Beer extremists suck

Bend, Oregon might be your spot. My friend moved there a few years ago and absolutely loves it. It seems to check off most of your requirements. You should check it out.

 

Beer is everywhere but it's not everything. As deep as beer runs in my soul, there are still lots of things better than beer. Maybe not lots, but at least somethings are better than beer.

 

I had mental pictures of Improvised Consumption Devices...

Hating on CO has been the cool thing for awhile now (not saying you're hating), but I only have to trade for 1 beer, Heady Topper. I can find an equally great beer from CO that people hype from their areas. there are quite a few here in Colorado that rival or surpass HF brews.

 

" You do what you love, and f the rest." Favorite scene from little miss sunshine sums it up.

Personally I can't imagine hoarding or going out of my way to whale hunt. But I would definitely plan a trip to try some great beers.

 

I am so lucky that I have a girlfriend who drives me to every bar. She'll have one beer, and I'll have three. One thing I resist doing is getting a bunch of tasters so I can tick, tick, tick. I find that a taster doesn't give enough of the story to consider "having" it. It's like watching only a few scenes from a movie, and then saying you've seen it all.

 

I wish my friends liked the hobby more. I find it exciting and I want to try it all. I buy something every time I go to the store. Maybe that's extreme but it sure is fun. Right now I have 6 bombers lined up in different styles.

May the tasting always continue.

 

...and I wouldn't blame her. Wait, hold on...I guess it depends on the beer.

 

Which begs the question: What constitutes perfection?...or do you just know it when you taste it? People are cheating themselves by looking for perfection with every pints they drink. This may make me a clod in some people's eyes, but I can enjoy a cheap macro lager as well as Pliny, Sucks etc. I'm OK with that.

 

I'm a beer extremist.

Allah achbeer.

 

I am unsure what “perfect” means buy I have a definition of a “right’ beer. A “right’ beer is a beer that you enjoy drinking at that moment.

Below is an example of a “right” beer for me (below is something I posted on another thread). Wow, I actually used the word “perfect” in the below story!

So, permit me to tell a story. I was recently in Lake Placid, NY with my wife and a bunch of friends cross country skiing. My wife and I stopped at a Rite Aid to pick up some stuff. In the Rite Aid there is a beer in multiple refrigerators. While my wife pick up the needed items I briskly went to see what beer was available (the supply of homebrewed beers I brought was getting low). I spied a twelve pack of Genny Bock beer (in cans). My wife sees me take it out and immediately asked: “Why are you buying that?’ What she was really asking was: Why are you buying that crap?” I replied: “I want to try it”. She asked me several more times over the course of 2-3 minutes: “Why are you buying that (crap)?” I was actually getting a little bit irritated. I paid $6.99 for twelve beers; what a deal!! So, we went back to the house we rented. I changed into my swim trunks and took my twelve pack to the hot tub. Now, I will readily admit that Genny Bock is not a craft beer but it sure was an enjoyable beer to drink while soaking in the hot tub after an exhausting day of cross country skiing (in 7°F conditions). I would guess that Genny Bock is ‘similar’ to Oettinger in that there is nothing exceptional about the beer but it is by no means “bad”. I would go so far as to say that if somebody is exhausted from cross country skiing and soaking in a hot tub that Genny Bock is the perfect beer for that exact situation.

Cheers!

P.S. Several other of the people in the hot tub tried the Genny Bock and they enjoyed drinking it. My wife did not drink a single Genny Bock (she only drank my homebrewed beers). My wife is such a beer snob.

 

Can I do both?

 

I want to try ALL TEH BEERZ!

Does that make me extreme?

 

I agree with the OP. I've come to the realization that while craft beer is good and better than AAL it can be very expensive and creates a Pokemon habit. (eg GOTTA CATCH EM ALL) While I do like having new and different beers I've shied away from hunting down $20 bottles of beer and have no problem buying beer by the case or having beer from my kegerator. I think some craft beer fans tend to forget that good beer is available year round and you don't have to stand in a line/be on a list to have it.

 

I have hiked (the width of) the appalachian trail, or as my son calls it, the application trail. We planed our trip without regard of beer, but I was happy to find terrapin at the local food city. I do search for beer on every trip, though.

 

When my parents lived in Vermont and we visited we drank Long Trail - whatever variety was available. It was the right beer, the right time, and the right place. Family vacations in Maine - invariably drank Geary's Pale Ale. Great beer - nope. But the circumstances (renting a cottage on a lake and lots of fishing and swimming) made it work and somehow it seemed to be the perfect brew. I have a friend who owns some woodlands in Maine and while he likes better beer, when he and his crew go up to the property they drink Natty Lite just because. When my daughter was at URI, we always went to Mew's Tavern - not "our" kind of place in terms of atmosphere. Decent but overpriced tap list, slightly better than average food, but it was the thing we did together which made it right.

I like the variety the better beer world has to offer, but I don't get fanatical about it either. Last thing I need is for a hobby to become like work and get all stressed out over it. Jack's Abby is less than an hour from my house, love their lagers, and for two years now we've been saying "you know, we should visit there sometime". I missed out on the Framinghammer variants - no particular reason other than I don't spend all my spare time beer shopping. I'll get over it.

Don't think I have tasted perfection, but I have consumed a fair amount of beer that was the right beer for whatever the occasion happened to be and it made me happy. Ratings-wise a lot of those beers would be considered mediocre, but it really doesn't matter. They were perfect for the context. Maybe because I am older the "gotta have" doesn't come over me but once in a while. Would I plan a trip or route a vacation specifically to hit breweries or bars - no, but if one happens to be in the neighborhood that's cool, we'll stop by. But I don't think someone who would choose to embark on a brew-centric vacation is an extremist either - if that's what someone likes to do, so what? If someone were to tell me their way is the only way to enjoy beer - that's getting extreme (or snobby) in my opinion. Otherwise, to each their own with mutual respect.

 

You can't brighten your day by blowing out someone else's candle.

Enjoy the beer that you enjoy.

 

They don't bother me at all. In fact, they help me as they make me appreciate how simple it is to enjoy beer.

 

"Extremism in the defense of good beer is no vice....and moderation in the pursuit of good beer is no virtue"

-Berry Goldenblend

 

As I've said in previous posts, I would (almost) kill for Genesee Bock at $6.99 a 12-pack. I'm envious. You can't get a 12-pack of anything for less than $10 in the Houston area. Maybe Pearl for a little over $9, but that's it. That sucks.

 

Geez. Seriously ?