A little on what I know and what I don't

It's difficult to simultaneously know a whole lot and painfully little about beer. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing and all that. Sure I can name a lot of breweries, I've tried a lot of beers and beer styles, and I know what kinds of beers I generally like and dislike and can articulate why, generally. I still don't really understand the beermaking process though. On a very basic level I do, and I guess this could easily be remedied by a little homebrewing, but the process is, as I understand it, kind of like the board game Othello: "a minute to learn, a lifetime to master." I also am working on refining my palette. I get the big picture; i.e. I can taste the degree to which a beer is hopped, generally what flavors those hops elicit. I can taste whether a beer is particularly malty or not. Bitter or sweet or dry. Fine. But I have issues with the small stuff. Last night I had a Yakima Twilight from Victory Brewing last night at RFD in Chinatown. Tons of hops in that beer, but then I was able to detect anise on the back palette too. I was pretty proud that I was able to detect (and identify, which I guess is the hardest part for me) that even though anise is a very strong flavor. I guess it's small steps, and as I learn to identify flavors I'll hopefully be able to continually identify them.

This rambled a little bit. It's hard for me to articulate what I want to about beer. I guess it'll come in time.

Ideas for next time: the beer review process.

Welcome!

If you're here, you probably think this is an unsightly piece of shit, and you are so right. I'll be working on constructing this and making it presentable over the next week or so.

What can you expect to see here? Well, after some prodding from friends I decided to try to write this. Who am I? I'm a 22 year old recent college grad living in Washington, D.C. A little over a year ago I was getting into arguments about whether or not Keystone Light was better than Natty Light, and more egregiously I was convinced that all beer tasted the same. Now, a year older, and a little bit wiser, I'm diving head first into the craft beer movement and all its wonders. I'm trying to learn more about beer (and of course trying new beers) every day. I've come a long way in a year, but I've got a whole hell of a lot still to learn. This blog is dedicated to that learning process. I want to share the resources I'm using to learn more. Tell funny stories about how I got to where I am now. Describe my favorite beer dispensaries. Review new beers. Pass along beer news. All things that will get more info about the craft beer movement out there to as many people as possible. I hope you'll stick around and check back in, it should be a wild ride (or stumble, depending on how ambitious I get).