WEEK 149----Q & A with a non-geek friend

"so you mean you flew all the way from your country to here because of beer?"--an airport immigration officer asked me once.

你飞来这里的目的就是因为啤酒？”这是真实对话，问话的是机场移民厅官员。

啤迷会为啤酒出行到其他亚洲或欧美城市，又或向欧美求购亚洲找不到啤酒的举动看在一般人眼中觉得不可思议，有非啤迷朋友问，“为什么你们会为啤酒做这做那？”。以下是非啤迷的一些问题：-

This is what i told my non-geek friend during a not too distance conversation---he was obviously quite "confused" as well as "intrigued" by the fact that beer geeks at times do things out of the norm just to get beers---here's some part of what was spoken"-

Q1) What is beer to beer geeks?

" Different people might have his/her version of what beer is all about--for me personally beer is a form of deliciousness---kinda like delicious food---with a wide varieties of taste profile/nuamces to be explored---though beer is alcoholic drink but it's more of gourmet food in liquid/beer form when really well made."

1）啤酒对啤迷来说是什么？

不同啤迷有不同看法，个人来说，酿得精彩的啤酒就跟美食一样，是不同美味的化身，虽是酒精饮料，跟一般人认知最大不同在于，啤迷追求的是化身为啤酒的美味层次。

Q2) Geeks finding own beers from US/Europe? is that necessary?

" It's not really that surprising or out of the norm---in a way it's kinda like an avid scenery photographer would go around places in the name of photography---or say a foodie would travel for food---the reason why some beer geeks living in Asia would willingly pay some good money on mailing cost to get beer mail in is quite simple---to taste/to drink some beers he/she really wanted to try--also many a times those bottle/s would be shared with fellow geeks/friends."

2）一些亚洲啤迷自己从欧美外求找酒，听起来很夸张，有需要这样大费周折？

这并不夸张，其实跟迷上风景摄影发烧友到处去拍不同地方或喜欢美食的为了美味到处去是一样道理。啤迷会花时间付外国运费也要找到一些欧美酿坊作品的原因很简单，排开炫耀土豪心理或高价转手卖因素之外，动机就是因想喝但亚洲买不到，很多时候啤迷买了也不是自己独饮而是选择跟几个朋友一起分享品饮。

Q3) All these hassle just to get a few sips? why not buy a dozen of the same good beers and enjoy by yourself?

"Here's the scenario:-

1/ In the world of craft beer---it's not always the case of money can buy you whatever beers at any number of bottles you wanted---some newly released bottles are limited/very limited in supply---there's always a limit of how many bottles one can buy---some are only release via lottery system---so it's really hard to get one at times let alone a dozen.

*certainly not talking about/not recognizing some who don't mind throwing silly monies to buy from greedy re-sellers at XXX times of original release prices.

3）大费周章才买到就只喝上一点？为什么不干脆买上一打慢慢喝？

这事情要分开来看：-

第一，在craft beer世界里，很多时候不是有钱就一定买得到，不少酒是限量的，有的是一年一次特定日才卖，别说亚洲啤迷，就算在地欧美啤迷也很难买到一打。

第二，如果能买到一打自己慢慢喝固然很不错，不过好些啤迷只想小杯小口品饮，喝到了解味道层次就可以了，喝一打不是重点。

第三，对一些有玩啤酒评分/打卡习惯啤迷朋友来说，同一款欧美啤酒买一打是浪费资源的事，一箱寄来都是不同款啤酒才是正道。

2. If at all a particular beer can be bought for a dozen--that would be nice too--but to some geeks--having some sips to understand the taste profile/nuances would be good enough---drinking a dozen is not a priority. 

3. To some geeks who are quite seriously into beer ticking/untappd badges--having a big box of beer mail in from US/Europe with dozen same beers would be deemed a waste of resources---a box full of different beers is what needed.

Q4) Beer geeks must be quite rich then？

“Nope---it's not about individual wealth(though obviously it helps to have a deeper pocket)---the key is about what would be your area of focus/interest? Say if all things equal and have 500myr to spend---A might be buying new shoes/clothing---B might be spending on bags and so on---but for a geek--it's not surprising that all 500 would be spend on buying beers(or some mead too). To a geek--if he/she wanted certain bottles--and at a price deemed reasonable---it's a given he or she will buy without hesitation with that 500 available.

