The Art of Pretentious Beer Talk: Confessions of a Craft Enthusiast

As craft beer enthusiasts, we often find ourselves mingling at various tasting events or bottle shares, eager to discuss the latest brew we’ve encountered. However, amidst the camaraderie and clinking of glasses, there’s a subtle pressure to sound knowledgeable and sophisticated about our favorite drinks.

Recently, I attended a delightful bottle share where a barrel-aged sour was introduced to the group. In a moment of enthusiasm (or perhaps bravado), I found myself saying how I “truly appreciated the characteristic brett interacting with the oak tannins to create some beautiful phenolic compounds.” What I didn’t reveal? I had no real grasp of what phenolic compounds were. In fact, it seems I cobbled together a few terms from wine vocabulary and fragments of a brewing podcast I had caught a while back.

To my surprise, the other attendees nodded along, making it appear as though I had unveiled a profound insight. Caught in the moment, I even ventured to mention how the beer “expressed local terroir through indigenous microflora.” If only they knew that I was merely stringing together buzzwords, hoping to fit in!

Last month, I found myself describing a different beer’s “mouthfeel complexity,” when all I meant was that it had a thick texture. In moments like these, I can’t help but feel like I’m playing a game of craft beer mad libs, mixed up in my own concoction of jargon. It often seems that we are all echoing terminology we’ve heard, with a mutual understanding that we are simply looking to sound sophisticated while hoping nobody questions our expertise.

Does anyone else share this experience? The delightful yet daunting world of craft beer is filled with rich flavors and intricate brewing techniques, yet at times, it feels like we’re all just trying to navigate the conversation without tripping over our own words. Embracing our shared passion should be more about enjoying the drink than putting on a facade—let’s toast to authenticity in our craft beer conversations!