Beer Nerd. That is what I sort of think of myself as. Why? Because of the whole "Revenge of the Nerds" thing, of course. If it weren't for the nerds we would not have information technology, statistics-based sports fanaticism and male teens who entirely avoid ending up with child support orders slapped against them by the local family court judge. Nerds.
Why do I mention this? Well, Lew is a bit fed up with the word "geek" and with good reason apparently as he notes today:
It is an inherently denigrating term, given its history (though some have argued that, like "gay," the word has changed so thoroughly that it has left its origins behind. I don't agree), and it has that air of annoying dipshit about it, the kind of beer drinker who obsesses over note-taking and rarity and process to the point of missing the whole reason that the beer is in their glass.Figuring I would go one and on, I thought I would add my two cents here and...hmm...I can't say I am that same intensity of feeling against the collecting obsessive - which is all a ticker is. I collected stamps, coins, maps, AM radio station reception confirmation cards [Ed.: oh, for the serious geeeek! years], baseball and hockey cards as well as bird species observations.¹ People...OK, males...are collectors and I am sure it is nothing worse that the vestige of proud hunter gatherer heritage: "Look, Grok: I have a saber toothed tiger head as well as one from a giant sloth" equals "Look , Fred: I've got a Ferrari as well as a Jag." So while I am not a ticker in the sense that I have no idea how many beers I have had and only take notes on about half of what I sip, I do have to admit the tendency to tick a list is not at all limited or even defined by beer.
Yet, there has to be another admission: beer is a pleasant recreational pursuit. Some do it, many don't and at the end of the day your pal likes his PBR and you like your lambic or oatmeal stout, well, the earth is not going to shift on its axis. So shouldn't the word also convey some genial, jolly and even carefree meaning? Shouldn't it be a word that that lightens the load, that makes those who hear it smile? That is why I join with Lew in rejecting connoisseur, aficionado, enthusiast, ale conner, beer lover. I also don't care much for beer sommelier or the newish cicerone for that matter. Too weighty...even overweight. The words should be more in the nature of "tippler" or "sipper". Once I heard of a guy with the nickname "Sudsy" - aren't we all maybe "sudsies"? No, that may miss the point. There has to be an aspect of simply being consumers with a bit of the merriment that is associated with beer.
And maybe there is no "we" at all. All the "we" that there is could just be the beer buying public. Some buy based on the comfort of familiarity, some for the thrill of the chase, some for the same reason they cook or even grow great food - the excitement of discovering new and interesting flavours. If that is the case, maybe we are just "beer buyers" and within that we are beer tickers, beer geeks, fridgers, beer huggers, empty mug sniffers, beer advocates, beer nerds, beerstorians, talking beer heads (pro and semi-pro), sing-songers, lager louts, home brewers, beer fans or beer cranks, jerks and just plain old bores.
For now, for me, I am still a nerd. What are you?
¹thus making me a "twit and pisher".
Comments
Evan Rail - March 28, 2008 2:33 pm
I don't say "beer geek."
I usually say "beer head," which is sort of related to the idea of someone being a "head" in the musical sense (e.g., a "bass head," "a serious dub head," or God forbid, "a deadhead"). Often I say "hop head," but only for my IPA-addicted friends. Obviously, the word implies a cerebral appreciation of the good stuff, and it has a nice beatnik/counterculture association I like.
Less lame / more mainstream: "beer guy."
On that note, in Czech there's this great word, pivář, which literally means "beer guy." Unfortunately, the connotation is this is a beer guy who drinks 15 cheap lagers every night, not someone who cares too much about what he consumes.
Alan - March 28, 2008 2:40 pm
When I worked in Poland the only joke I really got off well in the local language was in response to "hoj me na Sobota" (aka get me to Saturday) to which I responded "hoj me na pivo" or even "hoj me na pif"...one of the plurals of <i>pivo</i>. <p>Seeing as I think the slavic word for beer is the best word for beer there is, I like <i>pivar</i>. I am also fond of being called "a member of the PPPP" which was the <i>Polska Partia Przyjaciół Piwa</i> or "Polish Beer Drinkers Party" that won seats in the Warsaw parliament of the early 90s. Maybe that makes me a "PPPP-varian"?
Jonathan - March 28, 2008 2:49 pm
Beerasaurus Rex? No... a little too long. I'll keep thinking. What about using the term "brew" instead of "beer." To me brew has more connotations of craft beer. Even if they're just connotations.
Troy Burtch - March 28, 2008 4:41 pm
I'll have to think a little harder about this, away from work. The one I use most though, and what I consider myself to be, is a "good beer drinker." Simply put. I have been called a beer snob, as I'm sure the people reading this have most certainly have as well.
But what about beeraholic? You got shopaholic, smokeaholic, sexaholic (did I just make that up).
Thomas - March 28, 2008 4:46 pm
I am a beer geek and as it turns out I am dating a food geek, we are both very comfortable in our geekiness.
Miriam-Webster lists the third definition of geek as "an enthusiast or expert especially in a technological field or activity" it fits us.
A Nerd can carry a certain less social cognitive skilled label, but geek it seems not necessarily.
In the end I agree your point and the one on the Appellation thread on beer critic that we don't want to get stuck with too serious about a label, nor anything else than enjoying the beverage and our experiences.
Alan - March 28, 2008 4:46 pm
In a similar vein but leaning a bit on the '60s, how's about "beer junkie" or "beer freak"? Mash-head or malt-licker?
Alan - March 28, 2008 4:50 pm
Hopsomaniac? A pivotee?
Frank McDonald - March 28, 2008 5:42 pm
Friends and co-workers often call me a "beer connoisseur" and I hate the term. Way too snobby, and implies a knowledge of the subject that I don't have. I always say "good beer lover" but thats mouthful. How about "Jacksonite"? Homage to the great man who introduced so many of us to the vast world of beer.
Alan - March 28, 2008 6:24 pm
I am older school than that, I am afraid. Bostonian or perhaps even Linear. But as I really wish more than anything I could have a regular pint in a place with a skittles alley attached maybe I am really a "Skittleloon".
Bailey - March 30, 2008 5:15 am
I've never used the word geek pejoratively. Comedian Patton Oswalt thinks there's a distinction between geek and nerd, and said in an interview with Wired: 'A lot of nerds aren't aware they're nerds. A geek has thrown his hands up to the universe and gone, "I speak Klingon — who am I fooling? You win! I'm just gonna openly like what I like." Geeks tend to be a little happier with themselves.'
So, I like beer geek. Nothing to be ashamed of. A geek is someone who's given up on adolescent pretensions and popularity contests and has enough self-assurance and strength of character to admit that they like, in a very serious way, something that other people think is trivial.
Paul Garrard - March 30, 2008 12:20 pm
I'm not really big on labels. Probably best used when denigrating.
Alan - March 31, 2008 2:22 pm
Knut has the right word: beer dog"! Excellent.
Andrew Jones - March 31, 2008 10:20 pm
Not much in attaching labels to people - better on things so we can distinguish what we like and like less. Beer, I like all I have tried - just some more (a lot more) than others. Others have attached lables to me - parrothead, training geek, neat freek, alcoholic - I'm not an alcoholic, alcoholocs attend meetings - I'm a pristine beer/ail drinker and I don't like meetings.
Thomas - April 1, 2008 2:09 pm
I am a member of a local homebrew club, so I attend meeting, heh.