Friendly Culture of Craft Beer

This past Saturday was a good day. I went to the Top Ten Wine & Spirits in Cottage Grove for their Grand Beer Tasting. I had been to their beer-tasting events before and was happy to attend again. There were a good number of beers there from many different brewers: Cold Spring, Furthermore, Lagunitas, Founders, Rush River, Deschutes, Goose Island, Great Divide, and Grand Teton. I was especially excited about Deschutes, because we have not been able to get their beers in Minnesota.

I'll get to more about the actual beer in tomorrow's post. First, I want to talk about something I think is pretty cool. As I walked from table to table tasting different beers, I noticed something that seems to be common at craft beer events: strangers becoming friends.

When you show up at a tasting like this, there are probably going to be a lot of people you don't know. As you journey through the beers, you usually end up alongside some people who are going through the same beers at the same time. Before you know it, you start chatting. It usually starts simple, like a head nod along with a "That's pretty tasty" or "This is OK, but I've had better." Then you begin sharing a few taste preferences as the beer you're tasting, your "social lubricant", goes to work. As you sample more beer, you feel more relaxed and begin talking more like this person is a friend you haven't seen in a while. At the end of your tasting trip, you might say "See you later" even if you might not run into them again. You might even shake their hand. I'm not sure if this happens for everyone, but people in the craft beer world usually seem pretty friendly and willing to visit with one another.

At the end of the tasting on Saturday, I ran into a guy that I've talked to at other beer events. We've never learned names, but we always recognize each other. We talked for a while with some of his friends and I mentioned my fledgling beer tasting business. He and his friends were interested, so I was able to hand out a few of my business cards. During our chat, he mentioned having some Pliny the Elder from Russian River. I told him that I've heard good things about that beer, and someday I'll try to get some. (You can't get Pliny the Elder in Minnesota.) We said goodbye so we could continue our beer shopping, once again without ever mentioning our names.

I was standing near the register when he was about to make his beer purchase, and he said to me, "If you can hold on for a minute while I buy my beer, you should follow me out to my car. I've got a bottle of Pliny the Elder for you." I couldn't believe it. It was awesome that someone who is a casual, friendly, but unnamed acquaintance would just give me some of his beer. A beer that was probably difficult to acquire.

After he bought his beer, I followed him to his car and sure enough, he gave me a bottle of Pliny the Elder. I found myself thanking him repeatedly, and I finally realized I didn't know his name. I asked, and he told me. Thanks for the beer, Rick Duff. I'll enjoy it, and you'll see an official beer session with it on this blog.