Crafty Snob

Fine, I'll admit it...I...am...a...sigh...a snob! Now wait I am not a snob just in everyday life, no I feel that I am a very easy person to get along with. It's just with beer and maybe some music, but for today's purpose we will only talk about the beer snob thing. On another note now that I have admitted my fault (yes the only one just don't ask my wife) can we please not remind me of it just call me a beer geek!

Have you ever liked a band or artist or anything really, before anyone else you know has heard of said item? Have you then spent countless minutes, hours, days or months researching everything about that item and immersing yourself in that information so much so that everything you do can then be traced back to that interest? If not, then really there is no hope for you! If yes, then you know how I feel about craft beer. As I mentioned in my post "My Journey", I have spent my free time of the last year or so immersed in all that is the awesome world of craft beer. I have spent time researching breweries, the beer they brew, how they brew it and what ingredients they use. I have read books, other blogs and sought out like minded people and home brewers. What I have learned is that I will never know all that there is to know and I think others in the industry feel the same way. Craft beer is ever evolving and changing and brewers will always push the limits of what they know is beer.

The issue that I seem to have is that while I love to talk, drink, read about and research craft beer; when I hear someone talking about craft beer and not being knowledgeable it really frustrates me. Frustrates me to the point of annoyance that someone is willing to accept a beer that does not taste good, so long as it gets you drunk...ugh, why would you want to get drunk while not enjoying your drink!?

So what if I am a beer snob, I do not see that as a bad thing. I obviously just enjoy the passion, heart and effort that goes into each one of the beers I drink. Am I a snob because I do not want to see this amazing industry watered down any further than what macro beer has done to it?

Does being a snob make me a hypocrite because I would rather see craft beer stay small than expand and lose it's origins, while at the same time I myself hope to turn my own passion into a career some how, be it with this blog or at a brewery thus expanding the reach of flavorful beverages.

I am also left with the thought, what happens when craft beer is no longer "craft beer". When it hits the mainstream like it almost has. Is Samuel Adams still on the same level as Dogfish Head? What about when Dogfish continues on its path and takes over the world of beer, will we as craft beer drinkers start to push away from these breweries just because they have been able to take their product and bring it to the masses? Will we call these companies sell outs? I hope not, there is enough beer to go around to everyone and there will always be people still in the dark or at least with a can of Bud in their hand.

Happy reading and cheers!

Welcome Home

Whew! This is my first week back from vacation and boy have I been busy! Not necessarily with beer related items or activities, but with life in general. Last week Mallory and I spent a few days in New York City with our boys and her parents...Yes, the in-laws (really not bad as most would think!) We drove to New Jersey on Wednesday morning, getting there in time to attend the Yankee/Ranger game that night. In preparation for the game my father-in-law and I went out in search of some good craft brews (a great thing about my father in law... he like himself a craft beer...or two) We arrived at a local liquor store in East Rutherford, NJ with hopes that they will have a decent selection with brews that I cannot usually get in Northern Virginia. You can understand how horrified I was when all I saw was horrible Budweiser and Bud Lite. Yet like a shinning light from God there was one shelf full of Samuel Adams Octoberfest!

You may be surprised when I tell you this, but it was my first time ever having this Samuel Adams beer. I have never really been into fall seasonal beers mainly because I have never liked anything with pumpkin in it, but this is not a pumpkin beer and I am a bit more open minded now. So with no pretense in mind I cracked a few bottles in the parking lot waiting to go into the game and I must say I was very pleased. The beer was very smooth, with a great blend of the malty flavor you would expect from a beer better suited for the fall season than the summer. However, the malt flavor was actually a great choice since it was a rainy evening and the game was rain delayed.

Once inside the stadium I figured that I would not find anything worth drinking, but again I was pleasantly surprised when I found Goose Island IPA on tap at each stand. Again this was a beer I had not had before and found myself enjoying it immensely. It did not pucker your mouth like some IPA's, which is not a bad thing some times, but this beer was sweet like IPA's yet not overly so. Very drinkable which will leave you the ability to drink more than a couple before being down and out for the night, which is always a plus.  I would not hesitate to get this IPA again and will be looking for it at my local Wegmans.

Thursday's plan was to venture into the city and do some exploring, this is where the kids got really excited, they thought when we said World Trade Center we meant World TRAIN Center, crazy boys! This was not a beer excursion so no major opportunities to search the city of its wonderful hidden gems of beer goodness, but I was able to get a good idea that I want to go back just Mallory and I and really spend time exploring the concrete jungle that is New York City. We did stop for lunch/drinks in Battery Park where we found a Beer Garden featuring Victory Brewing Company, here I had their lager and Festbier, both of which were as good as you would expect from Victory Brewing. I was a bit surprised that a Philadelphia brewery would be in Manhattan and not a New York brewer, but that's a story for a different time. For dinner we stopped at an alehouse in the Upper West Side called Amsterdam Alehouse. This was a great place with great beer, with my dinner I had a Dale's Pale Ale drawn from a cask. For those not in the know a cask is just like a keg however the carbonation is lighter than what is usually found in beer (yes I know this is not an in depth description, but that's not what I am here for tonight).

All in all this was a good trip, it was the kids first time to the Big Apple and they had a good time. It was a quick trip that seemed longer just because of all of the walking around the city. I highly suggest spending a weekend to tour the city of your choice be it for the beer or just for the city experience I am sure you will have a good time. Best of all I was able to spend some great quality time with Mallory and the kids away from work!

Cheers!