Just a taste...

Beer (noun) - an alcoholic beverage made by brewing and fermentation from cereals, usually malted barley, and flavoured with hops and the like for a slightly bitter taste.

Brew (verb) - to make (beer, ale, etc.) by steeping, boiling, and fermenting malt and hops.

Craft beer (noun) - an all-malt or nearly all-malt specialty beer usually brewed in a small, regional brewery.

To the lax beer drinker or the uninformed, I have been seen as a snob. Many a night over the years I have copped a ribbing from the near and dear for judging their choice impotable or for arguing with a bartender over what constitutes “specially imported.” (Just because it is imported does not make it special.) To my friends I was a font of beer information, boring them with narratives on beers, breweries and this fancy thing called “craft beer.” I converted a few (most of which have surpassed me) and caused many to tune out, knowing that the only time my ears would prick up in a large congregation was at the mention of that palatable amber nectar. Only then would I engage in the conversation, monopolising it with tales of many an ale or lager.

To the beer connoisseur, I’m but an infant, a toddler just starting to find her feet in a world of crystal malts, hop backs and weizenbocks. Only scratching the surface on an entirely different planet. What has opened up is a world of warm familiar faces at every beer launch or showcase, enticing banter over who brews the best stout, or whether there is such a thing as too much hops. A community which embraces those who want knowledge, who want to experience what it’s like to savour a truly brilliant Imperial IPA. It’s a secret glint in the eye, a knowing joke that the rest of humankind haven’t cottoned onto yet.

Good Beer Week to me is better than Christmas. I get to have dinner with my Santa Claus, Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy. The first ever Good Beer Week, and I get to be a part of it. Beer: it’s more than just a refreshment, it’s a way of life.