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| Beer Drinking Strategies — Get the Most Out of Your Pint! |
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| Written by Paul Sullivan | ||||||
| Thursday, 31 January 2008 | ||||||
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A subject worthy of consideration: how do beer drinkers plan which beers they will drink in an evening? Say a guy goes into a bar…you, in other words, go into a good beer bar with lots of choices — how would you plan your night of beer drinking? Or maybe you would have no plan? While some might act on sheer impulse, most of us have some sort of a progression in mind. Perhaps start with something thirst quenching, and then move through the choices, getting stronger, or hoppier, or darker (or any combination). Below are a few basic types of beer drinkers, and then of course there are always the exceptions…but whatever the strategies are, we can all learn something from each one.
1: Drinks the same thing always. You know, the type that drinks Pilsner, or IPA, or Guinness all night regardless of what else is on the menu. They’re really not interested in what’s new, or the latest seasonals, because they know what they’re drinking already. Their usual, the one the bartender starts pouring as soon as he sees them walk in the door. They look a little puzzled at your endless list scanning. But occasionally you just might be won over to their point of view, those times when there is a beer that is so good and fresh that just hits your spot so well that you will drink it happily all night and not even think of anything else. 2: According to mood/whim. This type just looks for something to strike their fancy, maybe something they’ve never tried, or perhaps just an unusual name, or a tap handle that catches their eye. Usually they won’t even ask for a taste, they just plunge right in. Their attitude is hey, it’s only beer…if I don’t like it, I’ll get something else. Which is not a bad attitude to have, when you get right down to it, for sometimes we list scanners can tend to be a little too precious about beer. 3: Seasonal drinker. I am frequently one of these. Pilsner or some type of wheat beer in the summer, Oktoberfest in the fall, stronger/darker beers as it gets colder, you know the drill. The pleasure and appropriateness of drinking seasonally is only exceeded by the thrill of occasionally going off the reservation, like a holiday ale in March, or a Porter in July…which just goes to show you, there is no right or wrong in beer choices, just what appeals to you at that moment. And that breaking rules can be fun… 4: A progression throughout the night. The type who walks in, scans the list, and plans the order of beers right then and there. Usually this will run lighter and lower alcohol to darker and stronger, but not always. This is the type of person that wants to try a lot of different beers in a night, to experience as many different flavors as possible, basically the polar opposite of the one beer all night drinker. This of course is also admirable, and again worth emulating at least occasionally. This beer drinker will probably slowly work his/her way up to the stronger and hoppier beers rather than jumping right in the deep end like the next category below. 5: Extreme beer, instant gratification. These are the people who want the strongest or hoppiest beer, and they are not going to wait until the end of the night to have it. As someone put it to me “why should I wait when I know what I want now?” What they want right now is usually the hoppiest, strongest, and most extreme beers on the list, and then they will drink them happily until they can drink no more. What we can learn from these people is that life is short, and, like the bumper sticker says, don’t postpone joy. The lesson we can take from all this? Try breaking out of the box occasionally and go over to a different point of view, just for the hell of it. You may find out more about yourself, and find yourself enjoying a beer you didn’t think you’d like. At the very least you’ll at least have a different experience for the night, and we can all benefit from a little broadening, can’t we?
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