This is just out of curiosity. I realize there are probably different levels within each of these categories, but this is specific enough.
[poll id=”4″]
Where Do You Fall in Line – What Type of Beer Drinker Are You?
November 18th, 2009 · 12 Comments · Polls
Tags:
I guess I fall into the certified geek category, but I do have a big problem dropping $15 on a beer even if it’s “special.”
How about a new category: I drink pretty much any beer put in front of me (except for the ones that taste like ass).
Obviously I was all set to select Beer Douche, but have to settle for Beer Geek instead 😉
Devlin – you have your own beer blog and cut back on hours at your office job so you can work part-time at Bottleworks. You sure you don’t fall into that obsessed category? Maybe you don’t exactly, cook and dream about it, but I’d say you qualify there:-)
You’re right about the $15 comment. I’m going to change the wording on that a bit.
This is tough…I would say I am pretty serious about my beer, putting me in category 2…but I live with and love a beer geek. And in my experience, beer geekiness appears to be contagious. Does that upgrade me, like from a tropical storm to a hurricane? “I Love a Beer Geek” would be a good name for a show of some sort…
More of a cross between “serious” and “beer geek”. I’ll go to the beer festivals if it’s convenient. If the special beer is at the store, I’ll pick it up, but I won’t drive across the state for it. Will incorporate breweries on my vacations, but won’t create a trip solely for it like I would for Wine…though that could all change when I go to GABF in the next year or so and completely launch me into geekdom.
When you have a budget for beer you are at a minimum a “beer geek”. I just wanted to put something in front of geek. It sounds better;)
I can turn it on and off I suppose. Sometimes I walk away from it for a couple weeks, but I always come back. There is the sub genre of homebrewers. Now those guys are serious geeks. I would give my left nut for a bag of true undermodified Moravian Pilsen malt.
I’m not gonna lie, I’m obsessed. Someone, for the love of god, please help me…..
Seconding Colin, I would add another category of ‘Beer Mad Scientist’…i.e.,
— a significant area of your home has been re-cast into a permanent Rube Goldberg-like brewing setup.
— your in-home pub includes multiple taps for your outlandish homebrewed beer creations.
— you make a fair part of your living writing about beer experimentation, exotica, history & styles.
In the interests of pure research, I once helped Ray Daniels mash out a batch in the basement of his Wrigleyville townhouse in Chicago. Ray is *way* beyond beer geek — he’s written several books, and you have to see his brewing setup to believe it…it exists somewhere at the confluence of art, mechanical engineering & brewing mad science. Way cool!
To be completely honest, I span categories.
I travel for beer though not too far, I seek out special beer releases, and hit most of the big beer festivals around me. I love cooking with beer and pairing beer with food, and I reckon I do talk about beer rather more often than I ought.
How about the category where I work in beer, know more about it than any beer geek, but when i get off work really just want something delicious to drink. I don’t want to talk/blog/tweet about it. I just want to enjoy it. Where is my category?
@Blackhook–I had the pleasure of meeting Ray in June at the NHC in Oakland. Wow, what a nice guy. He may transcend all of these categories. I definitely identify with the mad scientist. A buddy once asked if I switched to cooking meth and making designer ectasy instead of brewing when we were hanging out in my basement.
There is something to be said about the really passionate beer geeks that can talk with someone who knows nothing more than “light or dark” or just had their first Fat Tire, and give them that little extra push into the world of malty and hoppy awesomeness.
Mm – It is indeed possible to be a beer geek/obsessed and still step back from it all…as someone else said, “turn that switch off.” There are many of us that do.
I’m guessing your love of beer is why you’re in the industry (god knows it isn’t the $$), yes?
Colin – those are the best kind of beer geeks.