Unexpected Beer Geeks

In elementary school and high school, there was someone in I had class with but he seemed more popular and into cars. Saw him a little out of high school but not much after that. 10 years later, Im in Denver and run into him and he came from California as well to Denver for GABF. Another guy from my high school is brewing in SF at Dirty Water SF. Both surprised me, but glad more people are into craft beer.

 

The easy answer, and far less cool than OP, would be my dad-who is far from a beer geek, but my parents never drank (read: hid it well, at least) while I was growing up. They started doing wine in VA, and mom is still not a beer fan. But both try beer, and my dad is always up for sipping what I force... I mean bring for... them to try. They even join us at the local brewfest. Nothing better than seeing my dad find a beer he layer asks me about. Found out scotch ales and wee heavies work for him .

The ever so slightly less boring answer is the co-workers who come out of the woodwork (seemingly) when good beer is brought up. There seems to be a yearning by a lot more people than I'd thought for good beer. Granted, most of them are occasional drinkers, but I've given beer to a half dozen co-workers, all but one would I have ever thought would have been interested.

(still thinking on this, nice post)

 

I found out from a lifelong friend that a schoolmate of ours started a brewery. Easy to say that not a single person I grew up with did I say, "Yeah, he's gonna start a brewery."

There's a few I thought might shut a few down, but...

 

My mother-in-law.

 

Ditto. My 74 year old mother-in-law. When I first met her about 18 years ago she was already an occasional beer drinker. She is German, and would tell me she likes lagers. Good German lagers. When I would bring over beer when we visited I'd grab a six pack of Jever or something of the ilk. Over time, when I'd have something else with me I would give her a pour to try and she invariably liked it, regardless of style. She'd ask questions about the beers and occasionally would ask if what I had brought was available near her.

Now, and over the past couple years, I bring a broad assortment of great beers over every time we visit. Her favorites are almost always the ones I think are best too.

The best part is that every time she tries something new now, she says - with a knowing smile - "Mmm... that is a great lager," regardless of the style of beer she is drinking!

 

Me

 

It's not really a stereotype as much is it's just reality. Beer geek culture is overwhelmingly male dominated, even though there's no intrinsic reason for men to enjoy beer more.

Probably just a coincidence.

 

Back when I worked in a wine & beer shop(back when I was WineGuy3000), I had this couple who used to always come in & talk wine with me. Never, not even once, did they even hint at having a passion for/knowledge of craft beer.
One night, out of the blue, they walk in with a cooler & produce a Heady Topper. Just for me.
Turns out that they were advocates all along. I guess that they picked up on my craft passion by overhearing conversations that I'd had with other customers - & the way that they chose to reveal themselves to me was by bringing me a Heady.
Just awesome & totally unexpected.

 

I've had similar experiences as above. However, and not to be too much of a buzzkill, but I'm not seeing the stereotypes and exceptions as much any more. It's like people who like pizza. Many do. Lot of people. Craft beer has gone so mainstream that I'm just not surprised by anyone liking it.

 

I can tell you that the Funky Buddha Imperial Club members (~155) represent all ages (21+) and walks of life. It's really great to see!

 

One of our neighbors is a librarian and looks the part. She is into craft beer.

 

My now 50 year old mother is single-handley responsible for getting me into craft a few years ago even before I was of age! So I guess thats unexpected!

 

I wouldn't say "beer geek", but I let my 74 year old mother (who drinks only Heineken) try a Stone Enjoy By and she loved it. She now drinks the occasional IPA/DIPA. Blew me away.

 

My brother and I had no infatuation with alcohol like other teens (I'm now 23), and I didn't drink until I was 21. Even then, I found little interest in alcoholic drinks because I had not found something I enjoyed the flavor of. I was curious to try mead, which I did last year and found out that I loved the flavor of it. I stuck only to mead until late September of this year when I had an epiphany while having dinner at Silver City where I got their Panther Lake Porter for the first time, also out of curiosity. Before that, I had tried some beer but found it uninteresting and I wasn't a fan of the flavors. When I had the porter, it was like a switch had turned on and I got really interested in craft beer. It was kind of shocking for my parents to discover that I became a beer connoisseur overnight, as I had little interest in alcoholic drinks before hand.

 

So, a woman younger than Fritz Maytag, Jim Koch, Nick Matt, Dick Yuengling, Jr., and Jack McAulliffe, and around the same age as Ken Grossman, Kurt Widmer and Steve Hindy drinks "craft" beer?

Makes one wonder who bought the above named brewers' beers back when they began 30-40 years?
_______
* Hey, wait- re-reading the story of that woman - I think I went to high school with her!

 

Ive had a very similar situation here with my wife's Grandma. Nobody else in her family, or mine for that matter, really has much of an appreciation for good beer so for holidays I'll always bring a few bottles to share with her. It's really a unique experience having someone like that to share beer with even with a two generation age gap.

 

The mother last night who took her very young daughter trick or treating & stopped at our house. Mom had a beer in a coolie & I asked what she was drinking & it turned out to be Ommegang Hennepin. Very unexpected.

 

I consider craft beer a hobby. A lot of people who like craft beer don't consider it a hobby. Most every place the sells beer now has a decent selection of craft brews. My local grocery store has enough craft variety to keep most people who like craft beer content. I would say that just by being a contributor here, you all have chosen to raise your interest in craft beer and make it an actual hobby as opposed to another product you purchase while at the grocery store. Even most people who pick up a mix-a-six with names like Bell's, Founders, and Oskar Blues would look at you like you had three heads if you told them you were "trading beer" with someone from another state or driving an hour for a new beer to be tapped. Craft beer has definitely become mainstream and proof is the number of breweries, taprooms, and local grocery store selections now readily available. In order for that type of growth, the consumers have to be broader than late 20's and early 30's men. I think we are seeing this from all the stories above.

 

My road to beer advocacy is similar. Didn't drink at all until getting married at 23, starting drinking wine and some mixed drinks with my wife but never cared for it too much, had a few beers here and there but the light bulb moment for me was when I had an Orval for the first time. I had no idea beer could be that flavorful. That was just over a year and a half ago and since then I've logged over 700 unique beers and am about to start homebrewing. And of course my dream job is...wait for it...to start a brewpub some day. Coming from a teetotaling family growing up, I never would have dreamed in a million years of even dreaming of such a thing. As an added twist, I still have young siblings (my youngest brother is 6) and my parents have hidden the fact that their older siblings have chosen to drink. If I were to start actually working in the brewing industry......that would be an interesting situation.