Beer Geek #598312

Hey all, really like this new section in the forums, great idea! My name's Joel and my beer journey started in Milton, Delaware where I grew up. I worked for Dogfish Head for a few years and became friends with one of the brewers, Joe Lemnah, who went on to found Burlington Beer Co and is still thriving up there in Vermont. Anywho, he showed me that beer can be a culinary art and introduced me to all the various styles as well as homebrewing culture.

I left Delaware and bounced around to Florida, then New Orleans and I landed here in Asheville, NC which is arguably the greatest town in the US and inarguably the greatest beer town in the US I ended up working for the renowned bottle shop here, Appalachian Vintner and am still great friends with those guys even after departing several years back. I started trading beer when in Florida and got hooked fast. Those first handful of trades always felt like Christmas morning when I got to open the box. I also started reviewing beers and now have over 2000 full beer reviews logged here on BA (I strictly use BA. No RateBeer. No Untappd).

I stopped reviewing in 2017 because it was becoming monotonous and I was becoming an alcoholic lol. I also grew tired of exploring new styles since I had honed in on exactly what I like: IPAs (All kinds, especially hazies), Stouts (preferably barrel aged) Fruited sours (prefer wild over kettle) and some lagers now and then. Now I'm no longer in the beer industry, I have my own small business and play drums in a band. And I only rate every once in a while, but am still plenty active on the forums here. Sorry if this was long-winded, but I can't help but be thorough with things like this. Cheers!