WEEK 76--MUMBLING of GEEK in a beer desert

This piece is actually a back dated one--published in newspaper column the day CBC week started.

It's sort of a situation analysis of how it is to be a geek here in a craft desert--or it could just be some mumbling of a geek not being realistic with the term "craft desert":-

WHAT is it about beer that makes geek go nuts?
to put it in very simple term--it's kinda like when people go far and wide searching for very good food.
what has beer got to do with food? one might ask
if you give it a good go--you will find out more than what you imagine--that craft beer is like food--or in fact more--with so many different taste profile/variants--all beer geek want is to find out how the beer taste---sounds like food tasting?

啤酒有什么好让人狂热的？
说个概念的话，就像喜欢吃的人会到处找美食那样。
啤酒可以是千变万化，涵盖各种不同味道的好玩东西，能让啤迷千方百计想尝味的就是因为想知道是不是在预期中？或超过预期，甚至带来大惊喜。
某种程度上，Craft beer也有被热捧的瓶子，所谓的Hyped Beer -- 有时候会造成啤迷追逐, 或炒卖现象，至于这样好不好，值不值得，看个人心态吧。

WHAT exactly are geeks looking for?
Some says beer geeks are no more than a bunch of SHOW-OFF--they drink harder to seek beers or hyped beers--post eemmm all on social media--trying to show-off that they have better taste in beer than the rest!
IS That true?
to a certain extent-- it is NOT WRONG to say sometimes geeks are a bunch of show-off--i mean--in the age where almost everyone is the victim of social media--where the word "selfie" did not exists until not too long ago---this is understandable.
BUT TO SAY geeks are only a bunch of show-off is not fair--end of the day--what geeks really looking for is very simple---to sample all the beers listed on the WISH LIST--which obviously is not easy at all--even harder if one lives in a craft desert.

狂热啤迷到底在追逐什么？

一个有趣说法是，狂热啤迷其实只是爱现的一群，追逐盛名瓶子只为了在社交媒体炫耀自己喝了什么，显示自己高人一等的品味。。。

只是这样吗？

某种程度来说，这看法并不完全错或太过偏激，大家不都爱上网亮相吗？

心理学研究说明，人最爱看的还是自己的照片，不然也不会有SELFIE这个词出现。

不过，说狂热啤迷花心思和一定代价只单纯为了炫耀肯定只是片面看法。因为，追逐盛名瓶子只是其中一个大动作，品尝或发掘不出名啤酒或全新酿坊作品也是乐趣或功课之一。更何况，也有部分狂热啤迷不爱上一般社交媒体的。

说穿了，狂热啤迷最要的其实只有一个，想尝遍心中“想象清单”（如果住亚洲）或“目标清单”（如果住欧美或常去）中所有啤酒（就算只喝到一小杯也可以）。只是，由于不同酿坊分布散落各地，就是住在欧美，这目标要说难达标还真可以很难。

IS IT A GOOD IDEA to be a geek in KL?
ASIA as a whole is improving beer brand/varieties wise--though of course is still far from the level of Europe/US bars/bottle shop--as for KL--the market is basically still very much a pale ale/IPA/stouts dominant one.
To be very honest--it's NO FUN being a geek here in KL not just because the market supply cannot satisfy the needs of geeks--but to a certain extent geeks are being seen as some kind of nerd as if creatures from outer space :)  ( yeah i hear you say--it's just beers)

在大马当狂热啤迷不是什么好想法吧？

整个亚洲来说，不同类别品牌啤酒选择在增多中（当然不比欧美城市多），马来西亚的选择有限，市场主要只在IPA, STOUTS和PALE ALE之间打转。所以，是可以这么说，在吉隆坡当狂热啤迷不是很爽的事，除了市场无法满足啤酒类别选择要求，有点好笑的是，狂热啤迷有被视为异类的危险，虽说有开玩笑成份，不过确实也知道一般饮客对狂热啤迷的投入感到不可思议。（不就是啤酒吗？）

WHAT'S the situation?
basically if you a real nerdy geek--these will happen:-
-Drink less and less locally
-Save up for trips to places like Bangkok-Singapore-Japan(even better if Europe or US is possible) for beers not available here--and of course pull some bottles home
-Starting to observe which are the online shop in Europe/US that would sent beer mail to KL--and inevitably keeping an eye on foreign currency movements.....
-if you have friends willing to help sent beers from Europe/US then even better....

什么状况？

在吉隆坡当狂热啤迷是这样的：-

-会逐步本地越喝越少，因为市场供应来来去去就那些，出现精彩啤酒选择的几率不高。

-去其他城市如新加坡，曼谷或日本时会多喝本地没进啤酒，更免不了抱些瓶子回来。

-留意些有邮寄啤酒来马的欧美网店，免不了也更留意马币对美金欧元汇率波动。

-欧美城市有啤迷朋友帮忙会更好，自己搞点小量进口尝试自给自足。

to do OWN IMPORTS/BEER MAIL--isn't it expensive?
YES--it is not cheap to have beer mail here--with the ridiculous alcohol tax basing on abv+ another 6% GST basing on prices--even if the beers are FREE --we still have to pay some silly taxes.

自己进口啤酒，不是很贵喝？有必要吗？

跟亚洲其他城市相比，大马的进口啤酒，就算国外朋友免费赠送，邮寄过来还是要给亲爱的政府抽入口酒税再加GST，加上欧美城市来吉隆坡的运输费，还有前阵子跌到脚软的马币汇率，比较“贵”是预料中事。

“贵”这回事，其实是概念，经济学有个词叫“机会成本”，意思是如果有100块钱，买了A就不能买B，狂热啤迷就是宁把花在其他地方的闲钱用在啤酒。另一个看法是，与其花100块钱吃十多顿味道一般的饭，不如吃两三餐好的。

至于有没有必要，那是当然的，寻找心目中好啤酒就像寻找美食那样，不是有很多人会不惜驾很远路途车只为好吃的？同样道理。

Though relatively expensive--end of the day--in economic terms--it's all about "opportunity cost"--meaning if you have USD100--you can either buy A or B--so what some of us geeks do here is basically drink or buy less locally--save up and drink own beer mail
The logic is simple--craft beer is never about volume--it's about taste-- if i don't drink 20 average beers and only get 2 small glasses of 2 very awesome beers---i'm more than happy--that's all i need really.