How Did You Learn So Much About Craft Beer?

Being able to say that phrase is the one thing that requires the least amount of knowledge and experience. It's also the least valuable way to contribute, and ranks right up there with 'meh' for the sheer weightiness of insight.

True knowledge is knowing that you don't know, rather than trying to pretend that you do.

Welcome to craft beer. I'm a newbie here myself!

 

Here. Tons of useful threads. Most of the best conversations I have had are in WBAYDN.

 

The internet!
BA was one of the places I looked for information the most!

 

If you want to find out what beers are out there and the biggest hype beers are right now, this site is great. The trading aspect is good as well. But take everything you read here with a grain of salt. It's the internet so there are too many opinions/BS out there. Literature from well respected writers/brewers is your best bet for actual beer knowledge vs. someone on BA repeating what some loud mouth at a beer release said. Great site though.

 

Just from drinking hundreds of thousands of different craft beers over the past 12 years while keeping a very open mind about what craft beer can be, sharing beers and recommendations with friends, learning about the science that goes into brewing beer and that determines how and why a beer is what it is (and some variables can vary greatly between certain styles) from friends of mine who are home brewers, assisting my friends who are brewers in making over 100 batches of beer over the past 8 years, going to as many breweries as I am able to, being lucky enough to be best friends with someone who has worked in various areas of the industry (including as an assistant brewer, etc. at 2 well known American craft breweries), etc.

Eric

 

hooked since my first Brewery visit at age 16. Worked at over 60 beer festivals, visited beer festivals in UK, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, Italy, USA. Visited Breweries in all those Countries plus France, Cyprus & Germany. Read widely, arranged & hosted tutored tastings. Contributed to a book, Judged at several UK Festivals, written articles...

 

Lead off with a couple of good beers, then switch to the more affordable stuff. Eases the sting a lot.

Keeping track of what you've tried and what you think of it is key, especially as it forces you to develop your qualitative analysis skills (at least as regards beer).

 

Oh man it was hard work.
Someone should pay me for all the hard work I've done.
And then I can drink more beer...................

 

Definitely reading forums on beer advocate!also would recommend spending a little time talking to your beer distributors/sales person, you get info and possible help finding beer.

 

Time and Money

 

Id start by focusing on your own region. Check out breweries local to you, whether they are hyped or not. Visit beer bars with good selections in your area. Read the forums specific to your region. If you know the craft beer scene in your region well it will help a lot. Youll know which breweries to visit and which beers to go after as trade material for stuff out of your range.

Beer fests are excellent ways to try a lot of new stuff in a shorter time period. Depending on the range of brewries attending, you could easily try dozens of beers that otherwise would have taken a lot of time and money to find.

The trade forum is a good spot to figure out what the top beers being released are.

 

Honestly, my interest in craft beers begun when I tried craft beers not long after I turned 21 at Chicago bars like Edgewater Lounge(RIP), and also Hopleaf. Before long, I started to explore foreign and microbrewed beers both there and also Hopleaf, plus also at some of the early places like Goose Island's Clybourn brewpub, and the rest is history. Though later discovered beeradvocate.com's review section in the late 2000s, did help as I really pushed more and more towards discovering a lot more of the craft beers out there.

It's amazing to me how much the craft beer/microbrew scene exploded in growth during the 2010s, though!

 

can't say that I have, but it really seems worth the read. thanks for filling me in & cheers!

 

1. Drinking beer
2. This website
3. Work (distributor)

 

Lots of travel for the last 8 years and taking the time everywhere to seek out brews and WRITE reviews here on BA. I chuckle when I read my early reviews because I can see how inexperienced my beer senses and vocabulary were. Taking the time to evaluate and write down my observations really helped sharpen my skills. Of course, I've also read a lot, watched videos and listened to podcasts (particularly from The Brewing Network) and best of all, talked to a lot of people about beer all across the country.

 

I learned all I know from a wise man atop an old Himalayan mountain pass. It took me 4 days to get there and two of my sherpas succumbed to the elements during the climb. However, it was worth the effort.

He refused to take me as his pupil at first, but when I produced a flower of the newest rare experimental hop variety he simply nodded and told me to change into my uniform: a flannel shirt, selvedge jeans rolled up at the cuff, orange beanie and a fake beard. We trained for five years, maybe more (there were no calendars and besides, we were lit most of the time) until one day I awoke to find that he was moving on: he had taught me all that he could and also there was a brewery-only release he was trying to make.

 

A huge stack of "All About Beer" magazines given to me by a neighbor long ago. Like before the Internets long.

 

Here , beer fests , breweries , home brewing and around 45+ years of drinking and hunting down imports before craft beer.

 

I knew a lot before I discovered BA, but theres a lot of good info here. I started homebrewing a few years ago, and I think that really helped me understand what goes into beer.

And drinking lots of it, of course

 

My learning never stops. I strive to learn something new everyday. Visit breweries, talk to people all over the world, read books/magazines/other literature on beer, home brew, share, visit forums, visit different stores/tap houses, research...The knowledge will grow and keep growing as long as you stay interested.