In Reply To #1 Garrett Oliver hosted a beer dinner at RFD Washington about a year ago. It was well-attended, and he did a super job. Best of all, he autographed my copy of Brewer's Table!

In Reply To #1 Going to a dinner an "tasting" bier, what a concept! Trouble with most of the bier gurus is they sip bier, scribble a few notes move on, and God help us taste bier and spit it out! The fellow who clued me in on wines once demonstrated "you don't know a wine unless you have lived with it for a week." This week includes drinking bottles left out uncorked, drinking the wine when you are corked, etc. The same is true for bier and ales. When I worked for Morendell imports, I did some time at a wine expo in SF. Since I was the "bier guy" I had several folks take me under wing and show me the ropes. The fellow who owned the ice wine operation in Austria was a super fellow to drink with. I noted "you taste dozens of wines and unlike everyone else you never spit them out". "Two reasons" was the reply;"First off I can do, say 50 wines in a day and still be crtitical, and next, it is SO RUDE to take a product someone has produced, sip it, then spit it out! If I don't like what I taste, I just don't drink any more of it. ". The he went on about those who spit and those who swallow and all the girls he dates...lesson learned! Moral, the bier gurus may know what taste good or to style, but it is our duty to live with the brews and gain far deeper knowledge of individual styles then the "Bores of Bier" ever achieve. Hurump Hurump.

This message was edited by Brad Pear at 7/24/2004 6:06:05 AM.