How much does when you begin your craft experience affect your beer opinions?

I just started drinking craft beer about two months or so ago. With that being said, I don't chase after anything because I'm in a lucky state where I can pick up just about anything on the shelf and have never had it. I'm damn sure not about to get up early and wait in a line for a beer.

 

If older beer consumers are less likely to track down special releases, it's partially because spending a good portion of your day waiting in line for beer is more of a young man's/woman's game. Separate from that, one's age can certainly impact one's beer experiences, and as a result of this, one's opinions. If someone was a beer fanatic in the 1970s, their perspective would surely be different than someone who's first beer came after the dawn of the internet.

 

Waking up early for beer is better than waking up early for work.

Enjoy!

 

"How much does when you began your craft experience affect your beer opinions?"

I can't really say. I only began my craft experience once, so I have nothing to compare it to!

 

Every day is a new dawn. I've loved great beer for about 47 years. Cheers.

 

I think travel can make a difference as well. Suppose one has been to Belgium and/or Germany and/or the UK and consumed several different beers in their "natural habitat" Then I think one brings that experience back to the US with a clearer recognition that there are lots of good beers out there that don't require "waiting in line."

 

I'm still trying to figure out what that means

 

I guess you have no idea as you only have one perspective that started at a specific time.

I would guess that for most people there are four stages you go through with any hobby / interest like this:

1. This is cool - what the f**k is going on?

2. Ok now I get it.

3. Ok when I thought I got it, I hadn't actually. But perhaps I get it now.

4. Remember the good old days?

 

This...

 

Yeah, but keep in mind that many folks on a trip probably just gravitate to something that corroborates what they already know or think they know. If on a trip to Belgium, I wonder how many here would spend the entire time just at Cantillon instead of soaking it all in.

In my case, a trip to Bamberg turned me on to beer. Before that trip, my knowledge was zilch. I remember enjoying a Goose Island beverage in the 90s, but it was the trip to Germany that flipped the switch. The Goose Island beer was a stepping stone, but now I wonder how my experience might have been different if Goose Island flipped the switch instead.

 

I don't know. Every beer I've had that I've truly enjoyed and thought was worth the effort to acquire (which generally involved strolling into a bottle shop or bar and picking up/ordering), has not been an ultra-hyped whalebeast, just a well done, delicious, almost always available beer.

I've had BCBS, and thought it was a pretty good BA stout. I did not think it was multiple hours of standing in line better than something like BA Siberian Night, which I can just walk into a store today and pick up a 4 pack of the 2013 edition of for the same price, or Espresso Oak Aged Yeti, which involved me walking into a local craft beer bar and ordering a couple pints of, several days after the keg had been tapped.

If there's a beer that requires extreme effort to get, it had honestly better be so far above and beyond literally everything else ever brewed in anything remotely approaching its style, or I can't justify the extra price tag of hours of my life plus whatever the cash price is. When that turns into an effective cost of over $100 for a beer, I don't care if it is actual fresh unicorn blood, I'll drink something else.

 

I actually think this is a great question, being "Old Skool" myself. When I started there weren't that many options, so imports were the name of the game. Whitbread, John Courage, and Watney's Red Barrel were some of my favorites - are they even available now? I think not, at least in the form they used to be. But the point I'm getting to is that you learned your beers. And you learned to appreciate them. These days you can hardly keep up with all of the new offerings, and there are so many new styles! That difference in time clearly makes a difference, and I'm sure that had I been born 20 years earlier or 20 years from now those would both make a difference as well. (Note: drtth makes a great point in that your location also makes a huge difference. Many Britons have seen their favorite breweries disappear as they were absorbed by the giants. And why did Germany hang onto so many of their smaller village breweries?)

Let's not forget that technology has a great deal to do with it was well. Why do beer labels read "Brewed and bottled by ... whomever"? That's because years ago many breweries didn't bottle, they had someone else do it, and if you bottled your own beer it meant that you were superior. What about the days of cask and actual "barreled" beer? Surely beer tasted different then. What will the future hold? (As Zid pointed out, the greatest invention by man so far - the internet makes a huge difference).

One more point. There's a huge amount of creativity going on right now. That's possible ONLY because of the demand for beer that's going on now. The food/beer/liquor/artisinal renaissance that's going on has allowed breweries to try things because they know that they won't lose their shirt if it doesn't go over. That wasn't possible back in the early days of the 80's - breweries stuck to what they knew they could sell, because even then, they still had to sell !!! These days you could probably take an infected batch, add some spices, and call it "spiced Berliner" and people would buy it, just to try it, if nothing else.