* 500 MYR is about USD 120/ EURO 105/ POUND 95 which is hardly enough for a decent box of beer mail......

4) 啤迷一定都是有钱人吧？

不是那样的。不同啤迷之间个人消费力当然不一样，但财力并不是先决条件，真正关键在于说如果大家同样有五百块闲钱可任意花，一般人可能会买鞋子衣服之类的，但啤迷会把钱都只花在买啤酒。亚洲啤迷向欧美找酒的确需要付昂贵运费，就算买的是一瓶5美元的啤酒，运费会让每瓶单价上升，但对啤迷来说，只要是认知中合理价格范围内，会毫不犹豫出手。

Q5) What do geeks want? constantly discarding older tasted ones in chase of newer beers?

"This is one situation facing geeks---it is natural for geeks to want to taste a wide varieties of different styles of beers from different breweries---in that process of exploring-- it is quite inevitable that some beers from some breweries which tasted good during early years of craft drinking might no longer appeal or some could be tasting not so great now. However--it is a fact that some really good ones would always be welcome by geeks even though some might be labelled as "old school"/‘not in vogue"...

While at times drinking craft beer can be almost similar to the fashion world where some people keep looking out for the newer styles/ most hyped up beers or the in trend style/s of brew---there's also always a group who are happy to drink what they are happy with---end of the day---beer drinking is an act of personal preference---palate enhancement/exploring varieties of different styles apart---it is still about drinking what makes you happy.

5）啤迷要的是什么？一直喝不同酿坊不同款啤酒？喜新厌旧跟追新品没完没了？

某种程度上是有喜新厌旧情况出现，不过也不完全是那样的，对啤迷来说，多品嚐多尝试不同风味佳酿有助于提升啤迷味蕾鉴赏力，过程中会很少再喝入门阶段喝的酒，因为已经不再吸引，对于一些经典/佳酿，啤迷还是会有想再喝的，一定程度上，喜新不厌旧会比较适合。

的确，craft beer界有点类似时尚界，有当红不当红酿酒师作品/酿坊品牌以及稀有难寻啤酒这回事，不过，追不追当红或稀有难寻啤酒因人而异，是有一群不停追逐最新最当红酿坊作品的啤迷，也有不惜代价要找到稀有难寻啤酒的一群，但也有满足于只喝所住地方市场上找得到酒的啤迷，各自修行各适其所没所谓对或错。

Q6) Beer drinking and palate enhancement? what's that?

"Perhaps the biggest different between a casual beer drinker and a geek is that---a beer is only a beer to a casual drinker---but to a geek--the whole focus is about what kind of taste profile/ deliciousness a beer could bring about---to better appreciate what are the nuances of a beer can bring---geeks would want to enhance his/her palate appreciation ability--one of the ways to achieving this is by tasting/drinking/sampling a wider range of different styles of brew from different breweries---including very importantly some Benchmark brews of each styles of beers---accumulating tasting experiences would slowly help a newbie to slowly understand what is a bad beer/ an average one/ a good one and an awesome one.....

6）喝啤酒跟味蕾鉴赏力提升有什么关系？

或许这样说，一般人喝啤酒概念跟享受美味层次这事完全联系不到一起，不过，对啤迷来说就是为了品嚐不同味道层次而喝，怎样更好的享受不同啤酒带来不同美味是重点，而能达至目标条件之一就是通过品嚐不同酿坊不同风格类型啤酒累积品饮经验，慢慢的自然能分辨什么是劣作什么是平庸什么是佳作。

Q7) come on--it's just beer drinking--why sound so complicated?

"haha---it's not complicated at all---imagine this--say a guy would only eat ramen from shop A and burger from shop B--that would mean he does not know how ramen would taste from shop XYZ  or how burger is differently made by shop EFG---let alone any other different food would taste since he only eat ramen shop A and burger shop B all his life.

