Converting your kids to craft beer

I'm 28 and when I was in college, I drank my fair share of macro crap at the bars, keggers and house parties. But at home, I would usually have something craft or import. If I was feeling richer out at the bars, I would get a Summit EPA. I was somewhat into craft even before I was 21. I realize I may be an exception, but right after I got my first job after college, it was always craft for me. Took a year or so until the bug really hit me and I started exploring different styles, buying mix six packs and really honing my palate. Then from there I got a bottle of 2009 Darkness, actually signed up as a member of BA (instead of just being a guest for a few years) and the rest is history.

 

I converted my dad to craft brew. He converted me to small batch bourbon. Nice trade.

Whenever we go on our annual father/son trip to wherever, the cooler's stocked with good beer and a good bottle of bourbon is not that far away.

 

People drink craft beer when they can afford to drink craft beer. 9 out of 10 times it comes down to cash.

 

My son is 13 and doesn't really drink BUT he is the VP of operations for my home brewery. Every brew day he's there with me as I explain the science of making beer. The wonder of yeast.

His job is to keep boil overs from happening, he's in charge of hop additions and some sanitation. He loves it.

 

im a big supporter of the theory that "Kids will drink what their parents drank when they grew up" Myself much like i am sure alot of you had Fathers who were BMC drinkers, and like alot of people you drank what he did. Introduce a higher quality product into your fridge and their is a better chance that your child will drink a higher quality products...maybe not as often due to cash flow...

 

It might make my daughter's dance recitals more entertaining.

 

I try to set a good example for my son.

 

My girls like to give me "cheers" while they're holding their milk glasses. They are certainly milk tickers: whole, 2%, 1%, skim, soy, chocolate, organic, etc.

 

As he's holding a beer in your avi?

 

Start em young. Mix a little Abyss in with their formula. The earlier you start developing the palate the more refined it can become.

 

my 4 year old has requested that his chocolate cheerio-style cereal is served with BCBS instead of milk. Does that count?

 

My parents didn't drink anything and here I am on a beer website as a fully functioning alcoholic! But seriously, I tend to agree. I don't have kids but when I do they won't even know that shit beer exists.

 

You can still get hammered with good beer! And it isn't even that much more expensive (unless you're buying whales) once you factor in ABV.

I think it depends on the person and what they're looking for with beer. For many, beer is not important and that will never change. It's a tool to get drunk and that is it. I have some friends that enjoy good beer and many that could care less. Those that like good beer think nothing about having a beer with lunch or on a nightly basis. Those that don't pretty much only drink when they're trying to get drunk and think it's weird to just sit down and have a beer.

 

This can go the opposite direction too. I am 26 and my father has been a life long corona and bud drinker. In the past couple of years he has come along way... He is more interested in whiskey now.... I guess some people arent beer drinkers but atleast they arent on 2 buck chuck anymore!

 

We're immigrants, so we didn't have the notion that drinking with meals was 'wicked'. Good beer and wine was always present at our dinner table. Trouble was when my (now) 26 year old went to college, she would never touch the tasteless Bud/Coors/Miller stuff at the parties, so finally she would show up to them with her own stash of craft beer. Since then she has become a real beer connoisseur. At least I did something right!

 

As a (soon to be) graduate student, this thread actually makes me kind of jealous! My parents were never really into craft beer (they rarely drink any beer for that matter) and the rest of my family members, including my younger brother, generally buy macros most of the time only to occasionally "splurge" on craft beer (mostly pale ales). As a result I feel alone in my passion for good craft beer and hope that I can actually share it with my kids when I have a family of my own.

Sadly I think you are right, though I am kind of an anomalous case in my age group myself. I don't really go to parties and never really drank anything until I was 21 anyway. I tried one bottle of Miller Lite and went straight to craft afterwards, and have never looked back. Recently in a trip to an academic conference in San Francisco, I even stocked up on multiple bottles of RR sours the moment I had the chance since to I live in the Midwest. Nevertheless, my hobby has since bewildered most of my peers. For example, last week my university (UIUC) had a holiday called "unofficial" where most of the undergraduates get wasted for the entire day. My younger brother invited some friends over to our place for the event and most of the beer they bought was the typical macro stuff, and they would drink it straight out of the bottle. After a busy day, I got back home and poured a bottle of stout into a snifter. Everyone else was utterly bewildered at what I was drinking. One person asked "So you prefer dark beer?". Then I received an even more shocking question: "Why are you drinking that beer out of a wine glass?"

So I think some of it is ignorance, but I am also sure that price is a factor too. I do purchase beer regularly and as I mentioned above I am not always afraid to spend a lot whenever a relatively hard to find beer reaches my eyes. On the other hand, my brother always teases me for "wasting my money", even when I am just buying a standard $9 6-pack. To be fair, I do make some money as a research assistant but I also think that if my other fellow students had a similar philosophy to mine, they would be drinking more responsibly and wouldn't have trouble rationalizing a craft beer purchase more often. That's why I find it heartening to see some of the older BA's here trying to properly educate their young.

 

Future me will smack the future shit out of my future kids if I ever catch them drinking future BMC beer.

 

Dad?











lol.

 

I would be of the different percentage of that theory. My father grew up drinking busch, bud, bud light, molson ice, etc. After having my first Coors light, I was severely disappointed in beer. That was till I had DFH 90 Minute shortly thereafter and have loved every minute of it. My father even says "my son likes all those microbrews, I don't know where he got it from".

Needless to say, he doesn't drink my stock! hah

 

My son waters my hops, helps bottle my beer & sniffs every glass I pour. He's 2 1/2.

Start 'em early in the culture.