Stayers and Leavers

After my first post about not recalling how I got hooked up to this site I thought more about it and decided that the use of shelf talkers by one of my favorite beer stores might have been the reason. Your comment about the magazine rings a bell too. One of my local breweries used to have a few copies of the BA magazine laying around for reading (or stealing), so that could also be the reason, but I don't recall if the magazine was around prior to 2005.

 

Add another "I'm invested" to why I stay.

There are other beer sites around that I go to for other reasons & parts of the hobby. BA is the best for keeping up on new releases & happenings, plus there are some fantastic people I've met over the years that I stay in touch with here.

That said, I'd say 3/4 of the great traders & local friends I've made here are no longer around much, if at all. Lots of life changes lead to changes in priorities - kids, house, age, etc. Not everyone is obsessive enough to stick with a hobby for years & years & years.

 

I may be somewhat unique in that I left for a substantial period of time (a couple years where I don’t know if I posted even once), then came back.

Why I left: well it was weird but I essentially lost my taste for beer and pretty much stopped drinking beer completely for a prolonged period of time. I had just gotten off a period of living in a condo with a great beer bar literally in the building and had thus spent the prior 6 months or so drinking a ton of craft. For whatever reason, I moved to a new place, and soon after just stopped having any desire to drink beer (I think the influx of mediocre, or really well below mediocre, IPA craze contributed somewhat but that’s probably more appropriate discussion for another thread). So I stopped drinking beer, and subsequently lost interest in BA. But..., as you can see I’m not back so something changed....

Why I returned: I had accumulated what I would consider to be a pretty decent beer cellar over the years. One day during my long hiatus I stumbled across a box of small format, high ABV cellar beers that I had completely forgotten I had. I decided to dip my toes back into craft by drinking through that cellar box. Many of them were absolutely hits. And after posting one on WBAYDN, I was directed to the BA Cellar Review thread. This is what really reignited my passion for craft, it’s been about a year since I’ve been back to craft/BA and I have focused primarily on cellared beers. This has been great for me personally, as it’s allowed me to avoid a lot of the things in the scene I don’t particularly care for (the aforementioned increasing mediocrity / dilution of craft with all these new pop up breweries pushing out average product; the what I would say is ridiculous “new IPA style” wave; the whalzbroness of the scene; etc) and keeping the majority of my beer drinking to beers I know I am going to like (in general I wouldn’t cellar something unless I liked it fresh).

Times change, preferences change, palettes change; but I like where I’m at in my craft beer life right now.

 

Well I'm still here after all these years. Sometimes I might miss a week or two, but now that I'm staying home more I visit several times a day.
I lurked a bit before I joined, but one day I had something to add so I joined.

 

I've only had an active account here for a few months, but I've lurked for several years on the beer reviews, and for about a year on the forums. I'm part of a very active local online beer group, but there are several things I really appreciate about BA that will keep me here rather than exclusively with my local group:

1) Nationwide (even worldwide) opinions on beers, beer news, and perspectives. It's very easy in the local group to buy into the groupthink mindset of local beer = always good, every other beer = not worth exploring. For instance, there's no having an in depth discussion about Founders KBS Mackinac there, because why wouldn't you just spend $20 for the next local pastry stout 500ml release instead?

2) Better/more objective reviews. This is similar to the thread about Untappd reviews. What's trendy dominates the local group. If its a hazy IPA, fruited sout or a BBA/pastry stout, its automatically super great gotta try. If it's a hefeweizen or a lager or a dark strong ale, crickets. I really appreciate that ALL styles are appreciated and discussed here, and something doesnt top out at 3.99/5 because its pale and filtered, and doesn't automatically start at 4/5 because it's hazy or or the color of fruit puree.

3) Forum discussions on a huge variety of beer-related topics. Nice to have diverse and interesting posts rather than just the day's "what are you drinking" "what did you buy today" and "who want's to buy my whale".

4) With any hobby of mine, especially whisky and beer, I love getting beneath the surface into the nitty gritty how its made, how this does that and that leads to this, politics and economics, brewery/distillery inside happenings, etc. Holistic knowledge rather than what's it taste like in 3 words and how fast will it get me buzzed. BA is a treasure trove of this sort of knowledge.

 

https://wildmushroomhunting.org/index.php

try this one.

 

Seventeen years...where does the time go?