Drinking craft beer is the same---if you keep drinking beer X and don't explore any other styles or beer X made by other breweries --you will never understand how taste profile can be so widely different in beer---and obviously missing out on the chances of  tasting a lot more other nice beers awaiting to be explored."

7）怎样才叫做有味蕾鉴赏力？听起来好像很麻烦。

如果说如果一个人一路来只是一直吃同一家云吞面或汉堡包的话就不会知道外面其他家的味道如何，也不会知道云吞面汉堡之外其他食物滋味。训练味蕾鉴赏力其实就是说不要只是一直重复喝A酿坊的XX啤酒，而是多喝不同酿坊不同类型风格作品，特别是指标性作品带来的感受，逐步累积味蕾记忆後慢慢会知道是怎么一回事。

WEEK 148---Travelling for beers

This post is supposed to be week 146 & 147 articles which were backlogged---but decided to jump ahead to today's column first--will post about those two on a later date.

说起旅行，大家第一时间想到的离不开旅游景点，美食，拍照打卡之类，对啤迷来说，上述惯性动作之外，最大重点自然是为了啤酒（或加上蜜酒）。

在craft beer世界里，欧洲和美国好多不同城市/小镇都有啤迷想去亲临探访的酿坊或酒吧，对不少长期在亚洲生活又没有任何公干理由顺便出游的啤迷来说，欧美啤酒之旅就是最理想出行目标。

出外旅行自然大家各适其所，相较之下，啤迷自然会做些跟一般旅游不同的事，最大不同当然是一般人想去很多旅游景点，但啤迷主要“景点”会是酿坊酒吧瓶子店。此外，啤迷也会：-

Travelling for beers(or to some extent--mead)is what makes a beer geek happy---while many travelling for leisure would focus mainly on things like sight-seeing, finding nice food, taking lots of selfies/ tourist spots pics---beer geeks essentially go travelling for one single most important reason---to seek for beers( or mead)---the biggest attraction for travelling geeks will always be breweries. taproom/ bars or bottle shop---never far from those.

For geeks living in Asia---travelling for beers to either Europe or US will always be a "dream trip"---be it travelling for a specific beer fest like MBCC or any others, or a "normal days" trip like some of my HK geeks friends just did visiting Copenhagen and Brussels---the focus will always be on what to drink/ what brew can be found or had---all other things associated with leisure travelling such as sight-seeing  and so on are secondary.

These are some of the focus points of geeks when travelling for beers abroad"-

1) Bringing own bottles when travelling

This might sound weird---why bring bottles to Europe or US when the whole purpose of travelling is to seek/enjoy awesome brews there? Is it not akin to bringing sands to a desert?

While it may sound like that--in truth quite some geeks do bring their own bottles when travelling---either to trade bottles in person with other geeks or to have either prearranged or impromptu bottles sharing session/s while abroad--these are things common to geeks though it kinda sound not normal to most people.

1）带着啤酒去旅行

这听起来好像有点奇怪，既然是为了啤酒大老远飞去欧洲或美国，从家里带着酒去有着那么多好酒选择的欧美不就等于是带着沙子去沙漠吗？

实际上，带着酒出行的啤迷还真不少，会那样做的理由很简单，不是为了跟外国啤迷交换酒就是因为安排了瓶子/罐子分享会大家一起喝喝聊聊，两者都是不少啤迷会做的事。其实craft圈子说小也可以相当小，很多啤迷之间都是相互认识或着有共同啤迷朋友或至少社交媒体上打过招呼，就算不是认识的，基于对craft文化的认知也可以很快交上朋友，啤酒这个共同语言的影响是显而易见的。

2) Bringing own bubble wrap when travelling

While most people would pack in extra clothing or say extra pair of shoes/sneakers when travelling---there is one thing some geeks would always pack in their luggage/back pack--bubble wrappers for bottles protection.

While travelling to drink at either beer fest/taproom/bars is always the main objective---bringing home some nice bottles are equally important to many geeks---the fact that bubble wrappers would not always be available for free or not available for purchase easily means the best solution is always to prepare your own--it would be nice to have some bubble wrappers + wrapping tapes ready in the back pack.

