Beer Geekism

If any of the following apply to you then you might be a beer geek. Embrace beer geekism like a lover.

When you walk in to a pub and then walk out again because they haven’t got a beer on that you want (I don’t fancy any of them, there’s another pub down the road, let’s try there and if not then we can come back here and I’ll have that one).

When you take beer to a friend’s house… and you take the appropriate glassware.

When your (non-beer drinking) other half knows more about beer than most of your mates (seriously, my girlfriend knows A LOT about beer!).

When it takes longer to choose the beer than it does to actually drink it.

When it takes you hours to put away your latest beer shop.

When you get upset about beer being too cold, too warm or served in the wrong shaped/branded glass (oh no, don’t serve me that pint of ale in a Guinness/Stella glass!).

When you have a cool, dark cupboard (far from a radiator or the cold of the garage) to keep your beer at optimum storage temperature. Even better, you have a special, or modified, beer fridge set to 13C, or even better yet you dig yourself a basement under your house that is climate controlled to the perfect conditions.

When you keep a notepad and pencil on you all the time (I do this anyway, not just for beer).

When you can recognize rare bottles from afar and are sucked towards it, bouncing giddily and excitedly (look what they’ve got!).

When a newly released beer has you grabbing your phone and texting/emailing/tweeting the glorious news to all your beer loving amigos.

When you buy that newly released beer as soon as you possible can. (BrewDog seem to get most of money each month thanks to their regular succession of new beers, not that I’m complaining!)

When you wake up the next morning and see you’ve written tasting notes into your phone so you don’t forget what you’ve had. (This happens to me waaaay too often and I don’t even write tasting notes in the pub!) (I read about a guy who forgot his notebook one night and woke up to find he had left himself four voicemail messages of tasting notes!! Hero)

When you shape your weekends around which pubs you can visit on the way back from wherever you’ve been. Or when your weekends are beer adventures in their own right (Do you want to go to Bluewater? Maybe we could go to The Bull on the way home. You can drive)

When you will travel many many miles just to try a particular beer.

When you spend unbelievable sums of money buying new beers. (You spent how much? I wish you’d spend that kind of money on me and buy me nice things instead of just beer for you)

When you remember nights out by the beer rather than what actually happened.

When you choose the beer first and then decide what to cook to match it.

When your glass cupboard at home is filled with fat-stemmed, branded bulbs, thin and reaching pilsners, a flipping great range of pints branded with all number of beer festivals and just the odd wine glass or tumbler for everyone else.

When you take photos of your beer.

When you eat something and it reminds you of beer (“Mmm… this grapefruit tastes really hoppy” or “Mmm... my coffee has got fantastic chocolate malt notes”).

And of course, when part of your daily reading includes beer blogs, books and publications.

Oh yeah, and I suppose writing a beer blog counts too!

Are you a beer geek too? What else constitutes beer geekism? Let’s liberate ourselves in the knowledge that we are not alone and we are drinking the best beer out there!