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

As a fervent admirer of craft beer, I’ve often found myself in situations that blur the lines between genuine appreciation and overzealous pretension. Recently, at a local bottle share event, I encountered one such moment that was both amusing and slightly cringe-worthy.

When a friend uncorked a barrel-aged sour, I felt an urge to showcase my beer knowledge. Before I knew it, I was extolling the virtues of how the “characteristic brett interacts with the oak tannins to craft enchanting phenolic compounds.” However, I must confess—I had absolutely no idea what phenolic compounds were. My statement was a hodgepodge of wine jargon and bits from a brewing podcast I had half-listened to, strung together in a moment of unearned bravado.

To my surprise, my audience nodded in agreement, as if I had offered a profound insight into the world of beer. Emboldened by their reactions, I took it a step further by claiming that the beer “expresses local terroir through indigenous microflora.” At that moment, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was simply playing a game of craft beer “mad libs,” fashioning sentences that sounded impressive but lacked substance.

This wasn’t an isolated incident, either. Just last month, I casually remarked on a beer’s “mouthfeel complexity,” when what I really meant was that it had a rich, thick texture. It dawned on me that perhaps many of us in the craft beer community sometimes rely on terminology we’ve heard from others, hoping we won’t be called out for our lack of actual knowledge.

Does anyone else resonate with this experience? It seems we might be slightly guilty of indulging in pretentious beer talk, all while secretly wondering if we’ve got it all wrong. Let’s embrace our shared love for craft beer—perhaps we can set aside the jargon and simply enjoy what’s in our glasses. Cheers!