WEEK 208---Becoming A Geek

 

Beer drinking is a very common thing to do--though it's not necessarily as common when it comes to craft beer especially here in Asia.

喝啤酒是不少人会做的事，不过喝craft 这件事亚洲来说基本还是属于小圈子，并不是那么多人知道或会选择的事。

选择喝craft的人大概可分为几个不同类型，其一是好奇偶尔喝一下，其二是喝後有兴趣再找但也不排斥继续喝大厂商业啤酒，其三是就此头也不回成为不断在不同类别啤酒风味中探寻美味层次的啤迷。

 至于是怎样从一开始懵懵懂懂初嚐味而后就此踏上探寻啤酒美味之路的话，每位啤迷或许起始和经历不尽相同，不过一些共同点是很相似的：-

Those who choose to drink craft beer are probably 1 of these 3 :-

-had a beer or two either by chance or out of curiosity but won't look out for it.

-interested to find out a bit more but at the same time still enjoy drinking Macro BEER.

-so pipued with curiosity & interests to explore more tastiness in a beer there is absolutely no going back to the Macro world.

How a "normal" beer drinker would become a beer geek is not quite the same path for everyone--but some similarities are quite the same for many:-

1) Because of 1 or 2 beer in particular

it is quite safe to say that most of us beer geek started from zero many years ago--meaning we mostly if not all--started with drinking Macro BEER like everyone else--but what triggered the paradigm shift (some called it the struck by lightning moment) was when somehow you tasted a beer so different/delicious/mind blowing (or even strange) that a major shift in opinion about beer just hits you--the door to being a beer geek opened up & the rest is just history.... 

Obviously there were many examples of  first time craft beer drinker being "scared off" and quickly shunned away from craft beer---the point is not about how newly one started trying out craft beer but it's about finding/meeting that 1 or 2 beer that truly hits your palate & appreciation level so hard it severely changed your perception about how beer can be.

1）因为某支酒从此入坑

可以说所有现在无论自认还是公认是啤迷的都是多年前从一般喝啤酒人转变而来的，换句话说一开始都是跟普罗大众一样从喝大厂商业啤酒开始，对啤酒认知也只是不清不楚的刻板印象，然后在某一天或某种机缘下接触到craft beer，当然第一次接触并不意味着即刻从此爱上（相反也有可能被吓到从此远离），最关键转折点其实在于是不是有喝到一款让味蕾震荡到可以改变对啤酒既有刻板观念或美味或有特点作品，简单说就是喝到很对味觉得很好喝或感觉特别的啤酒。

2) Driven by Curiosity

Beer drinking reasons can be many--some out of thirst--some because of mood--for beer geek  curiosity is the main driving force to badly want a particular beer( and usually more)--because the only way one can get to understand a beer profile better or how it smell & taste like is by tasting personally--no words or descriptions by others can satisfy a geek's curiosity--in fact it would make it even worse if the words/descriptions were positive feedback.

2）好奇心是驱动力

或许每个人情况不一，但好奇心肯定会是驱使啤迷一直探寻啤酒中能找到不同美味层次的动力，可能有人会觉得啤酒风味不就那几样吗？比如黑啤风味范畴一般来说大概离不开咖啡巧克力烤麦芽之类的？情况当然不是那么简单几句就概括完全的，因为就算是用同样酿酒原料，不同酿酒师的方式手法也可以让酒呈现不同风味层次表现，所以啤迷会对不断涌现的某酿坊某款作品感觉好奇是正常的，毕竟酒只能是自己喝了才能有比较清晰的概念或结论。

3) Pull of the trendy ones

craft beer can be "fashionable" at times--meaning there will be new beer style/s and new in trend/hype breweries( either doing new styles or simply being much better at existing or older styles of beer)--in simple words--beer geek do chase after some newer trendy ones or simply curious about a hype brewery or a particular beer.

At the same time--there are also breweries which are deemed past it's best--old school--no longer in vogue or have lost it's pull power either due to deteriorating beer quality or simply being left behind by other breweries offering much better quality same style of beer.

Though chasing after hype/in trend styles/ breweries is what some if not most beer geeks would do--there's no denying that some breweries or particular beer which are deemed old school or classics are still being held highly by some geeks--examples if you are a Lambic lover then it's obvious no one would say no to a grand old Cantillon beer.

3）追当红的但也念旧

craft beer世界是有所谓流行或潮流的，也会有酿坊品牌是不是当红或过气这件事，虽然严格来说这里并没有像各种流行音乐排行榜那样泾渭分明的列出现在流行什么，但craft beer 界还是有一些啤迷们明了的游戏规则，除了一些评酒网站或应用程序会提供参考资料外，啤迷间社交网络上的口口相传会让身在不同国度和城市啤迷们知道什么是被追捧的当红酿坊，什么是已失去或逐渐失去昔日光芒的品牌，虽然追逐当红酿坊或难寻作品是许多啤迷会做的事，但可以肯定的是一些不再那么红或甚至被认为过气的先驱高手酿坊中，还是有被啤迷一直喜爱或心中排位很高的。简单来说，不管当红炸子鸡还是已被视为老牌，啤迷最看重的还是酿品水平质素。

4) Only want better beer

Wanting to only seek out for a better than good beer is qiute normal beer geek behaviour--in another word beer geek can be rather picky or even annoying when it comes to picking what to drink for the day( hence the "same level" bottles unspoken rules for a bottle share)--it's true at times geeks would seek out for a particular beer because of vanity reasons but after all the single most inportant thing is still about how a beer taste--no amount of hype can cover for any lack of quality--a better beer(or mead) is the only way which will make a geek happy. 

4）想喝上好的是自然法则

从一开始觉得啤酒就只是那样到发现原来啤酒有那么多不同类别风味可以选择，啤迷到了某阶段会自然的以找寻啤酒中的美味层次为最终目标，虽然有时会因为好奇甚至虚荣奔着当红酿坊或特定盛名难寻作品而去，但一定程度来说都是为了找到好酒而动，因为一旦味蕾鉴赏力提升後酒质表现一般好的作品再也满足不了啤迷的要求，只有风味表现上好顶好的啤酒才是啤迷真正想喝的。