Where are you with craft beer?

There should definitely be couple wine options - putting the onus of finishing a bottle of wine on my wife can get messy!

 

I voted other

I believe ive hit some kind of "euphoria" not to sound dumb or pretentious ill explain....

I went balls deep into craft a month after i hit 21. I ticked every beer i had and 100% of the time they were beers ive never had with no interest in previous hads it was a scorched earth policy i had about beer. Stressing out about new releases calling multiple stores going way out of my way

Three years into craft Now i realize the local small breweries around me are just as good if not better and i should relax and enjoy myself. I dont tick nearly as much and i stick with the classics and i enjoy myself much more keeping it simple and i enjoy imports like German pilsners more often too.

 

Voted "Exclusively drink craft beer, but interest in releases/trading has faded"

Have been enjoying craft since about 2005, first joined this site in 2008. Around 2010-2011 I would spend lots of time and effort hunting down the "whales" of the day, but over time, I have learned that all good things come to those who wait. I've tried lots of fantastic beer with many of my personal "whales" being acquired or sampled just because I've happened to be at the right place at the right time. What was super hard to get this year is commonly easier to acquire next year.

 

I voted "other." I mostly drink craft but if offered a macro, say at a friend's or relative's house, and they don't have a craft beer, I won't say no.

 

I'll drink just about anything but strongly prefer to always stick to beer and nice bourbon. I don't trade much anymore due to the hassle of setting up the terms of the trade and shipping things properly. I used to hoard some, but have really calmed down and now am being much more conservative with what I purchase and cellar and am now trying to drink what ive already bought more so than continuing to accumulate. I travel some if convenient but have not gone really out of my way lately. Most BA's eventually learn that the hassle rarely pays off in terms of enjoyment in return.

 

Other. I'm at about 55% "Beer" to 35% Craft Beer™*, with the remaining 10% comprised of all other beverage alcohol.

I regularly enjoy domestic and imported (Belgian, British, etc) ale and beer brands, even worthless "industrial" lager. I enjoy Craft brands (including some which I wonder if I can even afford! ) often enough, but still regard them as "beer".

I -seldom- drink cider and wine, as neither of those have 'clicked' with me as a regular tipple.
I drink spirits on occasion, often mixed as simple ("hard to screw up") cocktails.

I drink in moderation. I don't 'Tick', hoard, or chase trucks. I very, very seldom Trade.

Beer Fests are fun for the young and ambitious, but I'm long in the tooth, now. See also: Ticking.

As to "Beercationing" to tour breweries? Been there, done that, got the tee-shirt and the glassware.

Seems I covered all the possible bases, eh?

*P.S. Craft when used in reference to beer is a marketing term which popularized by Uncle Charles Papazian. He has no actually trademark -- yet. But I hear that that's all a part of his retirement package.

 

Voted: Other.

Regarding beer, do drink only craft. Still look for new releases, and try to find something new to try each week.

I also consume quite a bit of red wine now, and enjoy that experience as well.

 

Voted: Other.

I drink mostly craft beer, but I also enjoy some spirits and wine. I also keep some cheap beer in my college apartment for the weekends I'm back at school and taking a break from student teaching. I also trade a bit. I have never traveled for a release or anything (although I'm rather fresh to the scene).

 

Other. I drink mainly craft beer. I very rarely trade and when I do it's with friends around the country. I actively take my wife on "vacations" that just happen to be near and around great breweries and also just happen to usually be having a limited release. Although, I do want to try some "whales" that I just can't get. So more trading might be in my near future. Also wine is in the diet.

 

no wine option?

 

More craft than other, more than 75%, if you see my beer larder you will find some BMC (sans the B) sitting there. There is nothing wrong with the occasional well crafted big brewery lager. Plus after paying craft beer prices the BMC seems like it's almost free.

 

I'm now about 50/50 in repeating beers vs. trying new ones. With a drastic increase in local options and quality of locals, I'm visiting more taprooms to sample new stuff locally as well. At the same time, I'm now much more critical and selective of any breweries I visit on travel, because there are so many now.

I would love to trade more, but I'm not getting much interest in quality locals for quality locals on the ISO/FT board. It seems the ISO/FT people are only interested in trading for uber whales or select beers from the 4-5 hot breweries around the country with limited distribution (de Garde, Trillium, HF, Tree House, and small handful of others).

Kinda frustrating...seems that trading, truck chasing and lining up for special rare releases are pretty much all the same type of person. If you do one of those its pretty likely you are doing all 3.

 

This thread reminded me that I'm almost out of PBR - which I do select over craft from time to time. But yes, 90% of what I drink would be considered "craft beer". I view special releases as a reason to avoid breweries, rather than to visit them. I do very little traveling exclusively for beer, but most of my family's vacation destinations typically have some excellent breweries. This is not an accident.

 

Forgot to add im just now getting into wine because of my girlfriend. And i drink cider, and mead as much as beer. But id say euro lagers and like styles and good old stouts are my thing with the occasional saison here and there. Also starting to really enjoy english styles a lot.

 

I voted "Other."

Thought I fall in a few of the category choices, I do drink macros, wine and also whisky. Sometimes I'll drink ciders as well.

 

I voted craft beer exclusively, but I have started buying online and trading will be in my future.

 

Other - I mostly drink craft (80%), but occasionally drink (enter pejorative name here for AAL/mainstream beer) 5%, occasionally drink wine (5%) and spirits (10%) as well.

 

Is it too late to update the poll? I would be willing to bet this would be the number 1 choice.

Cheers!