I've been in the Beer Biz for 28 years now and BA has always allowed me to keep my finger on the pulse of the industry all across the US.

My level of participation varies with my work load. I can hit it hot-n-heavy for a month and then not have the time to check in for three weeks...it's just the nature of the beast.

My goal now is giving back. Over the course of my career, many industry vets have taken me under their wing and contributed to my success. Most have retired and there is little I can do for them on a personal basis beyond giving them recognition; ultimately it's my responsibility to pay it forward.

 

Imo that’s not cool, not at all.

 

Whoever that person was should not be here. A far as I can see everyone gets treated like family or at least fairly. That seems to be the standard so stepping outside and criticizing is BS. We have many differences of opinions here, its what keeps it interesting. All that shit gets worked out. I will be the first to admit Ive said some shit Ive regretted but I will take my lumps and apologize if warranted. No regrets.

 

There’s always differences of opinion, but it’s from my point never personal. You don’t know that person well enough to make it personal. It’s a beer site.... I hate to think someone felt demeaned or was being harassed. Find out who... bye.

 

I joined in May 2014 mainly because my youngest brother Roger was starting to get into Craft. I had been into it for awhile but realized I needed to learn more and explore. I figured this would be a great way for my brother and I to share a hobby and stay in touch more since we lived far apart. Unfortunately Roger died tragically 4 months later on September 12th. What first was a crutch to get away from the pain of loss, and hope he somehow heard me became more of a place to get away and enjoy communicating with people and sharing beer, food and life experiences. I decided early on I could not put a number on a beer- that using my thoughts and putting that onto paper was my thing. Once I got my nerve to do my first NBS I was hooked for life. Then the BIF's. Amazing that we can share all over this country and world for that matter. I really believe Ive met more friends here than anywhere else in that period of time. And some I may never meet in person. If you had asked me seven years ago to ship a box of beers to someone Ive never met in person to California- like I did today- I would say you're crazy....
I think that says it all.

 

The BIFs are insane right? It’s a contest to crater porches to an absurd degree.

 

I've stayed because this place is another electronic addiction. I love the humor and the funny people, but I enjoy those that take themselves too seriously much less. @jesskidden is really amazing and his contributions are notable and always interesting. I never know just what may be discussed, but dammit I have a lot to say, ya'll...

 

Another Returner. I joined shortly after college because I was looking up the abv of something and got curious. Turns out I was really drawn to the idea of beer as an artifact.

I left a few years ago because @Providence left. Really though, a lot of what made beer interesting to me (namely the variety of flavors and strengths available through traditional processes) was getting buried by the tropical haze or the coffee barrel mega stouts.

I’m back because I started brewing again and I trust that community to provide interesting and useful information. The rest of the forums have also balanced out a bit, which gives me hope that the market might be moving in more diverse direction too, where traditional styles can exist next to a Triple NEIPA aged on guava that was steeped in cognac that was filtered through coffee grounds when it was distilled.

 

I joined Aug 2020 probably because some forum caught my eye while I was looking up something about a beer. Since I have an opinion about EVERYTHING I felt compelled to join so that I could comment. Now I stay for lots of reasons. 1) I stay active because I am still a mere Initiate (183) and I hate being marked as a FNG. More beer karma, please. 2) I like the respite from the political banter/tripe on other platforms. I bailed from Nextdoor and from Facebook for that reason.3) I actually like the creative staging of cans/bottles/glasses and other features and misc. links that others do on WBAYDN. I have never met anyone from here but I see posts from so many of the same people that I feel I sort of almost kind of have acquaintance here....somewhat of a substitute for FB "friends". 4) I can depend on pretty consistently helpful and timely responses to legitimate questions.5) It is a most excellent way to conveniently track my beers and places.
It does irritate the crud out of the misses that I spend so much time photographing my beers, though.

 

I AM a metallurgical engineer. Talking about stainless steel makes me get all tingly inside. I can tell you that I have stumbled across some knife making forums like what you referenced and not only are they humorless, as you noted, there are some mighty ignorant people there also. I can't even watch "Forged in Fire" on TV. :-)

 

Stick around a bit.

 

@nc41 No doubt, I’m sure I will. In the end, I like the banter in WBAYDN, my occasional LNBA tryst, reviewing some new good brews, posting a pic of my latest haul, trading opportunities, etc. There’s a lot of positives!

 

There are don’t let one “person” deter you, all great guys here. Turn him in to Todd.