Beer extremists suck

I'm guilty, Trips 13 and 14 to Belgium are planned out and the countdown sheet is printed up.

 

It's quite easy to NOT be an extremist when there's so much around you to take for granted. I usually tick about fifteen new beers a month, which I feel is rather modest for your average Beer Advocate. And I don't pass up favorites on draft just because it won't be a new tick. I guess I'm a Moderate.

 

Honestly I have hiked all of the Appalachian Trail and was aware of the fact that the Long Trail is tougher so I never had any desire to hike it. Last year a friend hiked part of the LT and brought me back some Heady. I do two hiking trips a year so one of them will be the Long Trail as a half hiking, half beer drinking vacation. In this case the beer comes first since there are better places to hike.

Not a bad thing for sure. I also have six years until I can retire so I plan to spend those years looking for places to retire to. West of the Mississippi is a must and access to hiking and biking is also important. After affordability and weather I think access to great beer is a serious consideration.

 

I dare say we all are somewhat extreme, after all, we frequent a beer enthusiast website, we trade beers across state lines in violation of most laws, we know way more than 99% of our friends about...beer, and whoa, some of us travel for cool beers.
Is this any worse than going to comic-con, and dressing up like Darth Vader or Capt. Kirk?

 

Initially when my family and I were planning a MI trip, I was thinking: FFF, Founders, Bells, etc. But because of our 20 month old, we decided to take a ferry across and enter Ludington, MI. Therefore I will miss most breweries. However I'd much rather ferry across than deal with a crying boy. I plan to stop at Shorts and my wife is not too pleased that I am packing an empty cooler. She says it takes up space, I on the other hand disagree.

 

I'm not sure I can get behind any of this. When you're talking about something as harmless as beer, 'extremism' is nothing more than a point along the continuum of enthusiasm. Do I seek rare and expensive beers? Absolutely. Do I go on trips that are at least half-way beer inspired? Yes. Does that mean I don't enjoy a sixer of SNPA? Absolutely not. I have had many beers that I believe are as close to perfection as beer can get. Do I believe I might one day find one better? Of course. Do I feel like beer has consumed me (*chuckles at the 'wise' man*)? Not any more than I am consumed by any of my other interests, the totality of which largely define me as a person. What the hell does your extremism mean? Because it sounds to me like "people who are interested in beer suck," and that's all of us. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume this was a drunken rant, because you've clearly got a lot of sober thinking to do before being achieving a level of coherence that might actually resemble a point.

 

No, nothing is worse than that. At least beer gets us laid sometimes.

 

I'm not sure I'm getting your point, or what you mean by "beer extremist." But you seem to define a beer extremist as someone who is constantly seeking out new beers, going to great lengths to attain them, in some instances, but who is never really satisfied and almost expects too much out of beer. I wouldn't be considered a beer extremist in this case. I just like brewing my own beer at home and I like to sample whatever various craft offerings I can get my hands on in my area, or, if I leave town, in that area. I'm not going to bend over backwards, break the bank, camp out or stand in line, or drive 1000 miles to attain a particular beer, because, as much as I love beer, it's just not worth it to me.

However, for anyone else, I really don't care if you only drink Miller Lite your entire life or if you are spending your life's savings going to Belgium just to try one particular Lambic that you can't get here; it's your life, it's your mouth, and it's your money, and none of it really affects me. The only type of beer drinker I don't like is a beer snob, who looks down on other beer drinkers who drink what he considers inferior beers.

 

Beer is like life. Different strokes for different folks [thanx Sly].

 

People who are always underwhelmed by beers annoy me. A lot of beers I've been able to try actually made me sit back in shock of how great they were. That moment when you take that first sip of a world class beer is the point to this whole thing. Or for people who are crazy about trading, there's that moment when your long sought after beer finally arrives on your doorstep from fedex. It's just beer, so it's never going to be a truly transcendental experience, but it can be a lot of fun, and it can be fulfilling.

Basically, if you're drinking beer waiting for something that transcends beer and takes your mind to another place, or waiting for that perfect beer that you can find no faults with, no matter how hard you search for one; you're drinking beer for the wrong reason.

 

Aside from everything else said, it seems more honest and less snobby than the wine extremeists. Nothing worse than sitting in a restaurant and listening to someone (that probably can't tell the difference anyway) bitch at the server that the year on the bottle doesn't match what was printed on the wine list.

 

Am I the only one who thinks that there are far more people who complain about this kind of behavior than who actually exhibit it? I've never met anyone who meets the OP's description, and yet the clone of this thread seems to pop up weekly. Really seems like it's just tilting at windmills.

I don't get it.

 

some people drink beer ,some people hunt whales , and many consider it a hobby. The hobbyists will most likely move on when they get board , the hunters will hunt and the drinkers will drink. To each their own.

 

Is a beer extremist anything like a beer terrorist?

 

Since you're going to be visiting a lot of breweries, you should pick up a VT Brewers Passport.

http://www.vermontbrewers.com/passport-program/

 

Beer is far too important to be taken so seriously

 

I used to be an extreme ticker myself but I don't even go to bars anymore due to my schedule and the fact that once I hit my 30s, I decided that I no longer wanted to risk a DWI by driving to bars by myself to enjoy a few pints. If I could find a DD, I would probably go to those specific places again. I'm long overdue for a downtown bus/cab bar hop though.

 

I find your first example of an extremist to be a bit extreme. I think of DFH when I think extremist. I think you listed examples of hobbyists and enthusiasts.

 

So colorado it is, then.