“For Starters…”

Ok, so I’m not truly sure with which beer, or at which moment, or at which place I was when my fascination with better beer started. Not that it’s important, really, its more fun to revisit several different points of reference than just one when we’re talking about glasses of beer, right? I am pretty sure my good friend Stuart had something to do with it, when he shared his love of seasonal Spaten Oktoberfest with me. Before that, I admit that my scope of beer tasting was pretty limited, and I’ll just leave those beer names up to you, the reader, to guess. The important part was that at that moment, a flavor love was born – I knew I enjoyed the different taste, even if I couldn’t at that point recognize what it was that I really cared for…a slight malty sweetness, perhaps a slight roasty character…now has set me off on a course through all kinds of other styles, and to this point, I’ll admit a large percentage of them, yes, have been darker beers, perhaps set off by that one first taste of an Oktoberfest. Not long after that I remember finding Xingu on my local grocery shelf and thinking, how exotic, and it just continued from there. One after one, styles have been tried, from Brown Ales to dunkels, from black lagers to bocks and doppelbocks, and with each one, a desire to understand the ‘why’ behind the beers as in, why do they taste the way they do, what’s behind each style, and on and on. I can appreciate the fact that lots of people out there must be putting in a tremendous amount of effort for my drinking enjoyment, and for that, a big big thanks. I now end up truly savoring several favorites that I have found along the way, but of course continue to truly love tasting new beers, new styles, and seeing where each taste will take me. So, with a little bit of luck a lot of this so called research will end up right here.