tnman1967

I was a beer afficionado. I loved the taste and I thought I was a real beer snob. Well, it dawned on me after over six years of sobriety that I was actually disrecpecting both beer and it's real connoisseurs. How is that you might ask! Well, it is simple, I went to a work function last week and it was my first trip to a bar in over six years. I ordered a non alcoholic beer. It was not bad and it tasted pretty good. But here's the kicker, it didn't give me a kick, it didn't do anything special for me. It only made me look like I was drinking real beer. So the consensus is what I deep down always thought, I loved beer for the taste but I wasn't really drinking it because of the taste, I wanted the buzz and the best way to get it was to drink an alcoholic drink that I liked the taste of, and that was beer. But I could just as well had a coffee or a soda or whatever the other day since the buzz didn't came. So my point is. Don't use the excuse that you drank beer because you loved the taste and was a beer snob. A real beer snob doesn't gulp down a 12 pack in three hours. Just my two cents.

rascalwhiteoak

Fellow former craft beer connoisseur here. I always enjoyed going out to local breweries and trying the new offerings; inevitably, I'd take the party home and the night would end with me sucking down domestic tall-boys. That's the part no one got to see.

ScottFromWI

I used that excuse ( craft beer ) for quite some time too ;-) I was just "sampling" right? Until I got home and cracked into the 12 pack of cheap stuff.

BackandScared

I used to be a wine drinker who 'knew' about wine... hahaha...

I don't like the taste of AF wine. Tried it once. Could not finish the glass.

I do like AF beers. I have tried about 15 different brands since I quit drinking four month ago. I have never had more than 2 in a row, normally one. Nowhere close to daily, more like weekly.

1 beer in a full week seems enough for 'tasting'

ciowa

I drank beer almost exclusively for years but never liked it. I switched to higher end beers simply because I didn't feel as hung over on them as I did when Id drink supermarket beer. The last year especially, I only drank a few beers to start just as a precursor before I went full on Vodka for the rest of the binge. At least I don't miss beer.

Stayingsassy

I had a love affair with beer. I loved craft beers.

I did love that thick, hoppy taste and I have to say I miss it....but I also loved that ipas were high in alcohol content.

It’s funny because which is actually true? The fact that two 10% beers would make me high AF or the fact That IPA’s happened to be the beer that was 7-10%? I think sometimes that drunk feeling creates love associations that might not be there without the high.

tnman1967

Exactly, without a buzz very few people really care about Alcohol, yes I know there are some which enjoy it for the taste, but most people use it as a social lubricant or as a buzz inducer. The very few who drink it for the taste sure are rare in my opinion. I know now that I will probably never buy another NA beer since I proved my point this past week. It does nothing for me and I would much rater drink a Seltzer. I never thought I would get to a point in life were I voluntarily would pass up alcohol. A nice feeling indeed.

Grungehead

My idea of being a "beer connoisseur" was finding the beers with the highest alcohol content and pretending that it was because of the taste. The last couple years of my drinking my beer of choice was Bush Ice, because it was cheap as hell (a 12pk was under 6.00) and it had 5.9% alcohol.

Now my beverage "hobby" is trying different brands of K-Cup coffees (amazon has a great selection) .

Grungehead

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Site timed out the first time I posted yet there it is ^^^

plop

I just quote this because I could have written this myself. Sounds so familiar.

Cellardweller

Most folks in the craft beer scene who are 'really into' beer, drink more than what is healthy. There's a lot of binge drinking, day drinking, etc. that goes on under the banner of being 'into beer'. I was in the industry for about 10 years. There's going to be a lot of people with problems later on down the line. I did it myself, now it's just frustrating to see.

There's some good people in it, but there's so, so much wasted potential.

Stayingsassy

Can confirm. Craft beer helped my big problem become an enormous one. Husband has a band that plays Americana with bluegrass, all band members dressing the part with flannels and beards and the high alcohol craft beer chugging...he says most of them are too hammered an hour into practice to work on anything new, they can only manage songs they are comfortable with.

It’s all fun and games until you realize just how stagnant your creativity, life and goals have become, even for those who are not full on stage 4 folks like me.

My husband is closer to age 50 than 30 and has figured out he can still function with 3-4 coors lights, he just watches them pound craft beer like it’s water and the thing is, you’re quite drunk after only 2-3, then it’s all downhill from there.