2）自备保护瓶子气泡膜

去到心目中欧美酿坊/酒吧探访固然是主要目标，不过啤迷也会想从酿坊或瓶子店带一些瓶装/罐装啤酒回家跟朋友分享或自己慢慢享用，这时候最需要的就是可以在运送过程中有效保护瓶子/罐子的包装气泡膜，因为不是每家店都会提供或售卖，所以最好随时行李/背包有自备气泡膜。

新朋友要注意的是，一般来说绝对大多数酒吧只能是内用并不卖外带的瓶子/罐子，所以酿坊或瓶子店是首选，但欧美酿坊也不是每一家都有外带瓶子卖，又或者是随时去随时可以买到心目中想要啤酒，很多酿坊都是限时或有固定时间卖不同类型酿品甚至有的啤酒只是一年特定发售日或需要会员制才买得到。

3) Finding fellow geeks to share bottles

People do make new friends when travelling---same goes for geeks--especially those travelling alone for beers---it is important to have someone to share beers since bottles can be in 750ml sizes only---for examples in Brussels where sour beer geeks travel from different corners of the world just to sit at the taproom of Brasserie Cantillon sipping lambics---the trouble is--if you travel solo--there's only so many of the 750ml bottles one can drink---hence it's very common to see strangers sitting together sharing bottles---it is a cost effective way & a good way to drink less taste more.

Of course--some geeks who travel alone would have prearranged with geeks living around or travelling to the destination on same dates either for bottle sharing session/s or bars hopping---the craft community is far and wide but at the same time it can be very small in that most geeks would either have common friends or at least being social media friends---the common language of craft beer is helpful.

3）寻找分享好酒人

对啤迷来说，如果一个人单独出行，怎么能在喝量少情况下品嚐到多款不同类型啤酒是关键考量。举例说，比利时天然发酵果酸啤酒是很多啤迷想去布鲁塞尔或周边地区的主因，一个人去的话会有个难题因为多数酸啤瓶子都是750毫升，一个人喝一瓶会过多，最好的方式当然是有几位啤迷一起分担，但是怎样找到可以分享的人？说来也不难，一些啤迷出发前就会先探询认识的当地啤迷朋友，如果没有认识的也可以在craft社交媒体询问，再不然就到当地酿坊/酒吧看是不是会碰到聊得来的陌生啤迷。实际上，几家啤迷必去的比利时酸啤酿坊/酒吧经常会看到陌生人围坐一起分享多款不同风味啤酒，一个人出行虽然有可能找不到合适饮酒伙伴的危机，但也不是不能解决的问题，很多啤迷朋友其实都是从陌生人演变而来的。

4) Sight-seeing not a must BUT eat well sleep tight is a must

The worse thing that could happen to a geek travelling thousands of miles is to fall sick---any sort of catching a cold/ having fever//sore throat/stomach upset and so on will be bad for tasting.

To geeks---while sight-seeing is at times needed--it's not the most important things on the to do list---rather than tourists spots--the most interesting sights for geeks will undoubtedly be the breweries/taproom/bars and bottle shops. To fully enjoy the brews--one need to ensure his or her body condition is at normal level---no unwanted health issues due to time differences or different food---Asians mostly need rice and hot soup/ noodles---these are the soul food to ensure revitalization---and of course good sleep is essential--boozing til dawn is not really needed---and drinking without food is a big no no anytime anywhere.....

4）景点不是重点但吃泡睡好绝对需要

既是出游，一些值得看的景点有时还是要去看下拍照之类的，不过啤迷最关心的行程莫过于几时去哪一家酿坊/酒吧，又或是跟哪几位啤迷约了瓶子分享会。当然，出门在外最不想遇到的事情就是身体不舒服，从亚洲到欧美地方除了要面对时差问题，也可能会有食物口味问题，飞那么远当然要好好品嚐心目中想喝或发掘一些意外惊喜，而先决条件就是要保持身体状况不出任何会影响味蕾或体力的问题，所以，对啤迷来说，一些景点可以少去甚至不去，但吃饱睡好一定要有，睡不好会影响酒精抗力，没吃好饭就喝酒就更加是大忌。