Even though I prefer “beer nerd” I guess this description fits me:
…it was Sean Ziegler, pouring beers for Dogfish Head brewery at at the Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival Saturday, who told it. “Wine is like an art. Your always subject to nature,” Ziegler said. “Beer is more like a science. Hence, the name beer geek. You can measure the color, the hops, the sweetness – and theoretically – if you can measure it, you can reproduce it over and over again.” The predominately male crowd at Saturday’s festival is part of a larger beer culture much different than the quantity guzzling, can crushing frat boys often associated with beer. These beer lovers crave knowledge about their favorite carbonated beverage. They seek out brews that are complex in color and flavor and do it through tasting, smelling, attending festivals, visiting breweries and cooking up their own concoctions. “There’s not a beer I don’t like, there’s not a beer I won’t taste, there’s not a place with a brewery that I won’t visit,” said Chris Katechis of Oskar Blues Brewery, who was serving up Old Chub Scottish style ale among others. “Everything there is to know about beer, we want to know. What time the brewer wakes up and starts brewing – we want to know.”
Is that you, too?
[Original comments…]
The Angler – January 13, 2006 10:58 AM
http://donavanhall.net/blog/
Ah, yes. Now it makes sense. In my old homebrew club (in Florida) more than half the membership had PhDs in some math or science related subject. However, every time I brew I think I let the artist in me come out — my enthusiasm for measurement drops after three or four hours, or maybe I just drink too much beer while I brew.
W . Croom – February 25, 2006 2:54 PM
Stinkin’ beer geeks ! There’s too many of us around ! I just got a buddy of mine into brewing. He’s starting to discover that it’s more than just beer, more than religion, more than life. It is all those and more. To look into a glass of your creation is to look into the face of God. The buzz doesn’t hurt either.