Slow wine to craft beer conversion

Tie him to a chair and force-feed him Black OPS until he agrees to your conditions.

 

1. Print out the Top 250
2. Give printout to father
3. Say, "happy hunting, pops"
4. Congrats, you've just created a monster

 

He's an old hipster.

 

No offense, but I'm disturbed by his putting rare over quality. Hopefully he doesn't become the guy buying $400 BVDLs on My Beer Cellar either. If you can't get enjoyment out of something basic like a standard pale or wheat then there is a problem

 

If the guy is drinking Sculpin and Pliny, he's already in the craft beer fold. Your work here is done.

 

I'd suggest two things.

1) A few tours of some of the better breweries in CA where they make some readily available in your area top quality beers for regular consumption. Both to learn more about brewing and a bit of male bonding.

2) A membership in this club

http://www.beermonthclub.com/the-rare-beer-club.htm

which should attract his attention nicely from your description and help him realize the diversity of good beer is as great or greater than good wine or whisky and help motivate him to learn as much about good beer as he knows about good wine.

BTW, I wonder if it's rarity that attracts him or whether it's the subtle differences avid collectors see//know about that are often part of why some things are in short supply.

EDIT: BTW, you also have a great opportunity to learn a lot more about wines and whiskies.

 

My wine cellar owning father-in-law still loves Grolsch. I have failed to convert him. Congratulations, you've done well.

 

I would be the last person to try to lecture anyone on beer purchasing etiquette in between family members, but you may respectfully speak to your father-in-law about the difference between hunting and hoarding. He may already know, and if so, fantastic. A little love in the beer community goes a long way.

 

I made a similar switch. I've been drinking craft beer since 1990, but Harpoon IPA, Sam Seasonals, Red Hook ESB, SN PA etc. and some better stuff at Free State in Lawrence, KS during L School. From 1996 on though, I was all about wine. Lived in NoCal for several years and went to two tastings a week or went to wine country (twice a month on average). I met dozens of wine makers and talked shop with them, even considered becoming one. My time, money and effort went into wine. That held sway with me really until maybe 18 months ago.

So here are the things I would emphasize to him.
1. The very best beers in the world are cheap compared to fairly ordinary, but good quality wines.
2. The variety of flavors and styles in beer is much broader than in the wine world. I think the subtlety is comparable between two Cabs and two IPAs, but the variation between IPAs, stouts, hefes, Belgian pales, quads, saisons, browns, English bitters, APAs etc. certainly exceeds what you find between grape varietals and regions.
3. Beer needs to be drunk fresh. I think this makes it more challenging than wine in many respects. You can cellar some beers, but not most, and not as long as red wine, or in most cases, even white wine for that matter. So it doesn't lend itself to building a vast cellar as wine does.
4. You can do both. I've cut down my wine purchases and consumption. I suspect that in the winter they may go back up, as I still really enjoy wine.

 

Try sending him to the Cellaring forums on this site.

 

Somebody link this thread the next time a BA member starts a thread asking "why is the price of craft beer so high?"

 

Make sure he doesn't start cellaring that PTE!

 

If he's a wine drinker he might appreciate being introduced to Belgian beer considering the packaging and the fact that many are yeast driven in flavor profile. There's also cool stuff coming out of Italy using herbs and others rare ingredients.

 

So he's finding out that he can impress people by saying he's had fancy beers just as much as his Single Malts and expensive wines? Keep him in Cali. He doesn't sound like anyone I wish to converse with.

 

You guys are right... I should have thrown this into my list between 1 and 2:
- Put an asterisk by beers that could benefit from cellaring; emphasize everything else be consumed as fresh as possible

That way, this doesn't happen...

 

If he's digging IPA's why force barrel aged beers on him?

Maybe set up a blind tasting of easy to get and some more difficult to get IPA's and DIPA's, help him see past the hype and maybe his favorite tasting beer will wind up being one that's easy to get off the shelf.

 

One more thought: #properglassware. I think a wine drinker would appreciate the differences, especially in smell (nose) that can come from some of these beers when proper glassware is incorporated. A Lagunitas Sucks just reeks of grapefruit juice, and the right glass shows it off. A BCBS in a tulip can produce amazing aromas, the BCBW even more so. Taste always follows smell in the wine world, so if you impress that using the right glass is as important as using his Riedel (I am guessing, that's what I have) glasses for wine, I think that will register.

 

Grab some beers that can benefit from cellaring and do a side-by-side cellared/fresh. Make sure he knows that in general, beer is better fresh and things that benefit from cellaring are relatively rare. That being said, he might enjoy sours; stuff from Cantillon, Cascade, or The Bruery.

Just don't tell him that winemakers drink metric tons of pale lager while making all that expensive wine he loves...don't want to pull the curtain back too far