How Did You Learn So Much About Craft Beer?

Maria, I would suggest that where you learned the most is from an inquiring mind, a perceptive palate, and the willingness to explore and appreciate new beers. Your video reviews on your YouTube channel are stellar.

Experience is the best teacher IMO.

Cheers!

 

a friend of mine that got me into craft beer and working at a liquor store is how i got to know about my craft beers

 

I started homebrewing (all grain) about 30 years ago and stopped in 2000 since craft brewing became popular and you could buy good beer.

 

You can learn a lot by going to breweries and taking the tours and speaking to the brewer or owner. read a book by Michael Jackson . And just try beers.

 

...and a lot of beer drinking.

Oh yeah, and reading Jesskidden's posts.

 

Reading through the What beer are your drinking now and Latest Haul Thread have helped me pick up some beers that I might normally overlook. For example, I hadn't considered picking up The Abyss, until I started wondering why everyone was posting pictures of it in the haul thread. Curiosity got the best of me and as it turns out, it's rated really high. So I picked up two bottles. I had also looked over Grimm's Double Negative on about the last dozen trips to the bottle shop, but thanks to this site, I read up on it more and found out it's right down my alley. I found some Imperial Biscotti Break last week and picked it up thanks to what I'd seen on here as well (I probably wouldn't have picked it up otherwise). So I guess it just takes time.

All that said, I still feel like a fool when it comes to beer. I can't name a single type of yeast used. I know about two hop types, and two malt types. Now if you brought me an IPA and asked what type of hops are in it, I'd fail. For one, I haven't drank many IPAs. Two, I don't read much on hop/malt types. I suppose it'll just take time, and drinking and reading more. Fortunately, it's easy to multitask those two

Long post with lots of examples, but I'm really thankful for this site. Otherwise, I'd probably still only be drinking stouts with whatever labels look the coolest.

 

3-4 years is decently new? I've only been into craft beer since last October! Anyway, I get my info from researching on sites like this, experiencing beer from breweries and bottles, and from the occasional book such as Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher.

 

I always try to keep up with my local bottle shop's Twitter and Facebook pages.

Often times they'll post what they've received in or are expecting to receive in. Its a great way to insure you're one of the first to receive a limited release.

Also, I do that same for breweries I like. They'll typically post when they are bottling something, thus letting you know to expect it to hit shelves "soon" (which can mean a lot of different things depending on the distributor and what part of the country you're in).

 

I use this site and beermenus the most for finding best beers in a region, style, etc.

All About Beer, Craft Beer and Brewing, and Draft are good internet and print magazines for general news about beer, reviews, travel, etc.

But as said many times the best way is tasting and experiencing to find out what you like/love or don't like, these days there is certainly something for everyone.

 

I'd like to do this more often, but it's not allowed in the trade forums. I know they have addressed it specifically and I have been warned for it in the past (not intentionally). As many others discussed in that post the trading rules make it not possible because you're not asking for specific things. Sadly I don't know who has the ability and time to look up all the local beers in a remote area to post up a trade. That's only considering an IP trade and you know where you're going. Even harder if you want to mail locals for locals.

 

I'm sure someone mentioned this already, but on top of reading on beer advocate and all the other places that tip you off to new beers to try, plus traveling and always looking up which good stores/breweries/bars are in the area, I think everyone should at the very least read a book on homebrewing or even better try homebrewing themselves. I've stopped homebrewing at this point just because there are so many good options for new, rare, and seasonal beers all the time, but knowing how each style is made and what specifically makes that style great makes you appreciate it so much more. For example, I never attempted brewing a Belgian quad because there is so much that goes into the mash alone, let alone the rest of it, but that definitely made me appreciate a Rochefort 10 every once in a while. Or understanding exactly what the thought is behind the super dry ipas versus the dank/juicy/hazy as all hell ipas. It also makes people less arrogant when they try a beer that's not perfect, because it makes them realize the difference between tweaking a recipe and full on ruining a beer and trying to pass it off as okay. It definitely adds a new dimension to the conversation as opposed to just ticking away beers.

 

Have you got Amber, Gold & Black by Martyn Cornell? It's probably the best book on beer history out there, and unlike many sources of information summing up beer history it's written by someone who actually researches beer. It puts to bed some of the misinformation that's out there, like the myths about IPAs being heavily hopped and Russian Imperial Stouts being particularly strong for the purposes of preservation in extreme climates.

The author also has a blog, if you can't get your hands on the book. http://zythophile.co.uk/