What is your favorite part of being a craft beer lover?

The taste

 

I truly love the comraderie among friends. I have a group of friends that we all share beers and experiences with. We have a text “beer thread”. When we find a new good beer or grilling a steak with a good beer we take a pic and share it with the group. Also, we’ll send out invites when we plan to hit a local brewery or go out for a happy hour. Also, love sharing homebrew with my friends.

 

And the buzz. Oh yeah we all drink for the taste.

 

Style diversity (for now, anyway).

 

Drinking it of course. It's so much better than the swill I drank in my younger & stupider days.

 

That nearly everywhere I happen to travel, even in middle-of-nowhere spots like Theodore Roosevelt National Park, there's always new places to support and brews to try, and fellow enthusiasts to meet while doing so.

 

I love that I have an open, polyamorous love affair with beer. I got a lot of love to give.

Thanks for the positive thread OP.

 

The hunt for new and exciting things is the most pleasing next to actually enjoying the beers of course. Going to new places; breweries and stores, searching for my next lip smacker. Cheers!

 

Thanks, OP, for this thread! I find myself thinking about this often. I haven't been in the beer "game" as long as some, but what I have noticed is that, in general, beer brings together some really good-natured, laid back, and positive people! Just really good, nice, and generous folks!

Through my travels and visiting breweries, I have met and have become friends with some awesome people, that I would never have met if it wasn't for beer! I have an eclectic and diverse beer group with people from all walks of life with different politics, religion, cultures, etc....but sitting in a group at a beer share talking about what we smell, taste, and feel from a beer, brings us all together! Ha! And we love it!

 

I might get some dissent on this particular opinion, but I feel as thought craft beer is one of those things where experience is only worth so much. One can invest as much or as little time/money/energy/resources into their “hobby” as they are able to or choose to. Therefore, one with 10 years involved may have more or less experience than someone with 5 years involved. My 2cents. Cheers!

 

Years ago when the macros were essentially the only beers available and they all tasted the same (and I didn't know anything about the imports, thus I didn't try), there was no excitement in drinking beer. Now with the craft beers and so many breweries, there is such a great choice and so many styles that every beer is different and provides enjoyment as well as refreshment in the learning process.

 

I agree. This is a great thread. A bit depressing. Why? Because when I think of all the great beers I'll never try before I die, it's depressing. I want to try every beer ever brewed!

 

I agree with that sentence especially the homebrew part. Make the beers you like and enjoy them fresh.

Cheers!

P.S. And eliminate those nasty copper ions!

 

The learning process is enjoyable to me as well. A large part of which has happened here on this site, from you and many other users.

 

Converting others to the religion of craft beer. I'm like a Spanish Missionary in the New World without all the genocide and awfulness.

 

My second favorite thing about craft beer is the number of different flavors, aromas, and mouthfeels that a brewer can create using the grain, hops, yeast, and water. A good brewer truly is an artist. My favorite thing is drinking the art work. Next would be learning as much as I can about the process, the industry, and beer history thanks in no small part to this group.

 

Trying and reviewing new beers, shopping for beer, beer advocate,and of course, the buzz.

 

I like this thread a lot more than the negative sided one so good on you OP.

As just a consumer, there are quite a few aspects I love about it. First and most obvious is just drinking and enjoying it. Second is learning about it; the more I seem to learn, the more I realize how little I actually know about this wonderful beverage. Third and final aspect, beer brings people together (historically and presently) as one of the great equalizers and you instantly have a connection with someone if you share a love of the same beer/brewery.

As a buyer, offering recommendations to someone and having them come back to tell you how much they loved the beer is one of the best parts of my job; even better when they want another suggestion from you. With my regulars, you do that enough and you build a great rapport with them. Another aspect is that I'm in a position to educate and guide people about beer so that they aren't out on their own in an endless sea of options, that can be pretty overwhelming.

 

Either sitting out at a wonderful farm brewery on a nice day or sitting around the firepit on a nice evening with just a few close friends and sharing some world class beer together while talking about crazy stuff.

 

Being a long time craft beer advocate fits my aging lifestyle. I'm 64 but often feel ready for a dirt nap, and I just can't drink much any more. When I had my heart operation and such a couple years ago, I was told I could have two beers a day (every day!) and three if I save up (abstain for a day). That works pretty well for me, and really would add up to a lot of beer. In fact I don't drink 'em every day and I occasionally save up and have three or more (and usually feel rough the next day). I don't like the feeling that my heart might poop out so I usually just have one or two good ones on any given day.

So with craft brews, you make them count! Life is too short for low quality brew.

I also love the fact that when I am out at a restaurant, party or event, and on the odd chance they have nothing worthy of me drinking, I am just fine with a diet Pepsi instead of a Bud Light (or equivalent). I never feel like I am missing out because the bad taste would just offend me. I've been a huge beer snob for a decades but I can hide it behind my "health issues," so as not to offend a host who did not supply worthy brews.

I've become a bit of a cannabis snob too, more lately, but that's a story for another forum.

 

Careful there too, certain forms of cannabis can have bad effects on the heart.

 

The beer.

 

Drink the beer, is the best part.

 

1) taste and culture/tradition exploration - I migrated into craft beer from several years of whisky research and reviewing. My favorite thing about whisky is also my favorite thing about beer - there's a huge diversity of flavor profiles and styles, and most of them are historically connected to centuries-old tradition. Whisky and beer (and mezcal and wine and coffee and lots of other things) connect me to cultures and times in a really unique way.

2) Local community - unlike whisky and wine, since I don't live in Scotland or Napa or France, I can actually get to know the brewers of some really great breweries right around me. It adds another layer of enjoyment to the beverage when I can get to know the persons who make it

 

Yes, yes, yes. That is a great point to make! You get to know the brewers, owners, barkeeps, etc. when you walk into the local brewery taproom greeting everyone. You're part of a micro-community, and you feel special.

 

Another good thing is the existence of beer blogs to talk virtually with other members about this thing that we call craft beer. It's relaxation to me.

 

• The hunt
• The people you meet
• The social interaction
• The travel (part of the hunt)
• drinking good beer
• exploring the variety