Beer lessons learned in 2023

Lesson I learned is I can drink less beer and still enjoy life. I cut back almost 1/2 a beer a day from the prior year and this year I have had 1 beer on New Year’s Day as I always do before dry January starts for me. I can easily see cutting back to 1.5 beers a day or less this year. Time will tell.

Enjoy

 

There was a game?

 

I'm glad you bring up the inability to smell beer if you will, I used to keep quiet about it, but I've had a few chemical burns which did affect my ability to smell, and while I can smell the aromas they have to be strong. All IPAs smell like grapefruit, stouts, to me, smell like chocolate and most lighter beers just smell sweet. I understand that this affects what flavors I may be able to pick up, but none the less, it is what it is. I try to imagine what other smells I pick up when I taste a beer, it may be wrong, but it is how I can better process what I think I should be smelling.

 

Drinking a whole bomber of Grey Monday (equivalent to almost 8.5 beers) while grilling for me and my mom on the 4th of July, before having cocktails with our meal, before walking to a party where I only got 2 drinks in me before puking. Great lesson there lol

 

In my experience, reaching out to the brewery about old/expired products has been a positive one, resulting in merch, free beer, 1on1 time/conversation with the brewers. They're not being helped by old products sitting on store shelves, refrigerated or not. Let them know!

I had a similar experience that got me into some trouble on the same holiday

 

As a consumer it is not my job to "help" the brewery. If the beer is on the shelf and I buy it, it's fair game to be reviewed.

 

Oh man, I would really consider giving up beer tasting in case my olphactics were letting me down completely.
To me, beer tasting is: nose 70, mouth 30, or even nose 80, mouth 20.

 

Ask those smaller brewing companies if they use “ale yeast” in any of their lagers. It’s not a very uncommon practice… but I assume the practice is waning somewhat.

 

Time to go back to oldies, but goodies. I hadn't drank Deschutes Abyss or Alaskan Smoked Porter in over 5-7 years. I had both of them over the holiday's and was reminded how good they are...When available, I need to revisit some of my "original" beers when I started getting into craft.

Local, local, local. Yes, there are some closures, but in the SF Bay Area, there is some amazing beer. I have always supported local, but I have started to do so more in the past couple of years and will continue to do so moving forward.

 

I learned to spend less on beer. Deleting Tavour was a great first step

 

In my experience and for my palate beers that have stood the test of time have done so for a reason, here is an old thread whose intent was to remind beer lover's of that fact:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...oodies-a-classics-appreciation-thread.671138/

It is also funny you mention those two beers cause I finally got to try Alaskan Amber, a beer I had wanted to try for the longest time. I also asked for some Smoked Porter from the same BA, my first time having that Porter in 10 + years.

Long live the classics!!!

 

At $16 for a 15-pack, it is real hard to pass up

 

I learned that the "haze" phase for me is over, except for the occasional Fiddlehead or something. I just stopped enjoying them, and my intestinal tract also thanks me. I am now part of the Clear Beer club.

 

Same here, even though I've only been into craft beer for the last three years.

An exception would be styles I liked early on but I have moved past - such as Old Nation M-43, a local favorite which doesn't do for me what it once did.

 

I'm OK with one-and-done. Do what you enjoy, but this is what works for me.

That awkward moment when it's time to decide whether to have a second beer: I just call for the check. Move on with the day and save something for next time. No need to rush; they're making more every day. For every beer that goes off the rotation, something else will come on.

The exception would be lingering over a meal out, which I rarely do anymore except when I'm at a gathering. Even then, I'm usually with friends who drink moderately, so I'll go with the flow and do the same.

At home, I stick with one for similar reasons. I'm the only drinker in the house, and I don't want to be "that guy." Nothing wrong with doing that; it's just not what I want to do.

When I'm out with my mountain bike crowd it can be a bit awkward to sip while the other guys are slugging them down, but once you're past a certain age, who cares. And that age should probably be 21.

 

Single servings can be just as misleading as tasters or flights.

It usually takes me a week or two to get through a six pack. Over that time, my evaluation of a beer usually changes quite a bit.

I learned this very early on, after trying one of those overly fruited lagers. The first one had nice flavors of orange juice. By the third one I was drain pouring the stuff after realizing, with the help of BA reviews, that the stuff tasted like cheap orange soda. If I had stopped at one, I would have missed that.

Now that I'm getting a bit further on my beer journey, the same process is still in place, even if more nuanced. See my stream of consciousness response to Black Butte in WBAYDN. I'm still shaking my head trying to figure out how the fourth bottle tasted so much better than the first one. It's as if it was a different beer. Part of it was context and approach, but I think the more important element was repeated exposure to the beer.

 

I learned that I really like ambers, browns and blondes.

I also like beer.

 

That there are some crazy small breweries making somewhat obscure lager styles or wild ales for the love of the game that you have to go to the location to get, and you better support them or they'll disappear.

Also that when a small brewery goes out of business, employees don't give a shit about locking doors. Wandered around a few minutes in the darkness before realizing no one was there, called the number on the website and the line had been disconnected. Weird.

 

I like to have a stand by 12pk that I'll always pepper up with a sixer or two of something different to drink through for the week. That way I'll always have something that I know I'll like, and then something different to switch it up.

 

There are different yeasts that don't agree with my gut microbiome, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that I have an allergy. Do you break out in hives? Do you need to have an epipen on hand when you drink a Celebration? Does it affect your breathing? If not, it's not an allergy.