Friday, January 3, 2014

Beer Blogging Friday, The Session #83 – Against the Grain

The first Friday of every month, a group of beer bloggers around the globe come together to write a post for The Sessions, also known as Beer Blogging Friday.

For the month of January, Rebecca, who writes The Bake and Brew, chose the topic, "How much is our taste or opinion of a craft beer affected by what friends and the craft beer community at large thinks? What beer do you love that no one else seems to get? Or what beer do you say “no thanks” to that everyone can’t get enough of?"  

I love this topic as it is something that seems to be a topic of discussion on a fairly regular basis.  For myself, it may not be so much a specific beer that I may not like that others favor as much as a specific style.  I feel I am still quite young in my craft beer journey, having only been introduced to craft beer in the past few years.  As with many craft beer drinkers, I found IPAs as my favorite style very quickly and still tend to favor the style.  While there are beers from styles I may not usually like, I will still try them.  

I have found there are beers that I do not like upon first sip, but when given a second chance, I have fallen in love with them.  One beer that comes to mind is Beachwood BBQ & Brewing System of a Stout.  When I first tasted this GABF bronze medal winning beer, which many of my friends were raving about, I wasn't a fan.  Of course, it happens to have upon first sip been one of my boyfriend's favorite beers.  When bottles of the beer were released, I made the trek to Long Beach to get bottles for my boyfriend, not thinking I would even drink any of them.  I decided to have another try of the beer and it is now among one of my favorites.  Not because anyone told me to try it again, nor because so many people loved it, but because I found to like the beer on my own.  

For myself, my tastes and opinions of any craft beer is not affected by my friends or what the craft beer community at large thinks.  I'm thankful that I have access to such a wide variety of beers and styles of beers on a regular basis.  It is definitely an exciting time in the craft beer community and industry.

2 comments:

  1. Hmmm ... your post got me thinking of another angle from which we could have looked at the topic.

    Without really meaning to, your boyfriend influenced you into liking a beer. You probably never would have tasted it again except he liked it, so you had some readily available. Like a true craft-beer fan, you decided to give it a second chance and found your pallet had changed. Without his influence, you may have never tried it the second time. You never would have known you liked it.

    I just realized that I do the same thing to my wife. She'll swear that she doesn't like hoppy and that she doesn't like "dark" (stout-like) beers. But, I have so many beers around and she'll steal a sip or two from my beer quite often. I've found that over the years, her tolerance for hoppy and "dark" has gotten much better and she has even told me she likes some of those flavors. (I think mostly without realizing she is telling me that she likes something that she previously didn't). Just having the opportunity to try it again gives her the chance to change her opinion.

    She still doesn't like hard-core IPAs or Stouts, but she actually now enjoys beers that have the same flavors, only toned down.

    Interesting twist on (unintended) peer pressure.

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    Replies
    1. Well, in giving beers another chance, my boyfriend has definitely influenced me. His motto is to always give beers you may not have liked the first time another try, and I've adopted it as well. So yes, because it's a favorite beer of his, I had more exposure but it was still my decision. I tried the beer on tap when I picked up the bottles, which happened to coincide with running into some of my craft beer friends.
      So, in a way, many of our decisions to try beers undoubtedly may be because of circumstances too.
      Having opportunities to try beers another time is a huge benefit! Some beers I used to love now I intensely dislike.

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