Why do we call ourselves beer geeks or beer nerds?

The Guys I Work with Call Me The Mayor of Beertown. I kinda Like It, but Modesty is an Important Trait to Have.

 

I prefer the term Spirit Guide. My given name is Quivering Liver

 

I think you're confused over the meaning of geek/nerd. Sure, beer is a common man's drink, but I don't see the common man flying across the country to wait out in the cold for 3 hours just to buy a couple bottles of beer that cost more than what their friend back home spends on beer in a year. That's a geek/what ever superlative you wish to equip. It doesn't really matter what the object of obsession is. I have no problem considering myself a geek: beer, music, food, hiking, science, etc.

 

I say we reserve the term Beer Nut for folks who do that .

 

I'm a beer dweeb

 

Well when I'm introduced to a new person as "he's a beer snob", then I feel like their first impression of me is negative and that they'll feel I'm a tool/elitist/douce and I have to spend the next "x" number of minutes talking with them doing damage control to ensure to them that I'm a friendly, fun person to be around. When I introduced as "he's a beer nerd", then the first impression is usually more warm and friendly, less mop up duty to make on my reputation.

I think nerd/geek really is the fact that beer drinking in culture over the centuries has usually been something one partakes in indirectly as a social lubricant without much thought or focus on the beer itself but more on the conversation or purpose to get drunk. Us here on BA tend to put the beer at the focal point of our social situation and conversation. That makes us socially "off" compared to the norm, and thus fairly can be labeled as a geek/nerd.

 

Which is weird, given that your name is actually Steve.

 

ouchies who does that TO you? kind of mean.

 

My two cents: a connoisseur is "an expert judge in matters of taste". And frankly, I think a lot of us are far from being "experts," nor do we necessarily have any desire to be. We know what we like and what we don't, and we often "geek out" about new or limited releases.

Now, if you're a certified cicerone who enjoys finding the absolute perfect pairings for beer and food, I think connoisseur would be a good fit. But if you're sitting at a laptop and typing "OMG you guys that new barrel aged coffee pepper imperial stout sounds awesome," chances are you're a bit more of a geek. And there is nothing wrong with that.

 

I am a beer lover.

I am okay with all the rest of the names folks can call me, just don't call me late to the bottle of Cantillon getting opened.

 

Niles and Frazier Crane are wine connoisseurs. Martin Crane is a beer lover.

Be a lover, not a connoisseur.

 

I don't refer to myself as a "beer geek", "beer nerd", "beer ..." I let other people, mainly my parents, do that and to be honest it is getting really fucking old hearing it over and over again.

 

"Don't sweat the small stuff, and it's all small stuff." - I don't remember who said it first.

 

I once read something where the writer was describing early 80's New Wave. He said "there is no new wave or punk rock- this is just music for people who don't like the usual crap everyone else likes"- maybe we are just people that don't like the usual crap everyone else likes. What is the term for such a person? I'm not sure- cool? I know I am.

 

Possibly to humanize ourselves and sound less pompous.

 

I don't mind being referred to as a nerd if we're talking about beer, so I'm cool with it. Anyone who reads about PH levels to better home brewing may be a nerd.

 

You dweebs are still talking about why you call yourselves geeks and nerds?

 

Connoisseurs is hard to sepll.

 

I personally can't stand the geek label. It isn't what it is. Someone else said it right, I like beer and nice things. I am obsessed with certain foods and also homebrew and post on forums like this about those subjects. Does that make me a food nerd and a homebrew geek? There many other sides to life besides beer. I am a person who drinks beer. The bottles have labels, we don't need one.