A little wisdom from the 'Experienced'

All I'll say is that beer is a great excuse to travel. Never been skiing? No problem, we'll stop at a brewpub on the way home. Always wanted to go to Boston? Already bought tickets for ACBF. It's a wonderful thing.

 

Ive only been drinking craft for a year now and I have learned a few things.
1. Enjoy every beer you have, even if its terrible. It will make the next good beer even better.
2. Don't be a prick. Just because someone is all about natty light doesn't make you better than him.
3. It costs a lot of f*cking money. So don't make it your number one priority.

Those are the big things I have learned, that seem to be the most important.

 

Variety, variety, variety.

 

1) If you aren't going to remember the night, don't crack open a beer that you have been saving for something special.

2) If you want to trade, trade, if you don't, don't. Trading is sometimes a good way to try beers that you would not have regular access to. For instance, I had never tried sours before. I traded for some Russian River sours. I have now discovered a style that I love!

3) Go to beer events with your mind not just focused on the beer. Much of the fun is socializing with people who share your passion. Meet people in line at a beer release or sit at a table with strangers at a beer dinner.

4) If you want to cellar beers (which I find to be great fun, personally), make sure you at least try the beer fresh. Otherwise, you have no way of telling what the cellaring actually did for the beer!

5) Support your local breweries. Try their offerings. In the olden days, breweries were the center of the town/village they were located in. Have pride in your local breweries (even if they aren't that great)!

6) Homebrew. You will truly gain appreciation for craft beer when you have had the chance to make somre yourself. Not to mention, you will learn a lot about what makes beers turn out different ways, which can make craft beer drinking that much more interesting.

7) Don't get stuck on one particular style. I am guilty of this. I tend to go through periods of time where all I will want to drink is Stouts, or DIPAS, or Saisons. Try to mix up what you are drinking to keep it exciting. (Not to mention a winter just drinking Imperial Stouts will do a number on your waist).

8) Spread the love to your friends and family. Introduce them to new beers they otherwise wouldn't drink.

 

Brew your own. I think I learned more in making my first batch of beer than I did in five years of going to tastings, visiting breweries, and reading books. I can't think of a better way to really understand the differences between various hops, malts, yeasts, and water profiles and the nuances of different styles.

Don't pay too much. You're getting into this at a time when we have an embarrassment of riches in the vast majority of styles. There is so much really, really good stuff that's available for reasonable prices, I can't really understand why some people pay mega bucks for rare beers.

Share. Drink socially. Beer is meant to be enjoyed with others. Go out to the pub. Host a tasting.

Keep it under control. Anything over three pints a day is likely to take a toll on your health, so don't overdo it.

Cheers!

 

Don't take it too seriously, it's just beer.
Travel for beer culture every chance you get but remember there's a lot more to do when you get there than just sit and drink beer.
Try every beer you run across, regardless of what the reviews say. Even better, drink the beer, then read the reviews.
Remember that beer preference is extremely personal and not transferable to or from those around you. Don't "try" to like what they like, don't ask them to like what you like.

 

I'm less-experienced than you (4 years), but I've found that having fun is the best part. Don't let arrogant downers influence you. I know some guys who are total jackwagons when it comes to craft beer - they denigrate certain beers and the people that drink them, then turn around and drink something equally "low-brow". Don't be a hypocrite! It's just beer, but it's fun too! Remember, it's your hobby - no one else's.

 

Not very experienced myself but the little advice I can offer is:

There are truly great people on this website!
Get a beer buddy.
Review no matter how much you think you are not good at it.

 

i'm relatively new as well but the first lesson i learned pretty quickly was that if you don't love hops at first, be patient. when you develop a taste for hoppier beers, your options open up to include some of the best stuff being brewed right now.

 

I'd say that I've been drinking craft brews in varying degrees since I turned 21 around 10 years ago. Did my deep dive into beer culture and knowledge enhance my enjoyment of beer? No. Did it enhance my appreciation for it? YES!

Pretty similar to what others have said, pick up a few books, magazines, seek out local breweries while you travel, etc. I really enjoyed The Naked Pint

by Christina Perozzi and Hallie Beaune ​

and have passed it around to a few friends since picking it up in 2010. It got me into this site and other education resources, helped me understand the history of beer styles and variations, and also convinced me that home brewing wasn't that intimidating.

+1 to watching the price points on bottles and the daily consumption, especially during the winter when the average person's daily activity level dips.

