WEEK 128----Come swim in the deep wide sea of craft beer

Was chatting with a non-beer geek friend not too long ago--we spoke about things like food and beer and exercises and swimming---and it kinda triggered this article.

As a non-geek, my friend was quite surprised to  say the least with the enthusiasm geeks have for craft beer---he could not quite get his head around on why beer can be so interesting though he is a casual beer drinker.

前几天和朋友闲聊，话题从好奇为什么Craft Beer能有那么大吸引力令一些人变成死忠啤迷到学游泳这件事，突然发觉，原来这两个毫不相干的事情也有类似之处。

这样说是因为很多人都不是一开始就会游泳，就像很多人都知道大厂啤酒但很少人知道或接触过Craft Beer一样，都是需要比较深入了解之后才能领会个中奥妙。就像朋友那样，说以前比较年轻时候有去游泳池玩过一阵子，可是没能真正领会怎么游才正确，倒是因为姿势不对时不时呛到喝了些池水，慢慢的后来就不去了。

朋友的经历听起来跟不少或由于朋友影响或好奇心或已经厌倦大厂啤酒的单调无趣而刚开始接触Craft Beer新朋友的情况不无相似之处，在从完全不认识什么是什么，到开始第一次喝，再到可能是不适应新口味仓促离开重新回到熟悉大厂啤酒怀抱又或是有所领会从此开始在Craft Beer路上探索，一切都有关键时机/契机因素存在。

"I think in many ways--getting to know or getting into the world of craft beer is a little bit like learning how to swim---obviously not everyone knows how to swim or like to swim but if you don't give it a go you will never know." ---i said--relating to his previous experience of trying to learn how to swim/be a competitive swimmer.

In KL where i'm living---promoting craft beer culture can be a matter of double effort than usual sort of thing---because of various limitations imposed upon us---things like unlawful to even home brew---not legally possible to have small breweries---heavy taxes on imported alcoholic beverages including beer---very difficult to obtain necessary permits to hold beer festival and so on so forth---yes it's kinda hard here being a geek but i guess many of us who lives in Asia with limited supply of awesome European/US beers still do the same as what some if not most of the geeks living in Europe/US do---spread the craft culture / share the experiences to friends/newbies/casual drinkers/MACRO drinkers mainly because of one single reason---to let more people know that there are actually plenty of  delicious choices out there in beer....

一般情况来说，绝对大多数人都是从喝普通大厂啤酒开始，然后很可能开始尝试大厂比利时啤酒或德国麦酒，之后才进阶到Craft Beer 的话，这个进程有时候是自然发生，但更多时候是朋友或社交媒体影响/介绍而成。

在亚洲，喝Craft Beer这件事至今还只是局限在很小众的一群人，只依靠手口相传，没有一般商品大打广告作法，加上量少市场上供应有限甚至很多时候有钱买不到的特质，这个啤酒社区的确比较另类，跟大厂啤酒无处不在垂手可得情况相反，Craft Beer更像是一个需要新朋友自己找到并开启的全新啤酒美味世界。

以本地来说，五六年时间过去了，就算加上最近新开业的比利时连锁品牌Delirium Cafe，吉隆坡仍然只有寥寥几家专卖吧/瓶子店，大马的Craft Beer版图非常小，市场供应有限，讯息传递不广情况下，如何有效把Craft Beer 文化介绍给更多喝酒人可能比亚洲邻近城市更加事倍功半，加上一路来官方因为大马国情的重稅政策，整个环境的外在因素并不利于Craft文化的推广。不过，无论情况怎么不利，对认同Craft Beer 文化美妙的啤迷朋友来说，看到原本只会喝单调无趣大厂啤酒或只是追求酒精麻痹感的新朋友开始有所领会转向Craft选择时，把一个全新啤酒世界介绍给新朋友就是乐趣。

把新朋友带进浩瀚啤海没有固定方程式，过程可能是这样：-

There's no cast in stone guidelines on what are the best ways to introduce craft beer to non-craft drinkers/newbies, though the 2 scenario below are quite expected:-

'YAKKKS--what's that ? is this really beer?

the thing about introducing craft beer to newbies/non-craft drinkers is that he or she will always(read 100%) use MACRO beers as yardstick/comparison---and so it's very common to hear those cries of "too weird/too thick/too pungent/too sour...." the list goes on---this is only expected since craft beer is VERY much different kettle of fish than MACRO.

When this happens--expect the non-craft drinkers/newbies to quickly retreat to the safe zone of MACRO ---some might return to try again---though some will forever stuck back onto the comforts of the somewhat boring/at times quite nasty smell/taste of MACRO.

“什么东西。这是啤酒吗?”

很多新朋友一开始喝Craft Beer 时第一反应都是拿一路来喝过的普通大厂啤酒为指标，说白了就是对Craft Beer 会有什么味道层次变化完全没概念，一开始会听到新朋友说“这是什么，那么苦”或者是”这是啤酒吗？味道那么怪”之类的“惊叹号”一点都不足为奇。

某种程度来说，这个初嚐经验可以是关键性的，一些难以接受从来没试过啤酒新口味的可能会觉得Craft Beer酒体过厚或味道浓郁或有点怪，就那样浅尝一次之后从此倒回去喝平时喝惯的大厂啤酒。

OHHHHH-thats quite nice---it's unlike any beer i had before

this would be a pleasant scenario geeks like to see happening more often than not when introducing craft beer to newbies/non-craft drinkers---this is certainly a good sign as the single most important thing for someone new to craft drinking is to be able to feel comfortable with something never encountered before--and if he or she can find something fitting for the palate then it's already half the battle won.

“好特别，好好喝”

遇上一两款合口味，或者让新朋友惊艳的啤酒是决定初嚐者有兴趣在浩瀚啤海中继续探寻的最主要关键因素，就像吃到好吃东西那样，因为发现到原来在啤酒也可以找到像美食那样不同层次的酸甜苦辣鲜等美味，从此就对啤酒只是单调酒精冷饮刻板印象大有改观。

新朋友开始接触并找到自己喜欢/和口味啤酒後，并不一定意味着每个人都会朝向啤迷之路前进，可能有些新朋友会只专注喝两三种类别风格啤酒，或者一直在某个阶段停滞不前，也有新朋友因为遇上对的啤迷朋友而加速了进程，说起来都有点像朋友当年的泳池经验，是成为游泳高手还是不得其所，浩瀚啤海中，大家各适其所也没什么不好的,重点是了解Craft Beer文化是让人知道啤酒也有很多不同类别美味选择，鼓励品嚐（不是牛饮）以及分享。

The road to becoming a geek is a little long--there's such a thing as palate training period where trying out different styles of beers and most importantly some really good benchmark beers would help to improve one's appreciation level ---though in actual fact not everyone would want to do that or might be just happy to stick to a one or two or three familiar styles/breweries through the years---well--there's no right or wrong for wanting to venture further in the deep wide sea of craft beer or not---beer geek or otherwise---the more important thing is to understand that craft beer is about getting choices(many man different choices), ability to appreciate the taste of a brew(not just quick gulping down) and to share(share experiences/share beers)......