Why do we love beer?

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by Bearded_beer_guy_, Jun 5, 2015.

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  1. Bearded_beer_guy_

    Bearded_beer_guy_ Initiate (0) May 16, 2015 Australia

    I spent my formative drinking years with a father that only drank Victoria Bitter, a mass produced syrup beer made by CUB (Carlton United Breweries) and a Grandfather that worked at CUB in Melbourne Australia so you can imagine what was on offer at his house.
    When I started drinking it was obvious what I'd start on.
    After many years of drinking the same pig swill and bottom shelf bourbon I tried out heroin instead! Nah, just kidding.
    Anyway, I stopped drinking for a few years as I found it all bland and boring. Then I visited a friend with a taste for craft brews and haven't been able to stop since.

    Why do you love beer?
     
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  2. Scott17Taylor

    Scott17Taylor Initiate (0) Oct 28, 2013 Iowa
    Trader

    I love beer because it tastes good. The reason we are all on this site is because we love big flavorful beer. I have been further sucked in because of how great this community is. I have yet to meet a real beer geek who wasn't at least a decent person, and most are extremely friendly and generous.
     
  3. silverking

    silverking Initiate (0) Nov 17, 2012 Florida

    I used to only drink Coors and Budweiser, and then I tried my first IPA several years back. It's been a fun and occasionally inebriated journey ever since. Why do I love beer? I just do.
     
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  4. Pantalones

    Pantalones Initiate (0) Nov 14, 2014 Virginia

    Part of it's the variety of flavors in all these different types of beer -- bready, leafy, fruity, bitter, sweet, sour, salty, roasty, combinations of those and more... pretty much any flavor you would want in a drink (...and some you probably wouldn't) seems to be possible in beer. I can't imagine only drinking one beer all the time -- there's some beers that I go back to again and again, of course, but I like variety and trying new beers too much to pick just one and stick with it.

    It's also really interesting to learn about the history, ingredients, and processes involved for me. Like, knowing that a beer I'm drinking is made in a style that was invented in someplace as far away as Germany or Belgium or England, or someplace as close as a few states over in some cases. Or finding out that it's been brewed consistently for decades or centuries, that it survived Prohibition, how it's changed over those years (or how it's not changed much over all that time, in some cases!)... or that it just hit the stores for the first time this month and I might be one of the first people in the state to try it, outside of those who work at (or have visited) the brewery it came from. That kind of thing. And of course the things like what kind of hops are in it (and what flavors in the beer those are responsible for), any unusual traits of that particular kind of beer that you might not find in others... there's just so much stuff going on there.

    ...probably the biggest factor is "it tastes good," though. Variety in flavors isn't much good if all of those flavors are nasty, after all. Being healthier than soda (assuming you don't go overboard with it, at least) helps, too.
     
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  5. halo3one

    halo3one Initiate (0) Jun 6, 2014 Georgia

    Um...lowered inhibitions?
     
  6. JMS1512

    JMS1512 Initiate (0) Feb 18, 2013 New Jersey

    I love beer for many reasons. For starters, I love that you can produce so many outcomes with only four (basic) ingredients. I love beer for the flavor. I love it for the aroma. And let's not kid ourselves, I am also one that likes how it makes me feel. I love that it's an affordable luxury, and even then, there are brews too rich for my blood. I love that it's capable of providing incomes to so many people in this country and abroad. Lastly, I love beer because beer loves me.
     
  7. Bunman3

    Bunman3 Initiate (0) Aug 7, 2014 Canada (AB)

    Excellent question. My first encounter with beer took place when I was a wee lad. Dad had a locally brewed stubby bottle of "Alta 3.9", ice cold, in his hand. I asked if I could have a sip and I will never forget how good that tasted. As I have grown up and matured with beer, I have shared beer with my grandfather, visited English pubs, drank Alt from the cellar in Dusseldorf, lived in Portland in the nascent stages of the craft explosion, and gradually settled into my current "I will try anything once" mindset. Beer matches with so many of my best memories, reminds me of good friends, and has become a part of who I am.
     
  8. SparkieDog

    SparkieDog Initiate (0) Mar 28, 2015 Massachusetts

    Yup.
    And taste.
    Wait! That's the wrong order.
    Tastes great, and then lowers my standards -- I mean my inhibitions.
     
  9. LaneMeyer

    LaneMeyer Initiate (0) Mar 20, 2011 California

    I love beer because I love getting together with all my friends and family and filling up the old funnel & tube with pints of Bud Light, Mickeys, and Natty Ice and seeing how much we can put away in under 10 seconds. Staggering around drunk and incoherent while vomiting up beer foam makes for great photos to reminisce about later as well.
     
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  10. Phigg1102

    Phigg1102 Initiate (0) Sep 29, 2013 New York

    I've always had a preoccupation with taste. It drove me to start cooking, drinking better beer, and appreciating the finer details of flavor in general. I particularly like beer because of the incredible range of flavor you can obtain from a pretty small amount of ingredients.
     
  11. TonyLema1

    TonyLema1 Initiate (0) Nov 19, 2008 South Carolina

    Good beer is like good food, to be shared and appreciated, I'll throw wine, bourbon and whisky in there too
     
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  12. Treyliff

    Treyliff Grand Pooh-Bah (4,711) Aug 10, 2010 West Virginia
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    It tastes good and it's a fun hobby.
     
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  13. RBassSFHOPit2ME

    RBassSFHOPit2ME Initiate (0) Mar 1, 2009 California
    Deactivated

    Because DIPAs remind me of pot?
     
  14. hopnado

    hopnado Initiate (0) Aug 13, 2014 Michigan

    No need to church it up...
    taste and buzz
     
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  15. Hrodebert

    Hrodebert Savant (1,000) Sep 2, 2013 Michigan
    Trader

    My love for beer has changed considerably over the years.
    There was a time when I loved beer just because I loved how it made me feel.
    These days I love beer for the taste, but also for the adventure, and the experience involved in the pursuit of it.
    And honestly I still love the way it makes me feel.
     
  16. mabermud

    mabermud Initiate (0) Dec 13, 2006 Washington

    That's right - Buzz than taste.

    I wouldn't be drinking beer just for the taste.
     
  17. Beerds

    Beerds Initiate (0) May 13, 2015 Alabama

    The taste and pure joy it brings. Beer is art that you can enjoy. No 2 beers are alike although with some sips it reminds you of another beer, maybe "beer cousins"if you will. Beer is always changing and seems to be more and more out there so you can always have something new and exciting.
     
  18. Bearded_beer_guy_

    Bearded_beer_guy_ Initiate (0) May 16, 2015 Australia

    Couldn't have said it better myself. I love how wine connoisseurs crap on about "detected flavors" in the soil that aren't actually there but in beer, they are.
     
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  19. Bearded_beer_guy_

    Bearded_beer_guy_ Initiate (0) May 16, 2015 Australia

    Same here, mate. Every new beer i try is like an adventure. I usually go home and research the brewer after I've tried a beer.
     
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  20. ChuckHardslab

    ChuckHardslab Savant (1,239) Jan 25, 2012 Texas

    I am impatient and usually research the beer/brewery with my smartphone right there at the table. That is until my wife glares at me and I sheepishly put it away.
     
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