Small Talk: Are You a Beer Drinker?

Mystery beers were abound last night at Good in Silver Lake. For $3 a pop we took our chances and played brewlette to see what would land in our hands. I’m not too finicky when it comes to my beer choices, I used to be, but suffering through a year of recession beers has really let me slide in terms of the kind of brew I’ll say yes to.

Three of us were seasoned beer drinkers. One was just fresh on the, “holy-shit-beer-is-good train” and the other is still, well, training. I have to give her a pat on the back, she was being a good sport and trying to muscle through some of the microbrews that landed in her lap. You have to somewhat trust the fact that if someone is going to pay money to bottle it, it’s got to be somewhat tasty – ok, maybe not always.

Which brings to mind the fact that I wasn’t always a beer drinker either. In fact, I used to hate the stuff, I know, blasphemy! I hated it so much that I refused to drink it, to me it made no sense that someone could ever want to drink something that tasted like carbonated fart. Well one summer in college was all it took for me to change my mind when I was forced to drink nothing but beers as the parties I went to, well that’s all they were stocked with. Eventually my palette was able to differentiate all the different nuances of beer, the tastes, the subtleties, the kicks and the punches.

I’m totally a beer snob now.

So are you a beer drinker? If you love the stuff, what was your mode of discovery. Are you one of those who absolutely detests beer? Why? Are you willing to change your palette and appreciate the brewed goodness that is a gift from the heavens?