I am Pro-Choice! ... I mean just read below...

When I started drinking beer, more than a sip of my father's beer as a preteen, I usually bought my beer from a gas station down the street from my college dorm. I had to sneak the beer down the hall to my room as it was contraband. I hid the beer in the freezer. More importantly than sneaking around, the Stones, short for Keystone Light, or the Natties, Natural Light, were stowed in the freezer of my dorm frig so that they got super cold. A few hours later, I usually threw them in a backpack to take to the party of the evening. When I cracked the first cold one, it would be SO cold that I wasn't able to taste the beer because my taste buds would be numb. By the time the rest of had them warmed up, I had consumed enough alcohol to not care what it actually tasted like. My theory is that this is the strategy of these beers and their manufacturers. This is stated as much in their slogans; you know Rocky Mountain Freshness or cold activated cans. Now during these – we will call them my Light Days – during the Light Days, I was not concerned with the flavor, style, ingredients, hop profile, or least of all the brewer that made the beer. What I was concerned about was the effect of the beer on my disposition and the social lubrication it provided. Actually, I was more concerned with meeting people, most often of the opposite sex. What I was drinking was irrelevant, because the ladies were most likely drinking the same thing or not interested in beer.

Why Was My College Beer Choice Important?

Some say that beer is an acquired taste. During my Light Days, I couldn't taste what I was drinking, so I guess you could say I acquired a taste for water. At that point I didn't know there were other options. My choices were then and are important, because even though I didn't know it the Craft Beer industry was providing ever increasing array of choices in quality beer. When I bought beer during the Light Days, I walked past the cooler doors with non-big beer in them. I always associated those doors with the sugary adult wine-cooler drinks. Since I didn't want to get iced (bro), I grabbed a 30 rack and called it a good start. A couple of years later (but not soon enough) I began to realize that my drinking partner in a can was not the best beer experience out there. In a post-apocalyptic dystopian future we are going to be stuck eating Twinkees, Spam, and drinking light beer. As those options are all depressing and flavorless, why subject yourself to that when we in the present day. Where as a society, we have options with flavor and character like a porterhouse steak paired with a loaded baked potato and a bourbon quad or Imperial stout.

When Did I Have My Epiphany?

One summer afternoon, I remember having dinner with friends and someone brought some weird beer over. We were short on the light stuff, so I took a dive. I thought I was helping others out by allowing them to keep drinking what they were used to. I picked the bottle up with a weird little camper on the label. I opened a locally made beer from Boulevard Brewery, a Single Wide IPA. Yes, an India Pale Ale was my first beer that wasn't made by a big beer company. The beer poured a dark caramel color and with a creamier head than I was used to. I took a sip. I was immediately thrown off by its bitterness and almost had a moment from Can't Hardly Wait.

NO ONE DRINK THE BEER!! THE BEER HAS GONE BAD!!

But I gave the beer another chance; another sip. That sip became a swig, and then I started to grow accustom to the flavors. Because I persevered, I started to understand what flavor in beer was all about. This beer was not what I had been used to at all. This beer, while more than a full percent higher ABV (alcohol by volume) than the beers I previously drank, had more body to it. As I let the beer soak in, both figuratively and literally, I began to realize this beer was most likely not intended to bypass my taste buds and be chugged. I felt this beer was intended to smack my taste buds but in a way that made me want more. This beer shoved me out of my rut. From this first beer, I tried and loved other Boulevard beers such as Unfiltered Wheat, Pale Ale, Boss Tom, Bob's 47, Lunar Ale, and many more all before they came out with their Smokestack Series. With each new beer I tried my eyes were consistently opened to a wider understand of what craft beer is as a whole. These first few beers were like my first kiss and first... date and shows you why I will always have a soft spot for Boulevard. This revelation showed me what craft beer really was. Craft beer is about the experience. As the saying goes variety is the spice of life. I wanted to experience more, so I branched out to numerous other brewers from around the country and world finding new experiences in a bottle that either push the envelope in some way like a high IBU (International Bitterness Units), or expanding my palate for both my nose and tongue with pungent aromas of an IPA and strong flavors of a sour ale.


Cultural Movement Starts With Culture

Regardless of to which specific renaissance you refer, whether it is after the Middle Ages, the renaissance during the rule of Charlemagne, or the cultural growth of the Harlem Renaissance, each time period has a quintessential component, cultural movement. By cultural movement I mean a drastic change or change that is non sequitur to the status quo. This current Craft Beer Renaissance is not about market share or production numbers (even though both are steadily increasing), our movement is about passion and art. I can say "our" because as soon as you realize your passion for beer and everything that comes with it, you are a part of that cultural movement. Over the years I have met quite a few craft brewers, at every level. Home brewers, brew pub owners, and even regional to national brewers. EVERY SINGLE ONE of them has a passion for their craft, their art, and helping everyone around them find enjoyment in the fruits of their labor. If beer is an art form, I have found that even at the most basic level I can paint a picture I can enjoy. I have now been dabbling in home brewing for a couple of years, learning about the basics of a craft with a myriad of choices and options that are made by professionals and can be made at home. I have found that most brewers start as a person who just wants to have a better beer or a different option than the norm. They quickly have to learn how to be business people, but even then they put their own stamp on what it means to be in business. With the ubiquitous presence of social media and the culture of the craft brew industry, it is easy to see how a brewer's passion is a viral contagion infecting the community around them. This infectious mind frame leads to great beer, great times, a better community through philanthropy and good will.

Why do I exercise my choice?

Another symptom of that infectious mind frame is seeking more and different beers from an increasingly growing number of brewers. This causes a market segment to grow faster than brewers can supply it. The US has 2,722 craft breweries operating with a growth rate of 340 new breweries per year. The US will surpass the previous peak of breweries (3,286 in 1870) in less the two years! Even if each brewery did just one beer that was different from anyone else and came up with a new beer every year, I could drink a beer a day and not repeat a beer for the rest of my life. Normally I would say "Challenge Accepted!" but there are so many good beers that I will eagerly enjoy again and again. And this is not even including the possibilities of home brew!

With all of this information about the craft beer industry, why do I make the choices I make? Why am I passionate about craft beer and the variety that accompanies it? Is it the excitement to find the new breweries like Prairie from Oklahoma? Or is it proving myself worthy of Stone's Arrogant Bastard Ale? These are all among the many reasons I go find beer, but I choose variety in beer to enhance the experience around the pint. It is the gentle ribbing of my friends who still haven't broaden their horizons beyond that special way to spell light. It is experiencing a beer pairing dinner with passionate brewers and chefs at a local venue. But most of all it is sharing a pint or more with the man who taught me what it means to be a man. Having a laugh with my whole family over the reactions to new beers or someone 'churching' - sneaking a sip from (blame my sister for the family inside joke) - someone else's beer at the dinner table. This is why I enjoy the variety of the US Craft Beer market during this amazing Renaissance. This is why I am pro-choice.