Why craft beer??

They taste better.

 

No less filling!!!

No wait. You are right. Taste great!

 

I choose good beer ... "craft" has nothing to do with it. Don't equate "craft" with good or quality or anything similar.

 

For me it started strictly because of flavor. This is still a major part of it but other reasons include precisely what you just mentioned (supporting local business and forward thinking minds). I tend to think of craft beer as more art than science and I view it as an extremely important part of our culture as well as others and needs to be celebrated and passed on to new generations and I'm glad to be an advocate for it. Wow that's a rant, but I'm half drunk so be kind!

 

Better quality. Also, I prefer to support small business when I can.

 

This is pretty much the only answer needed for this.

 

I like and admire your enthusiasm.

For me, it is all about getting fucked up.

Just kidding. I choose craft beer because it is far superior and the antithesis to the options I grew up on. I love fresh beer, whether it is getting pummeled by a top notch IPA or finding the subtleties of a well done hefeweizen or pilsner. Finding the "sweet spot" on aging a beer to it's peak perforance and experimenting and realizing that aging something does it no favors. I love walking into the beer cooler knowing I'm going to just grab a six pack of one of my favorite porters, or just happening upon a Firestone Walker Anniversary beer or 50/50 Eclipse. I also love the people who enjoy craft beer and this one thing in common has developed some of the best friendships of my life.

There is a lot I don't love about it these days, but I do my best to focus on the above. Stay away from the negatives, not get too serious and be prepared to laugh at myself (and others).

Cheers!

 

Because most all of them are at least triple hopped.

 

Well put! It just so happens that craft is good and quality more often than not. I just wish we could come up with a less snobbish term other than "craft"

 

Taste.

I recommend people drink what they think tastes best.

Not because something is local, regional, or imported.

 

What Prh27 said above is obviously the main reason for most of us.

There's also a sense of community and camaraderie in the craft beer world that you don't really get from the big macro breweries. I was fortunate a few weeks ago to tour a local brewery, Fremont Brewing, and the founder and owner of the brewery led the tour—he's also a member of BeerAdvocate. (Sidenote: I was actually there to taste a special beer they released in response to a thread in the BeerAdvocate NW forum! A thread that was deleted, by the way) Anyway, his tour went way over the scheduled 30-minute duration, but what came through again and again was his enthusiasm about delivering the best possible product to the local market, and also the importance of giving back to the community through fundraisers, special beers and events, etc.

I learned a lot, straight from the top of the organization, about this brewery's "mission," which is about a lot more than just making money. And that makes me feel even better about buying their beer. But again, if the beer wasn't already fresh and delicious, none of the other stuff would matter.

 

I like the better tasting, more complex beers like IPAs and RISs and the vast majority just happen to be brewed by what most call "craft" brewers.

IDGAF who makes it, if its local, regional, whatever. The only difference that makes is distro and access. But I won't buy a beer just because its locally brewed

 

I just wanted something different. I looked around, and saw companies selling beer that tasted and looked more or less the same with different labels slapped onto them - so I decided to look for something substantively different.

 

Because when I was in college and turned 21, I could drink a 6 pack of Brooklyn chocolate stout (10%abv) and be smashed, back when BCS came in 6 packs for like $9.99! I usually only made it to four, but I was peeing a lot less than my keystone light drinking friends.

Really though, because it's freaking delicious and has extreme variety. I try to explain to people who consistently buy the same beer, would you really want to EAT the same exact thing everyday too? I love me steak, but I also love PB&J. I don't always want a BCBS, and sometimes I want something very ordinary, like flying fish pale ale/uinta wylde. Variety is the spice of life, for beer as well as everything else.

 

I got bored drinking BMC. Fresh out of college, friends move away, and each night after work I'd drink a couple Coors light. No matter what I ate for dinner, it was accompanied by Coors light. It got to a point where I wanted more out of my beer, and started slowly trying whatever beer I could find that wasn't Coors. It became a hobby where I read about the history of beer, the importance of particular beers and/or breweries, and what went into the beer. Now I take vacations based on beers or breweries I want to experience, meet new people, and have expanded my food options to match specific beers.

 

I drink craft beer because I enjoy the variety, the intricacies, the simplicity that some possess, the heart that was put into many of them, the homage to styles of our past, the experimental spirit of some and most of all, I know that wonderful nectar of life supports the lives of so many. That, I can raise my glass to.

 

I never claim to drink craft beers. i drink what i think is good beer. the "buy local" pom-pom cheering thing isn't for me. i get why that's important to some but my money goes to the breweries that make beers that taste good. if they use local ingredients, then cool. if not, no biggie

 

that' would be a great emoticon for the Bros. to add - the buy local pom-pom smiley.

 

"Craft" beer is not watered down. More flavor and different flavors. Varieties of hops, malts, and yeasts. Variety. Different tastes. Did I mention variety?