeyed picks her own beers! I have given up trying to figure out what she likes. She likes wittes, but SN Ovila Quad she loved. Not too hoppy, not too high in ABV, a little sweet usually, but then she liked Vampire Slayer and drank half my Hoponius Union...go figure. Totally random.
     
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  13. Svendozen

    Svendozen Initiate (0) Dec 3, 2012 New Hampshire

    One of my favorite beer memories is of a friend and me driving 40 miles in the snow on our first venture into craft beers. We bought some really random brews that upon the return to my house we found to be totally foul. I mean some were just terrible! But my wife came home to find us in an inebriated state, laughing at our own inexperience. But...it was the best time I had in a while. That's all this is about, isn't? For me sharing the experience is probably 50% the of fun. Good beer or bad, whales or not.
     
  14. Brunite

    Brunite Initiate (0) Sep 21, 2009 Illinois

    Nice post by the OP.

    IMHO....whale chasing is for 20-somethings, noobs, and hipsters. I decided pretty early on in my craft career to not waste too much time or money chasing down beers that would have a 50% chance to disappoint, 100% chance of being overpriced, 95% chance of never having again, and 90% chance of finding something just as/almost as good readily available on the shelf for anytime purchase. My philosophy: Find 1-2 great beers in each of 20-30 styles that you enjoy, are easily obtainable, and are reasonably priced. Add in a few favorite seasonals that I grab IF/WHEN they are seen on the shelf. If I catch some BCBS for 16.00/4 or some Cantillon sitting around....I'll grab it. Otherwise....I stick with my rotation stuff. Makes my beer life easy and stress free....which should be the point after all!
     
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  15. Svendozen

    Svendozen Initiate (0) Dec 3, 2012 New Hampshire

    I know a little off subject, but about that beer fest. At the gate you paid your money and they gave you tickets to redeem inside for a beer. My buddy and I are walking around trying to decide which booth we were going to try first...we get in line, I take my tickets out and my buddy says "where did you get the raffle tickets?". He was totally oblivious to the fact that you had to buy the beer with tickets. So not thinking they would ever believe him that he "didn't get any tickets" I gave him half of mine. We found that half the venders weren't even taking them. At the Smuttynose booth the girl was drinking one glass for every three she was pouring! We had a good time. I enjoy sharing with my friends. And in another 20 years we'll still be laughing about it, and I'll still tease him about the raffle tickets. Hell with the whales. They might have drank and enjoyed them, but did they experience them?
     
  16. mychalg9

    mychalg9 Pooh-Bah (2,061) Apr 8, 2010 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Totally agree. I almost never drink lagers at all and just the other day picked up a single Scrimshaw Pilsner and it almost single-handedly reversed my entire mindset on buying ever-increasingly big beers. Not that it was so "spectacular", just that it reminded me that quality beer-craftsmanship is quality beer-craftsmanship, no matter the style.
     
  17. Rutager

    Rutager Initiate (0) Oct 18, 2010 Canada (BC)

    Do what makes you happy and try not to worry about what others do. There's no right way to enjoy beer. You don't enjoy beer better than anyone, no matter how smart or enlightend you may think you are.
    (Not directed at the OP)
     
  18. UCLABrewN84

    UCLABrewN84 Initiate (0) Mar 18, 2010 California

    The majority of the beer I drink is "basic" shelf beer. It gives me a good opportunity to sample a lot of good and bad beer and understand my likes and dislikes.
     
  19. SStein

    SStein Initiate (0) Dec 26, 2012 Colorado

    I never got into whale hunting. If I can find a hard to find beer, I will pick it up but I am not into hunting them out. I have always been about trying new beers: some will be good, some will be bad, some in-between. I would rather drink a bad beer with a buddy, then have a whale to myself. Drinking beer is a social act. Sometimes it may be just sharing a beer I found with my wife or a buddy, other times it is sharing a random discussion at a bar. Beer should be an experience not just a tick mark.
     
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  20. tjensen3618

    tjensen3618 Savant (1,225) Mar 23, 2008 California

    I only buy off the shelf beers and buy whatever is at the store at the time i happen to be there... oh wait,
    my store just posted they got a case of Stone Enjoy by in, gotta run...
     
    Rutager likes this.
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