Bottle Conditioned

Why blog about beer?  Well, I guess it’s a two part question.  First, let’s start with “blog”.

As a podcaster, I’m already tapped into this whole social media thing.  Being able to record a show full of info every week and deliver it to people free of charge (basically) is a really cool thing.  Unfortunately, however, I can’t cover everything I want to cover in the podcast.  So, that leaves the blog.  Plus, it’s a nice place to just hang out and throw some thoughts down for awhile.  Pretty cool.  But, you already understand all this…or you wouldn’t be reading it.

So, onto part two.  Why beer?

This is a question I get asked quite a bit when I tell people I podcast about beer.  “Beer?  What is there to say about beer?”  Luckily, a lot.

I absolutely love great beer.  What people fail to understand is the breadth and depth of the beer scene out there beyond the supermarket American lager.  If I were to tell you that, very often, beer pairs better with food than wine, would you believe me?  Probably not.  How about if I said there were well over 80 different styles of beer that are recognized, and thousands upon thousands of brewers in the world?  Think I’m crazy?  What if I said that the average American lives within 10 miles of a microbrewery?  Nuts, eh?

See, people don’t get it.  We’ve been so brainwashed and set up by the mainstream beer market’s flashy ad campaigns, that we don’t even know when there is great beer right under our nose.  The great part though, is that once most people get their hands on great beer, they never go back.

Wine people understand this.  Wine people take pride (well, most of them - Boone’s Farm and Franzia buyers aside) in what they drink.  Many of them take an active approach to learning about wine, attending wine tastings and events, and exposing themselves the a variety of wines in an effort to expand their knowledge and experience with the beverage.  The vast majority of beer drinkers out there don’t, and that’s odd to me.

So, with this blog, I ask everyone out there to wake up and smell the hops.  There is great beer out there right in front of you waiting to be tried.  Porters, Stouts, IPAs, Dubbels, Tripels, Wheats and Wits… and the list goes on.  I’ll be writing a myriad of different things on this blog, from educational articles to thoughts on current beer news and trends.  I welcome your comments and hope you’ll also check out the podcast.

Cheers!

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