In my internet beer travels I found this little nugget from the uniquely named Building International Coalitions Through Beer and Pavement:
“(T)en things geeks, nerds, snobs, and connoisseurs do that makes it hard to take their advice and opinions on beer and indie rock seriously.”
I won’t re-print the list here because what I want to speak about is the role of of the geek, nerd and snobs of the craft beer world and why they shouldn’t be lumped together. Follow the LINK for the clever list and a strong closer.
Now that you are back, not to go all Lion King here, but there is a Circle of Life. In almost every hobby and passion and business. And the craft beer industry is no different. You may despise the hyena (I’ll let you decide which beer people fit that bill) but they are a link in the chain.
So we are all important. Now what? What needs to be recognized by us devotees of the craft beer, is which category do we personally fall into? Because a beer geek needs to whip up excitement amongst those new to full flavored beer and a beer snob needs to stay as far away from the newbies as possible.
And I do not say that to demean the beer snobs. They have a purpose here on earth too. They critique with more barbed words and create an expectation that brewers and bars have to meet. They have the crucial ability to find faults that might be missed by others.
To switch movies and go to the High Fidelity analogy, we need the geeks outside getting people in the store, the connoisseurs inside the store guiding people to great choices and the snobs in the back finding the gems for the store to sell. We need all the different levels working in the roles where their individual skills are used the best.
So take a moment. Re-read the list. Are you a snob? Or are you a geek? Whatever “house” you belong to, remember that it’s about promoting craft beer to more people not scaring them away.
Thanks for the linkage. I just read something else this morning (forgotten where) that made a similar point about the separation of the geek and snob. I think when I wrote the linked post, I was interchanging the two. Often, “geeks” and “snobs” provide the same service to their respective communities. However, they turn off outsiders by partaking in the kinds of things I described in my post.
This kind of post is why I like the beer blogosphere so much more than the one that reports on music. There’s a conversation. We share. It’s a lot of fun.
One more thing, read the entire list and take note of the additions, some of the comments and my defensive comments on Appellation. I embarrassed myself and possibly turned off a few readers. I won’t make that mistake again and welcome commentary.
Cheers!
Thank you for the starting point to jump off from. I am glad to see conversations started like that. And no matter how the comments digressed, I believe it probably got people to actually think about beer geeks and and to maybe shine some light on their own behavior.