I transferred to San Diego in 1988. After two years on a Submarine, I finished my hitch and decided to stay in San Diego and have been here ever since.

Beer drinkers, for as long as I can remember, were stereotyped as working-class people who loved to toss back a few ‘cold ones’ after a hard day of work or watching a ballgame. I fit that description. That changed four years ago. I started drinking craft beer.

It’s a cat’s life

I was lucky being in San Diego. San Diego was perhaps at the center of the IPA craze in the Craft Beer movement. By 2013 Stone Brewing was already nearing 20 years of operation. As I learned more about the movement I learned breweries in Colorado were approaching 30-year anniversaries. I was converted to Craft Beer. If there is anything that I’ve learned in this four years, there are many types of Craft Beer drinkers. Craft Beer drinkers know that. There is no stereotype. So, with my limited experience and a starting point from a friend, I would like to describe my journey of becoming Craft Beer Drinker.

BASIC BEER DRINKER

The basic beer drinker is the person who basically drinks ‘Big Beer’. For me, way back then, when I shouldn’t have been drinking beer the choice was easy. Miller, Coors, or Bud. If we had enough money Michelob. The highest end ever, usually when the rich kids threw a party, Heineken or Lowenbrau.

Another group of beers which were popular during my high school and early college years were malt liquors such as Mickey’s Big Mouth or ‘The Bull’, Schlitz Malt Liquor. If you’ve never had those beers, believe me, it’s not Founders DKML! In fact, where I grew up Mickey’s was nicknamed Pickle Juice in reference to the green bottles in which the beer was packaged.

As college days went by and the Navy came and went, it was all about light beers. Women did not drink beer at that time. Women were all about Wine or Mixed drinks. There were exceptions to that, those Women were rare. I did have an issue with light beer. Every time I had to switch from whatever light beer I was drinking to a different brand, the first 3-5 beers tasted like acetone. Choking them down was a chore. The thing is after those 3-5 beers they tasted the same. To quote the founder of Stone Brewing, “Fizzy Yellow Beer” is all it was.

I am still a fan of Mexican Lagers, although during this time they weren’t called that. They were Mexican beer, which always needed lime and salt. I’m not sure whether it was to improve the taste or deal with the myth the acid in the lime might act as a sort of anti-bacterial agent. I can remember Corona bottles in six packs at that time where no two bottles in the sixer had the same liquid level in them. Quality Assurance wasn’t a priority I guess.

It is my opinion that all beer drinkers, of my age, started in this category. Only Millennials are young enough to have bypassed this category of beer drinker and start with Craft Beer.

NEWBIE

2013 is the year I converted to Craft Beer drinking. That was not my first craft beer. Right after my divorce in 2001 I moved and there was a Pizza joint within walking distance of my apartment. It just so happened they had a very small brewery in the restaurant. Their taps were exclusively their beers.

I read the beer list and asked for an IPA. The bartender asked if I had had that type of beer before. The answer was no. She warned me that the beer was bitter and intended to be that way. I said I’d try it anyway. To say it didn’t go well is an understatement. I did come short of spitting the beer on her, but not spitting up the beer. “I told you so” was her response. My initiation into craft beer didn’t go well. I did go back to that restaurant. They did have a Blonde Ale that wasn’t bad. Within a few months, that bar started including Coors Light and I was back in Basic Beer mode again.

A lesson I learned and continue to advocate today if a friend or stranger asks for advice on craft beer DON’T recommend an IPA to start their journey through craft beer.

Over the years I tried different beers Lagers, Ales, Brown and Red, Blondes, and I really liked Guinness. In 2013 I went to my first brewery, Ballast Point.

Victory at Sea is a Porter. To my Newbie eyes it was a Stout. Little did I know it was 12% ABV. Let’s just say that after two pints I was 1) glad I wasn’t driving and 2) hooked on Ballast Point beers. They had so many types of beers. I even was able to start drinking IPAs. I didn’t know anything about the beer other than I liked it.

BEER ENTHUSIAST

Ever since that first visit to Ballast Point Brewery I have been a sponge. I am on Untappd and a few months ago got my Epic Badge passing the 500-different beer mark. I read about beer, talk about beer, and in some of the places I go the bartenders send people to me to talk about beers. Maybe it was because those bartenders want me to stop talking to them about beer!

I will still drink a Coors Light if that is all that is available when I go to parties. I tend to make sure that doesn’t happen by bringing craft beer with me. We all know it’s a Party Foul to say, “that’s my beer”. I only get one or two beers because the beer I brought is the first to go.

I have visited many breweries and restaurants that brew their beer. It’s more than a hobby. The one characteristic of calling myself a beer enthusiast is I have not yet, in my opinion, morphed into any of the other possible categories of beer drinker with one exception. I’ll tell you at the end.

