Happy New Beer 2010

To all my loyal followers and those yet to come:

Welcome to the New Year 2010.  As we begin this new year, I have had an epiphany of sorts when it comes to my discovery of beers and ales.  I am no longer publishing gradings of A, B, C or any numbering scales when it comes to the matters of the beers and ales that I blog.  The reason you might ask?  Well now that I have about 200 beers blogged in about eighteen months, I have come to realize that what I might give a grade level to, won't match your particular sampling experience.

This is something I have wrestled with since starting the blog.  My purpose is to inform, educate, entertain and mostly share my passion for beer with you, the viewing audience.  In this way, I hope to lift barriers from anyone's drinking experience.  There is a beer for every purpose.  Just as you would not down a barleywine after cutting the lawn, you might not pop open a light beer at a very special occasion.  Beer is made by all brewers, (home brewer, nano, micro or macro), to be enjoyed, first and foremost!

So in wishing you all a Happy 2010, you will no longer see any ratings on the beers.  My experience of each one I sample will be just that...a view into one person's experience for any particular beer.  I hope to grow my blog by sampling new and different brews, meeting new people along the way and going to more festivals, beer bars and breweries in the coming year.  Sit back and enjoy the ride, even if you only follow vicariously through my musings.  If you agree or disagree with one of The Grim Reaper's Eulogies, I encourage you to post a comment and let others know your experience.

2009 was a great year of enlightenment for The Reaper as I went to GABF and other local festivals.  2009 also saw brand new beer bars and breweries open, along with the expansion of others.  2010 looks to be the most promising year for beer, by far.

I'd like to leave you with the following excerpt that sums up this past year's point of enlightenment for myself.  I could not have put it into words any better:

(c) 1995, by Jonathan Binkley and Michael Stewart.

This was originally posted to alt.beer by Paul Sovcik. It is reprinted
here for your edification.
 
Mon Feb 28 22:12:09 PST 1994
Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago, ADN Computer Center
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 1994 16:13:28 CST
Message-ID: <94059.161329U18183@uicvm.uic.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.beer
Subject: Re: What happened to Sam Adams?

I remember first discovering Sam Adams about 5 years ago in Fort Collins, Colorado (not that is was that special of an experience... I was just kind of pissed 'cause I wanted a Boulder Pale Ale).  It tasted exactly the same as it does today. A very good lager with excellent hop character and absolutely wonderful aroma.

Why do some people claim to taste a difference? I'll bet it is an outgrowth of the "beer discovery experience." The process goes something like this:

  (starting with adolescence)
 1)  You drink Budmilloors because it's cheap, you want to get
     drunk, and you really don't like beer anyway.
     You cannot distinguish marketing ploys from taste.
     (ex. Genuine Draft, Ice beer, Dry beer etc.)

 2)  As you get older, you still like to get drunk, but you
     have a bit of cash to spend. You also tend to drink beer
     'cause you like it. You drink Budmilloors taste-alikes like
     oh... Leinenkugel. Killian's Red, or for that matter, anything
     "Red."

 3)  You graduate from Budmilloors to Pete's Wicked Ale, or
     some kind of non-mainstream beer, such as Sam Adams.
     You begin to distinguish taste. You try and actually
     start to enjoy darker beers like stouts and such.
     You start to ridicule Budmilloors. Mass marketing of
     "craft brews" still plays a role in your taste.

 4)  Now you differentiate between "good" and "bad" well-brewed
     beers. You discover the Sierra Nevadas of the world, and
     other truly exceptional beers.  You use these handful of
     select brews as your gold standard. All other beers are
     crap. The beer that originally tasted exceptional at
     stage 1,2 or 3, is now poor.

 5)  You gradually begin to realize that other beers have their
     place in the world too. In fact, the simple fact that
     SNPA, PU or Guinness exists as a benchmark begins
     to allow you to evaluate beer on a comparative scale,
     and you appreciate the differences and variations in
     styles. You become more tolerant of Budmilloors.

 6)  You reach the Zen of beer tasting. All beer has a
     purpose in life, and who are you to foist your taste
     on anyone else anyway?  Taste is relative. You realize
     that maybe you should have a Bud when mowing the lawn
     instead of a barley wine.  All beer serves its own
     purpose. Even Schlitz exists for a reason (Tonya Harding's
     drinking buddies?). No beer "kicks ass" (to use Usenet
     terminology) or is swill. It simply is.

 I don't know about you guys, but I'm still at #5.

Rambling on,
Paul

You can read more about this at http://brewery.org/brewery/library/StyleFAQJB0995.html


May your glass be always half full and a beer within easy reach when it's empty!


Yours, 'til we meet...MUAHAHAHAHAHA!

The Grim Reaper (of beer)