Max of Pivní Filosof fame has got to have the most interesting mind which is aimed at good beer these days. That or he just says things others think... I think. Today, he posted his loose and recycled thoughts for the end of the year. Not a best of. Not a greatest hits. Just the things jangling around his mind that reflect the year which in in the near future will be the recent past. My favorite?
Every day I find it harder to understand the fascination with hop bombs. Most tend to be as complex, subtle and interesting as one of my morning farts, but even louder.
See, I would never think to put it that way. But it is true. So, I thought I would take his example and do the same. See what I come up with.
Hops are the least important part of beer. You can't have a good beer without yeast, water or malt. But sometimes they are actually worth the hype.
2012 was the year that marketing made such great advances with good beer that the line between smaller producers and macro-industrial brewing has become blurred making me think in terms of micro-industrial.
Efforts are being made to make good beer exclusive and special. These efforts need to be fought.
Silly analogies about good beer not only undermine interest in good beer but look like efforts in favour of some other interest.
Pre-lager US brewing history seems now to be ignored as a matter of principle and not just ignorance... happily with exceptions.
So many concepts with good beer are meaningless and unnecessary. Take away the vague concept of "craft" and put away "style" as a historical blip and the same beers would be made - and likely be enjoyed more.
Articles and books about good beer sometimes make me wonder what was in the water when the author thought up that idea. Then I remember what it was. Alcohol.
Many of the things that supposedly make new good beers interesting are not hops, yeast, water or malt. Flavoured beers covering the flavour of beer.
Win Basset's tweet "I haven't wanted a beer in about a month. It's been very weird." is one of the most refreshing things I read this year about good beer. But I am still not taking up running.
My favorite good beer this year, if my actual purchases are anything to go by, came in a can and cost five bucks a litre.
My own favorite beer nerd moment of the year was when I was talking with someone at an event and someone else listening was pouring into my glass - and we realized we had just let the beer spill all over the carpet.
As Max wrote, if you've any more beer clichés to add, you know what to do. Maybe use the hashtag #ThinkingLikeMax when you do.