Bradford on Beer
On becoming an “Expert!”
Posted March 3, 2009 4 Comments | Post a Comment
Stan Hieronymous visited for a couple days with his wife, and colleague, Daria Labinsky, and the precocious nearly teenage daughter Sierra. (A fun moment, eavesdropping on Sierra and my daughter Anne kavetching about being the children of beer people; “So, like are you so completely sick of breweries, yet, or what!”)
Of the many conversations had with Stan, the one that kept percolating to the top was the meaning of being a beer expert. Stan, as those of you who have read his writing must know, is a wide ranging thinker. In print and in person, Stan keeps asking me what I mean by being a beer expert. It’s not easy to answer; noted beer writer Michael Jackson was a beer expert and Doug Muhleman, former head of all things beer for Anheuser-Busch, Inc. is also a beer expert. However, it is hard to compare the worlds of these two men beyond their abiding passion for great beer.
After talking with dozens of people about this journey, I’ve concluded there are four things needed in becoming a beer expert. First, I am going to have to understand styles; not just the classic styles outlined by the GABF or the BJCP, but the debate about styles, too. Second, I’m going to have to learn the vocabulary of beer and how to use it. It’s not enough to say something is sour or dry, is it green apple sour or mineral dry? Third, I’m also going to have to understand the common problems in a beer and their origins. Finally, I’m going to have to learn about the technology and chemistry and whatever else that goes into making beer.
Oh well, that doesn’t seem like much at all, now does it. I mean really, a few months should do it, don’t you think? How about “sort of” a beer expert, Stan?
On another note, yes I suck at this blogging! I’ve got maybe six pieces that I’ve sort of started, but haven’t finished and “loaded.” However, my job is a publisher. I publish the best writers on beer in the world. So, yeah, I’m not so quick on the writing. Yet!
I think being considered a “beer expert” is all relative to your audience. Among my close circle, I’m the guy everyone associates with beer, to the point where I get calls from people in beer stores asking what they should buy for their parties.
However, I get around 15-year homebrewing veterans and I’m a complete noob, barely able to stammer out sentences as I reach for the right terminology without looking like an idiot.
I think you’re on the right track, though, when you talk about what it is to become an “expert.” It’s all about learning. But more importantly, it’s all about the journey. No matter who you are, there will always be someone out there that knows more than you do about something.
So along the way, just enjoy the beers you drink and the people you meet. If you’re passionate about it, people will forgive you if you can’t taste the difference between sour lemon and sour green apple.
My advice is to anyone is to just enjoy where you’re at, keep experimenting, and don’t take yourself too seriously. After all, it’s beer!
Great thinking, Brian. I love the whole idea of context and process. Perhaps one way of looking at that is me trying to get up to speed with my context and trying to create a process that will actually get me there, something planned and executed.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and comment, Brian.
Daniel
I know exactly how you feel Brian. Within on group of my friends I am seen as the go to man for beer knowledge; but when I am with another group of friends who are also beer bloggers/writers (if there is a difference between one and the other I would love to know – and prefer to be the latter) then I generally sit and listen, certain that they know more than me.
Context is important, as is humility and being happy to be wrong. A good beer teacher must be a good beer student.
Nice observations. Thanks for sharing them with us.