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Drinking with real brewers
Mar. 20th, 2004 10:47 amSometimes I feel like such a little kid when I am standing in a bar with a professional berwer, especially when it's his (or her) beer we're drinking.
I *know* it's silly, but while I have been drinking beer for 30 years and good beer for 10, I have only been in the Boston area for 18 months. In that time, of course, I discovered BeerAdvocate.com , and now I am drinking great beer (with the occasional miss).
I am certainly not one of the Beer Cognoscenti, but I understand the basics, and I can tell most styles by look and taste. (Note: This has been a difficult task. Much beer needs to be drunk to do this).
But when the talk turns to different kinds of hops, dry-hopping, IBUs, etc., I do one of two things. If I am sober, I look at the person talking to me and say, "Please go slowly." If I am drunk, I merely node sagely.
Brewing is not so much of an art or a science to me, but rather an arcane form of magic. My wife keeps urging me to home-brew, but I just cannot imagine I am going to be able to brew something drinkable. (OK, maybe some day, who knows).
Doing the BA circuit has allowed me to meet many brewers, beer writers and those aforementioned Beer Cognoscenti, such as Todd and Jason from beeradvocate.com . I just still find it very cool.
Last night, I put 100 miles on the truck in pursuit of beer knowledge. Drove from Peabody to Acton (Acton Wine & Spirits. Good place. More cold bombers of good beer than most places. Good selection, good prices, nice folks), and met Matthew from Offshore Brewing. I always get nervous when I drink someone's beer in front of them, but I had no problem picking up a coupel of six-packs of Offshore Amber Ale after I tasted it. (I drank some later when I got home, and I found it to be a full-tasting beer).
Now, there are a lot of easier ways to get from Peabody to Haverhill besides a swing through Acton, but I wanted to get to a Friday Cask party with Dann Paquette at The Tap. Plus I knew he would have good Belgium stories.
His cask-conditioned IPA was one of the most outstanding beers I have had in a long time. Again, no expert here, but it was incredibly hoppy, again, a very full beer and tasted terrfiic (I will never say "Tastes great!"
I find that I comprehend about 50 percent of what brewers tell me. I am trying to think here, and I know I have met folks from Allagash, Cambridge Brewing Co., Cooperstown Brewing, Berkshire and of course my favorite brewer-turned barkeep, David at Anam Cara.
More thoughts later.
Liam
I *know* it's silly, but while I have been drinking beer for 30 years and good beer for 10, I have only been in the Boston area for 18 months. In that time, of course, I discovered BeerAdvocate.com , and now I am drinking great beer (with the occasional miss).
I am certainly not one of the Beer Cognoscenti, but I understand the basics, and I can tell most styles by look and taste. (Note: This has been a difficult task. Much beer needs to be drunk to do this).
But when the talk turns to different kinds of hops, dry-hopping, IBUs, etc., I do one of two things. If I am sober, I look at the person talking to me and say, "Please go slowly." If I am drunk, I merely node sagely.
Brewing is not so much of an art or a science to me, but rather an arcane form of magic. My wife keeps urging me to home-brew, but I just cannot imagine I am going to be able to brew something drinkable. (OK, maybe some day, who knows).
Doing the BA circuit has allowed me to meet many brewers, beer writers and those aforementioned Beer Cognoscenti, such as Todd and Jason from beeradvocate.com . I just still find it very cool.
Last night, I put 100 miles on the truck in pursuit of beer knowledge. Drove from Peabody to Acton (Acton Wine & Spirits. Good place. More cold bombers of good beer than most places. Good selection, good prices, nice folks), and met Matthew from Offshore Brewing. I always get nervous when I drink someone's beer in front of them, but I had no problem picking up a coupel of six-packs of Offshore Amber Ale after I tasted it. (I drank some later when I got home, and I found it to be a full-tasting beer).
Now, there are a lot of easier ways to get from Peabody to Haverhill besides a swing through Acton, but I wanted to get to a Friday Cask party with Dann Paquette at The Tap. Plus I knew he would have good Belgium stories.
His cask-conditioned IPA was one of the most outstanding beers I have had in a long time. Again, no expert here, but it was incredibly hoppy, again, a very full beer and tasted terrfiic (I will never say "Tastes great!"
I find that I comprehend about 50 percent of what brewers tell me. I am trying to think here, and I know I have met folks from Allagash, Cambridge Brewing Co., Cooperstown Brewing, Berkshire and of course my favorite brewer-turned barkeep, David at Anam Cara.
More thoughts later.
Liam