Going from Basic Beer drinker to Newbie to Beer Enthusiast seems a logical path to go through when starting the journey of becoming a Craft Beer drinker. Thing is there are other types of Craft Beer drinkers out there. In my opinion, from this point forward any of the following types of Craft Beer drinkers create a hybrid Newbie or Beer Enthusiast.

BEER CONNOISSEUR

These are the beer experts. They know about beer and they know their limitations on what they know about beer. They also recognize that not all craft beer is good beer. They tend to be precise about the beers they recommend. Recognition of their limitations allows them to be constantly improving their knowledge.

In my opinion the Beer Connoisseur is likely to become a homebrewer because to understand craft beer an understanding of brewing beer is important. From a linear perspective the Beer Connoisseur is the direct evolution of the Beer Enthusiast who has spent enough time drinking various styles of Craft Beer, learning the jargon associated with beer brewing, and an insatiable need to learn more about beer. A Beer Connoisseur has an expertise in all things beer.

The Jellyman

BEER HUNTER

Beer Hunters are Beer Connoisseurs or Beer Enthusiasts who are not just looking for great beer where they can find it. They are looking of specific hard-to-find beers. Any distance, any cost, they want the beer. Some of these craft beer drinkers are the Captain Ahabs of the craft beer world. Continually looking for the White Whale.

The Beer Hunter’s job is a bit easier with the advent of beer mail or on-line companies that provide wide-ranging beers for sale which are delivered to your door. This is rudimentary beer hunting. I have used one of these on-line sites, it’s expensive and convenient.

I’ve personally never been one to stand in a long line waiting to get a 4-pack of hard to find beer. If I get the opportunity to pick up a rare beer when I recognize it, I will do that. I don’t spend a lot of time looking for it.

The one thing I did and no longer do is set up notifications in Untappd for venues that are serving Pliny the Elder or Pliny the Younger. After a few tries at racing to the bar or tap takeover to finally get to try this beer and not making it on time, I gave up. I wonder if at some point or another all Craft Beer drinkers dabble at being a Beer Hunter.

GIVE ME INDEPENDENT OR NOTHING AT ALL

The advent of small craft breweries and even some larger breweries ‘selling out’ to Big Beer has led to a backlash against these breweries. I completely understand this from a beer drinker’s perspective and a ‘you’re a traitor for money’ perspective.

The only issue I have with that is many of these breweries are continuing to make great beer. My favorite example for myself is Lagunitas Brewing. I love Aunt Sally. That beer is one of the best Sour Ales, in my opinion, out there.

It’s amazing the number of Craft Breweries being purchased by Big Beer. Additionally, how it’s not making news anymore as well. I recently found out on a Twitter thread that Anchor Steam had sold out. I quickly fact checked it and sure enough found Sapporo had purchased Anchor Steam and I tweeted it. People were shocked. The reason was the Twitter thread was all about people raving about a seasonal release of an Anchor Steam Beer. Many of those people on that thread were admitted Independent Craft Beer only drinkers.

Maybe its just as good for me to ‘attempt’ to only drink Independent and if I don’t, I will own up to it, especially when it comes to Aunt Sally.

LOCAL YOCAL/FAN BOYZ (and GIRLZ)

In the bigger cities I would imagine this is not as big a deal. San Diego has well over 250 breweries in the county. Drinking local can assure I have a great variety of beer to drink and I support local. Many Craft Breweries are increasing their regional and national footprints for their beer distribution. I don’t find it traitorous to my supporting San Diego Breweries by picking up a sixer of Oskar Blues Beerito or Dogfish Head 90-minute IPA. Who knows, maybe I’m in Beer Hunter mode!

The Fan Boyz or Girlz are loyal to a single brewery. I’m not trying to be snotty or snobbish, but only drinking beer from a single brewery prompts a question. Are you a Craft Beer drinker? Speaking of snobbish…

BEER SNOB

These people are likely Beer Enthusiasts, Beer Connoisseurs, or Beer Hunters who may or may not have a lot of knowledge on Craft Beer. The issue with Beer Snobs is they refuse to accept anyone else’s opinion on any subject about craft beer. A friend told me that she at times ‘veers’ into this category and quickly checks herself once she recognized the change. I go there myself as well. I was actually called a Beer Snob on twitter once. It’s possibly human nature. Bottom line is Craft Beer drinkers are a community. It is much easier to have spirited discourse with give and take, than to have the belief you know more than anyone else.

As a Craft Beer Drinker, the essential point is more likely than not, you or I don’t fit into any one of these categories. It is more likely we are all hybrids of multiple categories. That said, go out, explore, and drink great beer wherever you can find it. Define your scruples and follow them. That’s my advice, from Jellyman, the Part-time Beer Hunter, Wanna-Be Beer Connoisseur, Local Yocal, Victory at Sea Fan Boy, Newbie Beer Enthusiast. I think I’ll get a Sea to Sea Lager out of the fridge. Writing makes me thirsty.



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