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Steven Coulson
Steven has been drinking beers, wines and spirits for decades and has a propensity to go about them at length after a few drinks.
Latest Posts
- 57/m: Love beer, but it doesn’t love me as much anymore
- No Stupid Questions Wednesday – ask anything about beer
- Does anyone else get treated like a beer snob for ordering literally anything that isn’t a macro lager?
- Is there a polite way to refuse a beer that’s being served in the wrong glassware without making everyone at the table uncomfortable?
- # What’s the most pretentious thing you’ve ever said about beer that you secretly didn’t understand yourself?
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The Art of Beer Speak: Navigating the Pretentious Waters of Craft Brew Terminology
Craft beer enthusiasts, have you ever found yourself in a conversation so deeply entrenched in jargon that you suddenly felt like you were in over your head? Recently, I attended a bottle share event that perfectly encapsulated this phenomenon. As the evening unfolded, someone decided to unveil a barrel-aged sour beer, and I, eager to appear knowledgeable, seized the moment to expound on the complexities of its flavor profile.
I confidently declared how much I “truly appreciated the characteristic brett interacting with the oak tannins to create some beautiful phenolic compounds.” The truth? I had no clue what phenolic compounds really were. My statement was likely a jumble of wine vocabulary mixed with fragmented memories from a brewing podcast that I had caught halfway through.
What’s even more amusing is that the group nodded along, seemingly impressed by my insight. Emboldened by their response, I further elaborated on the beer “expressing local terroir through indigenous microflora.” A mouthful, to say the least, yet utterly nonsensical—especially since I was merely trying to sound sophisticated while masking my confusion.
Reflecting on my experience, I realized that it’s not uncommon for us to engage in this kind of craft beer babble. Just last month, I described a beer’s “mouthfeel complexity” when in reality, I was simply trying to convey that it tasted thick. It felt like a game of craft beer mad libs, where we string together phrases and terms heard from others, hoping nobody would notice the lack of substance behind our words.
Can anyone else relate to this experience? It’s a curious aspect of craft beer culture—where the desire to express appreciation and expertise sometimes leads us down the path of pretentiousness. Let’s embrace the joy of beer and share our thoughts authentically, even if that means admitting we’re still learning. After all, isn’t it the passion for the brew that truly matters?