Craft Beer thoughts on a Friday Morning

Mrs. Polkaroo and I at Descendants Brewing Company.

I want you to imagine that you live in a world where what you do for a living is as scrutinized as those who make Craft Beer. Visualize that every day your workplace was filled with visitors, your social media blowing up with positive and negative comments and at the core of it all, people passionately discussing your every decision. I would think that it would drive you batty after a while and you'd want to find a quiet place to hide at the end of every day. With the exception of professional sports and politics, I don't think there is anything that generates the intense discussion that your favourite (and not so favourite) craft beer does day after day. Oh I know that there are devotees of any number of things, but if your just watching from afar and don't really get the whole craft beer phenomenon you still can't help but notice its rapid explosion in the last few years. Not that it hasn't always been with us, but it has become so much more mainstream and accessible recently that many people have been drawn into its flame and that of course means more opinions.

"How would you like a job where you make a mistake, a big red light goes on and 18,000 people boo." - Jacques Plante, Goaltender

I have been asked many times if I've had a bad craft beer and the honest answer is that it is not the quality of the beer I didn't like, it was just one that didn't meet MY expectations or wasn't MY style. I capitalize the MY because no matter who you are, from Master Ciccerone (Trained/certified Beer Expert) to someone cracking their first IPA, it is all about your experience and palate. I have worked diligently to create an understanding for myself, my friends, family and finally a wider world about the journey I've taken through Craft Beer without taking the snob route. I couldn't fathom ever liking the bitter "pine tree" beers a little over 18 months ago and now I will drive for an hour to grab the latest Innoccente Brewing Double IPA. Reading and following breweries and other beer geeks on social media to keep track of the latest releases from Bellwoods or my own hometown Collective Arts is how I spend my lunch break at work and I get excited when it's my day off and I can galavant around the area picking up new brews. But does that make me better than anyone else? Do I look down on someone who loves their macro lagers?

In one word...No.

All it means is that I have taken what was a destructive and potentially addictive force in my life and turned it into a positive. It means I use my spare time to try a few new beers and write about them. I do that to help me track and understand my own growing base of knowledge as much as to share them with the universe. I don't think anyone should tell you what you are tasting and judge you if you don't get what they do out of something like a dark roasted malt stout. I do love to read other people's descriptions of what they are tasting in a beer I just poured or purchased; It has been massive help to me in understand the often subtle and nuanced flavours found in almost any style of craft beer. But if you don't find that licorice flavour in the beer that I did, it only means that you tasted what you tasted. I understand the need for tasting notes and use them all the time, but don't beat yourself up if your not pulling the passion fruit or blood orange flavour out of your new beer. In time and with lots of different beers, you will be able to identify and put into YOUR own words what you taste. And that is what it is supposed to be about, tasting good beer with friends that you can enjoy and share.

I think the passion that we as a community have developed and joyously share with the world (in some cases), comes from a few places. One is the feeling of smallness and access to the people who make the beer. In many places, the brewing is taking place right in front of you when you visit the brewery and you can talk to the people who make your beer when you stop by. As I stated at the top, I couldn't imagine the pressure that comes with such a rabid and opinionated group of followers each brewer has. Two is the people who work in the breweries themselves. With few exceptions, they are even more passionate, enthusiastic and dedicated to the craft than even the most devoted fan. They help each other out, prop each other up and come together like no industry I've ever seen. That feeling permeates everything they do and it is their local connections and promoting of their communities that helps to integrate them into our towns and cities. It's easier to talk to the owner of your local craft brewery than it is your own mayor most of the time.

Such a thing to meet the person who creates your favourite beers.
 The Polkaroo and Steven Innocente, Innocente Brewing Co.

I'm sure we all have a moment when we crack open a new beer, pour it into a glass and let out a contented sigh at the end of another work day. To me it also means I am saluting the men and women who work so hard to imagine, create and brew my beer. I will never question the integrity of a beer, even if I personally may not enjoy it. Beer on the craft level is an experience in trying new flavours and textures. So when you read a glowing, over the top review or a slamming take down of a beer, try to read between the lines for the truth. Every beer has its place and I urge you to keep trying different styles and coming back to revisit ones perhaps you didn't like the first time. Saisons, sours, IPA's and other summer ales will soon be flooding out into the LCBO and local breweries and you should always be on the lookout for something you've never tried before. Who knows, next year you may be like me and taking trips to places you've never been for a new and delicious Craft Beer that we can share.

Raise your Glass and your Standards.

One Beer at a Time.

Cheers!