Craft is Art: WEEK 108- NEWBIES Craft LINGO

在亚洲，绝大多数人不知道CRAFT BEER是什么，这是些在专卖吧/瓶子店或CRAFT相关社交媒体看到听到的情节。

Observing reactions from people who have not heard of craft beer or newly into trying some craft can be amusing at times--here's some FREQUENTLY UTTERED sentences/comments seen/heard on a daily basis either at craft beer bar/bottle shop or craft-related social media here in ASIA:-

1) Do you have something similar to XX brand(of MACRO BEER)?

This is quite a daily occurrences at any craft beer bar/bottle shop--somehow someone would just pop that question---which effectively saying "Don't give me anything strange or unfamiliar-- i want my familiar MACRO tasting BEER".

It's human nature to resist change --or it takes time to step out of comfort zone/accept new things--but hey--this is just beer( or maybe mead)--and it's so much more fun and delicious than your average BEER--there's no need to feel threatened or fear.

IN FACT--walking into a craft beer bar or bottle shop and asking for "something which taste like a MACRO BEER" is just like walking into a fresh fruits juices bar and keep asking if you could buy a factory made can/bottle of juice from the super market--it's obviously a scene of being at the right place but asking the wrong question.....

1）有什么是最接近X牌子（大厂啤酒）口味的？

很多刚刚接触CRAFT新人都只想喝类似自己喝惯的“浅易喝”大厂啤酒，对看起来很陌生的啤酒名称/品牌/类别风格显得有点困惑，虽然对不熟悉事物有抗拒感是可以理解的人类本能行为表现，不过也是件有点好笑的事，感觉就像踏入鲜榨果汁专卖店却一直问店员有没有超市卖那种瓶装/罐装果汁。

虽然一开始CRAFT可能让一些新朋友觉得“胆怯”不想尝试不熟悉风味啤酒，其实也没什么可怕的，不就是啤酒吗？更何况是比大厂啤有趣何止百倍的众多不同口味选择。

2) Give me the BEST beer/most Delicious beer

It's a common scene where someone walk into a restaurant and asked "what's the best dishes/ what's the most delicious food?" here in ASIA.

However--trying to apply the same logic when in a craft beer bar/bottle shop would not work--because with that many varieties of beer styles/taste profile--who is to say which beer is the BEST of the lot?

OK--there's so called top 100- top whatever chart listed out there on social media by beer rating websites-apps-magazines-experts and so on--if you a firm believer of others opinions about where a certain beer would place in a "top xx/xxx chart" then so be it--but the truth is--no one knows for sure which is the BEST beer.

2）请给我“最好喝”“最佳”的啤酒

去餐厅点餐时候，常常有人会跟店家说“请介绍这里最好吃最拿手的菜”。

依照这个逻辑，有人会在CRAFT专卖吧/瓶子店这样问并不出奇，问题是，这样子问店员有点等于是走入水果店，然后问店家说，什么水果最好吃？什么水果最佳？那么多不同类别风味水果，你觉得会有绝对答案吗？

CRAFT的世界里，的确有评酒网站/应用程式并衍生出类似“啤酒排行榜”的“民意调查”，可是，真要说清楚什么才是最好喝，最佳的啤酒，可以很肯定的说，没有绝对答案，一杯啤酒好不好喝，排除酿造水平/储存情况因素不谈，还需要考虑不同类别风味，或者说喝酒人当时心情状态，是不是有比较想喝什么类型啤酒而定。

情况就像榴莲号称“果王”，可是，会是每个人心目中最好吃，最佳水果吗？

Let's micro zoom a little here--on what might influence one's judgement about how a beer taste( to decide if it's a good one at that time of drinking)---let's take out the issue of whether it's good or bad brew--also take out the issue of how the beer might be handled logistic wise--let's just say it's a beer in good condition to drink--what might influence one's judgement about a certain beer is still quite a few:-

A) what are you looking for? or even crave for? a light beer? a heavier one? sweet one? bitter one? sour one?

B) physical condition at time of drinking--fresh palate? tired already?

C) personal preference on beer taste profile influenced by food/fruits preferences..

Just imagine this scenario--you walk into a fruits stall full of all kinds of fruits--and you ask " which is the BEST?"--how to even compare apples with oranges? and while there's this saying that DURIAN( in particular the Malaysia species) is the KING of Fruits--how many of you out there would agree in unison?

3) This beer is so expensive/ so cheap

Let's agree on 1 thing first--that everyone view prices/value for money ( or not) very differently.

In ASIA--different major cities would have different taxes/policies in place by respective governments concerning alcoholic beverages including craft beer/mead --and the different ways of beers/mead being imported(officially sourced or grey imports)--hence it's obvious prices of same beer/mead from same brewery/meadery can have price differences.

BUT--even if there's no price differences caused by those mentioned above--assuming prices stays the same from Tokyo/Seoul to Beijing/Shanghai to Hong Kong/Taipei to Bangkok/KL/SG---THE FACT is there would always be some geeks who are willing to pay over the odds( say USD100 or above) just to secure some rare/hyped/hard to come by beers from US/Europe---while there would also be a bunch of people thinking to pay a few bucks more for a certain craft beer is just expensive/ not justifiable.....

3）这支/罐啤酒好便宜/好贵

很显然，什么是便宜，什么是贵，每个人都有不同看法。

一支啤酒应该定价多少钱是因人而异的事，举个比较极端例子，对亚洲一些狂热啤迷来说，有人会因为某支限量难找加上欧美城市运费而愿意付出上百美金代价还觉得庆幸能买到，相反的，也有人会因为啤酒卖价比大厂啤酒贵十块钱而觉得太贵。

在亚洲不同城市，因为税务结构，因为不同业者各有不同方式/管道引进啤酒（比如说正式代理或灰色渠道引入的“水货”），也因为不同CRAFT品牌之间有量多量少/红不红/受不受追捧等因素影响，同样是名词意义上的“啤酒”，价格可以差很多。

喝啤酒确是个人口味看法不同的事，只是，有时买到“便宜”啤酒未必就是赚到（有留意装瓶/罐装日期？赏味期限？有没有晒坏?），给太高“二手价”追难找限量啤酒也不是什么值得高兴的事，毕竟，啤酒价值还是体现在酿品味蕾口感层次表现，既不只是随便冷飕飕喝的解渴酒精饮料，也不是因为限量难找就一定好喝或拿来炫耀的战利品。

The fact is--there's no need to think you have gotten a bargain by picking up some super cheap beers in a supermarket or such because unless you have checked the expiry dates/bottling/canning date/storage condition--you would not know if the beers still worth that few bucks you have just "gained"/spent.

As for geeks who chases after rare/hyped/hard to come by beers--the true value of that bottle is still about how it taste--it's not something to brag about or showcase as a shinny trophy.

4) Give me the STRONGEST tasting/ Highest ABV beer

Anyone asking for this would probably due to :-

A) thinking that the higher the ABV--the stronger a beer would be in taste profile--which obviously is wrong/misguided perception--the truth is some badly brewed beer can taste full of alcohol even at 4 or 5 % ABV--while some well made beers/mead can taste so "harmlessly smooth" at well over 10% or 20% ABV.

B) been watching too many badly made movies/drama series thinking that drinking beer is just to get DRUNK.( wake up--it's not cool)