Began my career over 30 years ago as an underaged drinker of swill. Back then I was always the guy showing up at parties with the "weird" beer that nobody had ever heard of. Keep in mind that a weird beer back then was something along the lines of a Grolsch or maybe a Becks Dark. Even then I could not stomach the likes of a Bud or a Miller or whatever other so called beer that everyone else seemed to be drinking up.
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Second phase of my career was homebrewing and the endless quest to visit every brewpub that I could locate. Entered a bottle of my Steve’s Chocolate Stout into a contest and scored high marks. Serious discussions of opening my own brewpub or beer store kept happening but never went anywhere. Also during this time I was able to travel and taste alot of different beers - I wish now that I had kept better notes.
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Third phase (I am not proud of these years but have come to accept them) I somehow lost my way. The craft beer movement gained momentum. Suddenly I could buy several varieties of local beer at the store that I liked. I gave up brewing - many of these beers were better than what I was making so what was the point I told myself. Then came the kids. I stopped getting out much and traveled much less. It was a downward spiral from there. I fell into a rut. I was somehow happy sticking with Sam Adams Lager or Guinness depending upon my mood. Occasionally I would branch out with a Harpoon, Shipyard, or other available choice in my area but nothing extreme or really all that interesting. Luckily my family didn’t mind joining me at the occasional brewpub so I did manage to taste some of the good stuff from time to time.
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Current phase - I’m back! I owe it all to Dogfish Head. While dining at a nearby British Beer Company in 2008 I ordered a 90 Minute on draft. This was so much better than anything I had tasted in years. I checked around and found some in bottle at a nearby store. Still very, very good. What’s this? A Dogfish Head stout? Unbelievable and even better than the 90! What else is out there? A quick check online brings me to ratebeer.com where I learn that others are even more obsessed than me. The love for Dogfish is universal (I am not so alone after all). I quickly see that there are easily 100 or so other beers out there ranked higher than my new favorites.
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Current Quest: It will take some time but I plan to not only rate as many of the beers I have tasted in the past but will also be sampling as many of the top rated beers as I can get my hands on.
Last seen Apr 23 2024
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