How has BeerAdvocate impacted your life?

Hello,

Over the past year, I’ve made some connections to ppl in different areas of the country through BA. Some of them invited me to visit, I still need to that them up on the offer. It’s been great!

cheers

 

BA is one of the sites that I regularly check throughout the workday during downtime. I appreciate the beer related discussion as well as the banter. I've been to a few of the meetups organized by the M̶i̶d̶-̶A̶t̶l̶a̶n̶t̶i̶c̶ US-Northeast/Other Half thread regulars and had a great time putting real life faces to online personas. I've done a few in-person beer trades, too. Overall, I'm glad that I made an account here. Thanks @Todd!

 

In the long term I'm hoping that I can make some positive connections with other beer lovers around the world.

I'm also looking forward to the day when there is a larger international community of active, contributing members to help make beer advocate the top tier beer review ./ forum website worldwide.

 

I’ve been on many sites, mostly Philly sports sites. The BA guys imo are absolutely the best. Best run sight, selfless guys who go out of their way to be helpful. In comparison those Philly boards absolutely sucked, it was a daily zoo of attacks and fighting, bickering, name calling, life was too short to deal with that shit.

How I found this site I can’t remember , I haven’t a clue, but I’m glad I did.

 

I met several of my closest IRL friends through the Pacific Forum and learned a lot about the local San Diego scene when I first joined 13 years ago. I still find good info on the forums. Unfortunately, many of my friends were banned back when the mods were a bit trigger-happy on the ban hammer, but we've stayed in contact through other forums/channels.

 

I come here because there was (and still is) a thread about local beer finds. I like the ratings/reviews as well. But the local thread is my jam.

 

For me, honestly, I discovered BeerAdvocate through a google search for "beer trading". I was curious if people traded beer! After pursuing the trade board, the interface appeared to be the simplest in my opinion and easiest way to go about it. At the time, seemed very similar to a website I was part of in the early 2000s which was a forum format used to trade live concerts or music on Compact Discs, CDs (anyone remember CDs??). After utilizing the trading resources on here, it became apparent that this site was more powerful and resourceful than just beer trading. Actually, it opened up my whole world. Not for reasons to just try new beer but music, other beverages, peoples own personal interest, culture, and most importantly connection with people. Many great people I met through this website and from around my area and I look forward to meeting many more in the future!!

 

One time I drove across the state to try one of my grail beers at the time. It was a barrel aged imperial stout with coffee that I'd only heard great things about.

Upon arriving, I was stunned to hear I had just missed the last bottle by a few minutes. Prior to visiting, I had mentioned to several local BA members that I'd be in the area and would be more than happy to share some bottles. Much to my delight, there was someone sitting at the other bar from BA who had ordered the last bottle and saved half of it for me. We proceeded to finish that bottle together and moved on to a notable BA barleywine. It was a blast to get to know this BA member (just the second one I've met, both experiences being great) as we discussed beer, sports, life, and more.

That was you, @Quilentro . Still very appreciative of that moment.

 

cheers! Good beer is always better with good company, so thanks for making that trip even better for me by coming around to say hi!

 

1) I have learned a great deal about beer including how to taste and rate it and BA provides a handy way to track my beer ratings
2) The social aspect enables exchanges of ideas with a really diverse group of members and we seldom spiral down into stupid-ass discussions of political/social issues. When we do descend into those dark places I have sometimes discovered that I still have things in common (beer opinions) with someone who expresses moronic (IMO) points of view about non-beer issues. It reinforces the idea that no one should be judged entirely by their views on any single issue.

 

It has helped me decide on purchases of beer that I've never had. Reviews are always subjective but they at least provide some information to help you decide before you spend 20+ bucks.

I try to return the favor as well although I suck as a reviewer. I'm not the best at being descriptive but I'm a picky bast^rd so that counts for something.

 

Wow, good question. I hope my answer can do it justice.
BA has been a great source of beer related information for me; far superior to any other one site I've been able to find. And the people I've met here have been nothing short of amazing. The patience, kindness, knowledge and generosity of people I've had the great pleasure of interacting with has helped me not only appreciate beer much more, but given me to opportunity to actually try some of the finest beers in the world. Many of which I would never have even known about otherwise. That said, while the beer has been the common denominator, it's been the people, the banter, the friendships that keeps me coming back almost daily.
Cheers!

 

I've been around since about '06, first as @dgordon and now disguised as @rgordon. I came here professionally, as a beer marketer, company owner and life long beer lover. The one main point I would like to make is that I cherish the rapport, intelligence and humor that abounds on these pages. And the humor comes out on top.....Cheers all!

 

I've been drinking beer for about 50 years.
I've probably learned more about beer through Beer Advocate than in probably most of my many years of reading about beer.
I came to BA to learn more about beer and the website and the people on it have helped me do that quite well.
It's a rare day that I'm not on BA if only for a few minutes at least.
Looking forward to the day when I can meet some of the people on BA in real life.
Cheers!

 

It’s hard to think where to begin. First and foremost it’s been a resource when deciding what beers I might want to try and places to shop for them. All the forum chat has provided me with invaluable advice from people who are much more experienced than me which is something not always available at your local tap house or beer store. The trading obviously has provided me access to beer I would have no other way of obtaining. The database and logging helps me to keep track of everything I’ve had and allows me to revisit what I’ve liked or ignore what I haven’t liked. At the end of the day, this site has become probably the biggest part of my favorite hobby. Thanks Todd!

 

It's made me a much more mindful beer drinker.

 

At the very least, it made me more interested in and appreciative of the craft. Even though I still feel very new to it... reading reviews, seeing all the options, and tracking attempts has been illuminating and I have no idea where I'd be if I hadn't been quietly following along. It's great having a reference for what's going on out there and what to expect from something new... and it does prevent me from, five minutes later, forgetting what I've tried, lol.