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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 Unspoken Code of Craft Beer: Confessions of Pretentious Jargon
Craft beer culture is rich with enticing flavors and intricate brewing techniques, but it also has its fair share of pretentious jargon that can leave even the most seasoned enthusiasts scratching their heads. Recently, I found myself in a situation that perfectly encapsulated this phenomenon during a bottle share event.
As the evening progressed, a barrel-aged sour was unveiled, and I felt compelled to contribute to the conversation. With a wave of confidence, I boldly declared my admiration for how the “characteristic brett interacted with the oak tannins to create some beautiful phenolic compounds.” However, as soon as the words left my mouth, I realized I had no real understanding of what “phenolic compounds” were. In that moment, I found myself stringing together wine terminology with snippets I vaguely recalled from a brewing podcast.
The strangeness didn’t stop there. To my surprise, the surrounding crowd nodded in agreement, as if I had unearthed some profound insight. Fueled by their apparent approval, I took it a step further, elaborating on how the beer “expressed local terroir through indigenous microflora.” Little did they know that I was just piecing together phrases I had heard in passing!
Reflecting on my craft beer journey, I can’t help but chuckle at the absurdity of describing a brew’s “mouthfeel complexity,” which was merely a fancy way of saying it tasted thick. It feels like I was engaging in a game of craft beer Mad Libs, substituting intelligible descriptors with buzzwords that sounded impressive.
Truth be told, I suspect many of us are guilty of this verbal charade. Are we genuinely appreciating the subtleties of flavor, or merely echoing the words we’ve absorbed in hopes of not being called out? It’s a reality that many in the craft beer community might relate to.
So, what do you think? Have you ever found yourself caught in the web of beer jargon, trying to sound knowledgeable while feeling like a fraud? Let’s share our humorous experiences and navigate the wonderfully complicated world of craft beer together!