Your least favorite thing about being a Beer Advocate?

Knowing that it's incurable. I got into the hobby of craft beer after I sat on a toilet seat, when at the time I had no interest in the market. Since then, I've been trying beers new to my palate and returning to others. There's no cure to craft beer addiction, and that to me is the biggest downside.

 

Honestly? My least favorite thing about being into craft was realizing that craft enthusiasts are just as closed minded as everyone else. I was naive. I came into craft beer because I loved the taste of craft beer. However, as I got into the craft beer world, I assumed fans of craft, because of their willingness to abandon certain norms, would be more open minded, tolerant and progressive than the average Joe. Not the case. I see the same racism, sexism and homophobia amongst beer geeks as I do everywhere else. That kind of stuff bothers me. Again, I was naive. This certainly doesn't stop me from enjoying craft. Nevertheless, it was a bit of a bummer when I realized it.

Now that I know and accept what the craft beer world is, my biggest gripe is the ridiculously exaggerated descriptions of beers. Be these descriptions by the brewers themselves, or by the drinkers, it all rubs me the wrong way. You know the type of thing I'm talking about, the descriptors that say stuff like, "This DIPA tastes like you jammed a mango tree up a cats' ass, a pine tree down its throat, and then distilled the cats urine. It'll strip not only the enamel from your teeth, but the skin from your flesh!" It seems as if the craft beer world can't understand tastes unless they are sensationalized. And don't get me started on the people that can taste bubblegum, tobacco, mint, soy sauce, lemon, and leather all in the same beer. Some people can actually pick up on a ton of flavors and some people think they can pick up on a ton of flavors. Which crowd do you think is bigger?

 

As I started reading your post, my first reaction was to start rolling my eyes, then I got a little bummed out, then as I finished up I was nodding in agreement from the second half. Well put, I agree with pretty much everything you stated.

I do think all of us on this website should come on here with a sense of humor and not take everything so seriously. It's a fun hobby, people!

Edit: oh, and for god's sake, no politics ever on BA!

 

My beer is skunked because of Obama

 

I thought Beer Advocate was the name of the web site, and was intended for Beer enthusiast's? You refer to yourself as a beer advocate?

 

1 Elusive stouts
2 The wishy washy and occaisional douchiness of some traders

 

Amen brother! Amen!!

 

What I hate the most is not having the funds when I want something, whether there's beer in the fridge or not.
Also, I don't necessarily hate it, but going to the store with a planned purchase list and then getting there and ending up spending more than I wanted and not getting anything I went for in the first place.

 

Hmmm. On one hand I love picking up a new thing and researching all aspects of it and throwing myself into. This pleases and keeps the overthink factor from become neurotic. On the other hand it means that I feel like an idiot among the beer geeks and like I am boring my long suffering couple of staunch hold out friends.

At least they appreciate my many fine qualities enough to put up with a weekly mini lecture about the physics of color, theories on how agricultural conditions affect yearly batches of limit release craft brews, the reproductive habits of freshwater snails, or how cellos are made.

 

This isn't quite as bad as it used to be on here 5 years ago. There was a lot of trolling on the WBAYDN / LNBA thread. Quite a few of them are gone now, for better or worse.

 

Welcome to my world JH.

 

- Releases/fests. At least the half of them that turn into a complete s**t show. *cough* Dark Lord Day *cough*.

- Drunk beer snobs. I try to keep my mouth shut when I know my BAC is creeping up the scale because there is nothing worse than listening to some drunk dude tell you his war stories about Darkness Day and give you three-minute beer reviews on whatever he's currently sipping on.

 

It's basically there to protect the three tier system and to allow states to regulate the transportation of alcohol across their borders. It was part of the deal when prohibition was overturned.

 

All the autograph seekers and paparazzi.

 

Being one of those BA'S that someone said their style preferably IPA'S is the only one thats any good. I'm really trying to go into other styles, might be the money and afraid of costly drain pours. It might be that IPA'S have destroyed my tastebuds and thats all they want.

 

The elitism, both inward and outward, that seems to be getting more and more prevalent. This leads to price gouging, bad attitudes, snobbery and not beer advocacy.

 

The slight, self imposed, oppression of worrying about what beer to try next and the loss of the mindless pleasure of quaffing 4 or 5 of the same average beer in a row without considering its merits too much.

 

Taxes, because states individually control taxation of alcohol, transporting (even in your car) across state lines is illegal. Shipping specifically (ie in-state) I think is illegal only due to legislative remnants.

 

Not enough wise, old fukkers.