The Art of Sounding Savvy: Confessions from the Craft Beer Scene

Have you ever found yourself in a conversation about craft beer, armed with fancy terminology that you didn’t quite understand? If so, you’re certainly not alone.

Recently, during a bottle share event, I had an amusing experience. A fellow beer enthusiast opened a barrel-aged sour, and without hesitation, I dove into what I thought would be an impressive analysis, proclaiming how I “truly appreciated the characteristic brett interacting with the oak tannins to create some beautiful phenolic compounds.” The irony? I hadn’t the slightest clue what phenolic compounds were. In truth, I had taken a jumble of wine jargon and mixed it with a snippet I vaguely recalled from a brewing podcast.

To my surprise, the crowd nodded in agreement, seeming to buy into my faux expertise. Encouraged by their reactions, I went even further, adding a remark about the beer “expressing local terroir through indigenous microflora.”

Last month, I found myself describing a beer through its “mouthfeel complexity,” when all I really meant was that it tasted rich and thick. I couldn’t help but chuckle at my own pretentiousness. Was I engaging in a farce of craft beer language? It seemed as though I was collecting phrases like stickers, piecing together what I felt would validate my place in the craft beer community.

I can’t shake the notion that many of us might share this experience — parroting phrases and buzzwords we’ve overheard, hoping to avoid being called out on our lack of understanding.

So, have you found yourself in similar situations where craft beer discussions turned into a game of linguistic charades? Share your stories in the comments; let’s unravel this pretentiousness together!