Magic Hat's Alan Newman on Beer Geeks

Thanks, and a tip of the hat to BeerNews.org for this.

Magic Hat founder Alan Newman has this to say about beer geeks after the recent "overrated" thread on BeerAdvocate:

There are two groups out there: beer-lovers and beer geeks. Beer lovers love beer. I’ll put myself in that category. I love and appreciate good beer. Then there are beer geeks who ask questions like, “Have I never heard of it [a beer or brewer] before?” “Is it from a really small brewery?” “Does it have more than 75 I.B.U.’s? [International bittering units - a measure of bitterness related to hops in a beer; 75 is very high.] All they want is highly hopped, high-alcohol beers. They have disdain for the mainstream, but mainstream is what will bring more customers in, what will grow the category. They get very hung up on the size of a brewer and who owns them. Like Goose Island in Chicago is an old craft brewery, very respected. Anheuser-Busch bought something like 25-30 percent of them. So are they still a craft brewer? More importantly, to my mind, do they make craft beers? Does it matter who owns them?

I think I fall into the "Beer Lover" category, though I do like me some Double IPA. But I see a lot of people on BeerAdvocate and RateBeer who think the only beers worthy of consumption are those that are big and hoppy. Pliny the Younger is a 100 on BeerAdvocate, if you doubt me.

It's must be a sad existence to only find quality beer from one or two brewers.

As far as I'm concerned, the most overrated beers are the ones you have to buy on Ebay for more than $100. And I applaud brewers like Vinnie Cilurzo for limiting the Pliny release to pints only: no growlers.