The Art of Pretentious Beer Talk: Confessions from the Bottle Share

Attending a recent bottle share gathering, I found myself in the midst of fellow beer enthusiasts, and as often happens in these circles, I felt a surge of pressure to sound knowledgeable. When a barrel-aged sour was uncorked and passed around, I seized the moment and proclaimed my appreciation for how the “characteristic brett interacts with the oak tannins to create some beautiful phenolic compounds.”

The truth? I was completely lost on what I had just said. My mind had seemingly scrambled a few key wine phrases and some half-remembered insights from a brewing podcast I had listened to ages ago. In that moment, I wondered if anyone would notice my lack of understanding. To my surprise, my peers nodded, expressions of agreement abounding, as if I had just revealed the secret of the beer universe. Spurred by this unexpected affirmation, I dove deeper, casually mentioning how the beer was “expressing local terroir through indigenous microflora.”

Looking back, the whole experience was utterly absurd. A few weeks prior, I caught myself waxing poetic about a beer’s “mouthfeel complexity,” when all I really meant to convey was that it had a thick texture. It made me ponder: Are we all just participating in an elaborate game of craft beer mad libs, repeating jargon and phrases we’ve heard without fully grasping their meanings?

It seems this pretentious beer lexicon is an unwritten code in the craft beer community. How many times have we parroted phrases in the hopes that we sound cultured and knowledgeable? I can’t be the only one who feels this way. So, how about we take a step back from the jargon and just enjoy the beer for what it is – a delightful creation meant to be savored and shared.

What do you think? Have you ever found yourself lost in pretentious beer talk, fearing you’re not quite as knowledgeable as you’d like to appear? Share your stories; together, we might find that we’re all in the same boat, navigating the unfamiliar waters of craft beer discourse.