The Beer Geek Process

When you are a beer geek the taste for different beers changes almost every year and season, you find some personal favorites that you continue to drink all year round, mostly due to what kind of beer style it is and you like, but basically it changes quite often.

You have different kind of stages that you pass, taking some favorites with you along the beer journey, mainly because you learn during the years what you like.

Often you start with available beers sold at your local "systembolaget" and browse the different kind of categories. You find out that you can drink good beer from england, germany and the czech republic on the bottle.

Later you find out that the best beer country is probably Belgium and you have your very long Belgium stage (for some it never ends, :) ). Starting with blond ales and very strong ales, continue with the trappist range, and if you dare continue with the amazing world of lambic, krieks etc (lambic is still close to my heart).

Suddenly you also get to learn that real ale is much better so you try them all, ranging from england to germany. So you continue with drinking real ales everytime you can, and discover great english bitters and ale.

You probably also discover that you can find good beer in countries that are not seen as "beer countries", like that you discover that you can suddenly get amazing beers from you home country (or close by), mostly inspired by the big ones. So you start to drink (in my case) Swedish micros, and discover that you can get a great bitter, pale ale or IPA.

Some of the beers continue to be on your beer list, but it constanly changes, so in the end you have your favorite list that you can always drink and like. But each season or beer trip, you find a new style or a new country that you can test and find out all different kinds of combinations.

For example american breweries inspired by belium styles beers, so suddenly you sit at your favorite pub and is drinking an american trippel or a american wheat beer. Or even further, you can drink danish or swedish micros inspired by american IPAs and Pale ales, which itself are inspired by english ales, but with a personal touch and new types of hops.

This does not happen to all beer geeks, we also have those that only drink a specific type of beer or a specific country and style. But I would recommend all to test some more, because you will discover so much more, so much styles and different flavours and combinations.

Do not think that this will change, for me at least, so I see my beer experience as always evolving, to a great mixture of beer.

After 10 years of drinkning great beer (not only beer, because that was the case before) the favorite list looks like below (in the following prio order);

MY DRINKING LIST:

1. Double or triple american IPA:s (on oak barrels if available)
2. American IPAs & Pales Ales on draught (best in NY & San Fran)
3. New Swedish micros (you will always test the new ones)
4. English real ale (best at Wenlock arms in London)
5. Swedish micros inspired by USA (read Dugges & Ölands at the moment)
6. Lambics (cantillon & drie fountains)
7. "Classic" Swedish micros (Örebro bitter, High5, Bedarö, Indianviken, Smithy Ale)
8. Danish micro
9. The trappist range
10. Some golden ales from Belgium (Duvel & Delirium Tremens)
11. The rest...

Outside of the list (international lagers & swedish "ful"-öl)...