These are the golden days of brewing. Enjoy them.

PS - I'm not even sure what Bourbon County is. Is that an A-B beer? ;P Seriously, I don't chase beers because there are just too many great options available already.

 

Back when I first got on BA I was pretty new to craft beer and couldn't believe the old timers who said they refused to wait in lines or hunt down beers. The not wanting to wait in lines I could understand. It was never an issue in Seattle back then anyway. But not even seeking out limited releases or trading to get them seemed crazy to me. I couldn't imagine feeling that way.

Fast forward about 4 years later and my first experience waiting in a line and I was immediately over it. Why do I need to wait in line when there are so many other options so much more easily obtained ... plus I can maintain my dignity? No more lines for me. I think many people get caught up with trying to get their hands on every hyped brew to the point it becomes like Pokemon. I'm fine with not getting to try everything ... I never would no matter how hard I tried. Most of it isn't better than what I can get locally anyway.

 

Besides, if you really want it, you can always get it for $50 then next day on Craigslist!

 

TheBungyo's post about waiting in line reminded me of something else, which I'll start off by saying that anytime I've waited in line I've always had a good time because of the people around me. Beer guys (and gals) are generally pretty cool, fun, and interesting people who can hold a conversation. With that said, being into beer these days is a lot different than it was back in the 80's because more people are into it, and it's not seen as weird. We're a community, if you will. I always used to get crap, or at least curious comments when I'd stop into a bar and order the unusual beers (like Killian's Red!). That doesn't happen anymore.

 

I agree with much of @NeroFiddled comments, even though he was a little slow to join BA . However, the community in the lines was different for me in the past compared to now, especially at events like the GABF. In the late 90's I would be near the front of the line close to the door about one hour prior to open doors, and the people I was around were always geeky beer enthusiasts. Now it's just... very mainstream, ordinary people. I feel no solidarity with people in line at a famous pizza restaurant in Chicago because they also like pizza. That's silly. But the beer community vibe in the distant past was much different for me.

I don't dispute that there are many more choices today and more beers due to all of the growth. But I do NOT think it is necessarily worth the accompanying negatives of the growth. I look at some of my favorite styles - American IPA - and the overwhelming majority I enjoyed in the late 90's until now. And you know what, along with those extra two or three on my top list there's also hundreds, (and I'm not exaggerating) hundreds of new american IPAs that just plain suck.

So, I would gladly rather have an earlier range of years or "era" than now. The entire picture here includes what it is like at the events, the bars, the brewpubs, the breweries and what the community is like. It isn't just about how many beers there are. Of course I don't expect many to agree with me on these points, but I am surprised that so many don't understand where I or some others are coming from.

Regarding the Golden Age, I don't think we have it yet. I think the Golden Age will consist of heavy national & regional distribution of top brewers and a very long overdue cleansing of the mediocre (or worse) breweries out there.

 

I think it human nature, regardless of age or experience, to become jaded after experiencing something a few times, whether it was easy or difficult to acquire. Those of us who are older (and probably some younger folks too) have the wisdom not to go thru the process of standing in a line in the freezing cold, etc. for a repeat purchase of this experience; however, we won't refuse it if it's dropped into our lap, or we might go after it if it's a new beer. For you newbies, go get it and enjoy that experience!

Qualifier: The 'becoming jaded after a few experiences' reference above does not apply to everything, namely having sex would be the first exception that I can think of that is contrary to my generalization.

 

Agreed. I got into craft beer around 3 years ago or so, and for the most part I could just go to the local beer stores to try the first few hundred beers. I've found a network of great local beer stores that have a rotating stock, and each time I go there (every few months or so) they have an extra 100 or so beers.

I have never run out of great beer to the point that I would line up to get my hands on any particular beer. For me, that seems to contradict the whole 'relaxing with a nice beer' philosophy.

 

As someone who has been drinking craft beer for about 15 years now, my observations comparing the average craft drinker then to now...

Now there is much more focus on local. Then there wasn't enough of a local scene to care.

Then there didn't seem to be as much focus on how rare a beer was. Rarity didn't make it better.

Then the average craft drinker appreciated imports and beers with lower abv and ibus. Now the focus is much more on the US, with the small exception of Belgium, and I'm shocked by how loved some beers are that are unbalanced