Sharing the craft beer journey with friends

By shawn in Beer on Monday, February 8th, 2010

Change is never easy no matter what is involved.  Whether it be a new job, new school, new town, and even new food; making any adjustment is difficult and some people accept it well or they do not accept it all.

Beer is no exception.

I have been drinking craft beer for almost three years now and have not looked back.  Every beer I drink is a wonderful experience; a journey, if you will.  It does not matter what the occasion is either: a cookout, a successful hunting trip, a party, or just because.  Every beer is a celebration and should be appreciated for what it is.

That celebration and experience is not something I want to keep for myself.  I want others to go on that same journey and see it for themselves.  In a world full of the “Great American Lager” and other beers whose difference is “drinkability”, how do you bring other people along for the ride?

For me, it has not been as difficult as I imagined it would be. 
free run 3.0 v3 femmes I love Miller Lite as much as the next person but it is not something I keep on hand nor is it something I will purchase for parties.  So, what beer do I serve?  Craft beer.

I cannot serve any craft beer, mind you.  Some of the beers I like are very extreme and are not ones in which someone new to craft beer should drink for the first time.  I made that mistake once and vowed not to do it again; to this day he still reminds me.

What I have done is pick beers that are not extreme so as to not close people off to craft beer but allow them to embrace it.  And it has paid off.  So much so that I heard one friend at a recent gathering say he “never [has] had a bad beer” at my house.  That was the biggest compliment I could have ever imagined.

The biggest challenge in bringing people on this journey is breaking the perception of what craft beer is.  That, my friends, is a story for next week.  Until then, keep the beers coming.