Today I’m taking part in The Session. The Session is basically a writing prompt for beer bloggers to get us doing more than just writing beer reviews. The ideas for each session are submitted by other beer bloggers and can vary from something like today’s session, why do you drink, to more interesting thought experiments like reviewing a beer without reviewing a beer. I don’t usually take part in these for a variety of reasons but this one grabbed me. Here’s the prompt:
It’s easy to find article after article on the internet telling us that alcohol is bad. As beer bloggers it’s safe to say we all disagree. Let’s take the opportunity as a group to tell people why we do drink and how it improves our life for the better. I know the default answer a lot of us fall back on is “it’s nice to sit back with a good beer after a stressful day of work”, and while that’s true, I’m looking for answers that aren’t so obvious to people who aren’t fans of our hobby. Beer is bigger than a liquid “chill pill” or we wouldn’t have gone about setting up a blog and dedicating so much of our time discussing it. So, what is it that compels you to drink and what would your life be missing if beer was no longer an option for you?
If you’ve never enjoyed a craft beer then it could be confusing as to why someone would get so excited about beer to spend their evenings writing a blog about it. Most major beer is somewhat bland and flavorless. It’s been designed this way to appeal to as many people as possible and in turn bring in as many sales as possible. Instead of thinking about why someone would want to try all this beer think about steak, doughnuts, hamburgers whatever it is that you love to taste.
Hamburgers are my favorite example. You can put just about anything on a hamburger or even switch out the burger for chicken, turkey, quinoa, or Portobello mushrooms. Or you can go to McDonald’s and get a plain hamburger with a generic bun, no cheese, no ketchup, no mustard… just meat and bread. The McDonald’s hamburger is like Budweiser. It meets all the requirements of a hamburger but it is not as exciting compared to something like Red Robin Royal with a friend egg or Arthur’s… well, anything at Arthur’s.
This is why I drink craft beer. Variety. Like Aphra Behn said in The Rover “Variety is the soul of pleasure.” Or like some other dude said “Variety is the spice of life,” but I like the soul of pleasure better. What I love most about craft beer is that there is a beer for 90 degree days and a different beer for 0 degree days. Like tart cherry? There’s a beer for that. Love walnuts? Beer for that. A fan of chocolate milk shakes? There’s a beer for that. 100 degree day in August and you’re taking a break after mowing the lawn but before weed whacking and edging? Yep, there’s a beer for that too!
I have a beer every night but rarely drink the same thing twice in a row. In fact I kinda hate it. If I end up with a 6-pack you can be sure that most of those will be distributed or shared. Bombers (22 oz bottles) and Magnums (750 ml bottles) are not cost-effective but I prefer them over 6-packs because I go through them faster and so can try more beers, new beers, different beers!
And sure… I don’t mind getting buzzed or drunk and beer does help me relax and ease back at the end of a shitty day but that’s not why I started this blog and it’s not why I find a bottle shop in every state I visit.
Well, I shared my reason now you share yours? Tell us in the comments below why do you drink craft beer?
BrewMinds 