 

I think good wisdom would be to lose the idea of someone being experienced. Beer is subjective, and the joy is in the journey. An "experienced" beer enthusiast, meanwhile, can come in many different shapes, from the genuine, who simply loves drinking beer and the variety of, to the obsessive, who marvels at his collection as it sits undrank, collecting dust. Then you have the regional tart, who will on a daily basis spout things like "DRINK FRESH. DRINK LOCAL". Instead, find someone you can rely on, or who shares a similar palate as you, and make mental notes. If you see it, buy it. If you see something that no one likes but you have a sneaking suspicion you would, buy it too. And most importantly, remember that beer can consume you. Pacing yourself for the long haul is a good idea. Liver disease is an awful and deadly thing to know. Also, have a lager once in a while.

 

Have fun. Trade a bit, travel a bit. If you're going to age a beer, try it fresh so you have a reference point. Have fun. Review a few beers, it might be fun for you or not, but give it a shot. If you live in an active area, your local breweries might need a hand at events (even industry folks like a weekend off, and if they're scheduled for 2-4 fests/events a month, it cuts into personal time) offer to volunteer. Have fun. Try new beers and styles as you see them, but don't forget to enjoy your long time favorites either. Have fun.

 

yeah, just be prepared to go to war if you openly say something about said beer though.

 

I can't believe someone would say "don't trade."

If you have a brewery around you that isn't nationally distributed, there is someone who wants to try their stuff, and "check it off the list." And there are things that you want, that you can't get. Trade $4$ (dollar for dollar) on beer that is generally attainable... just don't be that guy who tries to trade readily available beer for things that can only be purchased one day per year, for example.

For every poster on BA, there are probably 10,000 craft beer enthusiasts who aren't here. This place is largely cynical if you primarily read the busy threads. Like what you like, and try what you want to try. Don't worry about reviews and ratings. What you like and what your friends like (if you like being a good host) are really the only variables that matter.

When you DO travel, make sure to look up great brewpubs in the area you're visiting. It's awesome to check out the local watering holes of other great beer regions. But for anyone with a family, it's unrealistic to think that you're going to plan travel around beer.

Cellaring advice... be REALLY particular with what you're going to try to put some years on. It snowballs so quickly. It's easy to end up sitting on over a hundred bottles... and you're going to cellar some things that are GREAT now, and become crap later... I have friends with a crazy amount of great beer that's all going to "come due" around the same time... there are beers that can hang for many years, but it's been my experience that what good a little age might do on certain popular imperial stouts for example, has occurred after a couple of years, and is often undone with other negatives after a couple more.

Looking at the beer I have been hanging on to, generally there is always enough available... so I don't need to be sitting on much of any of what I've got.

Share the good bottles with friends.

 

Some great tips on here.

When you visit local breweries and buy the beer sampler- this allows you small tastes of different varieties to see what you like.
Try to take notes of which beers you like and don't like for future reference- but again do not stereotype because not only is there a huge range in taste within a certain beer style, your own tastes will fluctuate over time and also depending on your own mood- or the occassion.
When you are traveling seek out local breweries and try their sampler tray.

No opinion about beer is wrong- you like what you like regardless of how a beer snob may want to tell you what you should and should not like.
Moreover do not become a beer snob- become a BEER ADVOCATE and just spread your enjoyment of beer to others with acceptance and good humor.

I have been drinking microbrews for the past 24 years, yet I have never stored beers, nor spent extravagant money on beer. I am very cheap, and now I wish I had at times spent the extra dollar or 2 for that one beer I couldn't justify buying at the time.

I traveled to many locations for business and always drank the local beer- now I wish I had taken some notes on all of the great beers I have had over the years- I only started tracking a small protion of the beer I drink over the past 2 years.

Enjoy

 

Everyday readily available beers are frequently as good or better than limited release beers. Just less rare. Focus on them first because if you do you will enjoy phenomenal beer for years with no regrets or frustration. If you come across something rare give it a try, but don't become a beer Ahab. Have fun.

 

Many of the highly touted seasonals: Hopslam, Nugget Nectar, KBS, etc... are really that good.

 

There's a couple of nuggets of misinformation in this thread:

1. If you are drinking craft, you ARE better than someone drinking Natty Ice...it's just an inescapable fact of life.
2. Anyone who advises you to get married is just trying make you as miserable as they are.

 

Hoppin frog barrel aged naked evil at 23$ a bottle knocked my socks off and hid them from me.

 

I have to dissagree. At one point in time I was going to buy a dishwasher. Then I heard of something better that does dishes, cleans, drinks good beer with me, and is generally awesome company. It was a wife