(actual conversation with a reader)
"Your blog is getting really lame."
"I know I haven't been posting a lot. What sort of stuff would you like to see in the blog that would bame it better?"
"Anything but what you're posting."
Well shit, with constructive criticism like that, I can really gauge what's on the minds of the beer-oriented public. Personally, I don't want to write a lame blog; there are enough of those out there already. But that's why comments are enabled.
After writing about beer on a regular basis for over a year, it gets tough to think of new topics and takes. There is nothing I'd like more than input and subject suggestions from readers, but it's pretty rare. On the day ebaum's world linked to us, we had 3400 visitors. 3 left a comment.
So please, dear faithful, I want to know what you guys are interested in. I need your ideas. A vague put-down doesn't exactly help me make things more interesting.
Let's use that rant as the worst segue in the world, and get to today's topic, which is the extreme beer debate. Over the last few years, the trend in microbrewing, and microbrew distribution, has been toward ludicrously strong, comically bitter beers that strangle you with hop vines and leave you unable to drive home. These Imperial Pilseners, Imperial IPAs Quadruple bocks, and dubbel barley wines are simultaneously being heralded as the new revolution in American craft brewing and the scourge of the beer culture.
Personally, I don't view beer as vehicle with which to demonstrate my machismo. I also don't see it as a bullet-train delivering alcohol to my bloodstream as rapidly as possible. If I need a fast buzz that badly, vodka would be the superior choice.
Beer is social. When I'm out with my friends, it's far preferable to order several glasses of a weaker "session" beer that's perfectly brewed to style than a rosin-saturated alcohol bomb.
I guess I just like my nights to last longer than twenty minutes. Hey barkeep! Another Pilsener, and make sure there's nothing imperial about it.
-Mark
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4 comments:
Wow! I really said all that? How nice to be quoted in the Beer Blog. You forgot my best one... "Maybe you should pay the D&C Beer Buddies to write your column for you"...OUCH! In all seriousness, I do apologize for jumping on you like that at the new Webster MacG's. I was way too harsh and it was good to see you and Bruce out and about as it has been a couple months since we last crossed paths. At least you do know that I regularly read the blog and also remember that I always complimented you on it when you first got it going and were putting more effort into it.
I can clearly see where you are running low on ideas and things to write about. I know that you like to mix humor into your writing but it seems that some of your more recent posts have become way too heavy on the cutesy humor and way too light on useful beer information. The football column a bit back was scraping the bottom. You should stick with writing about the beer and then let "Don" Cialini add his say as he has that type of humor mastered and his rebuttals are always fun to read.
What I like to read about is where you've been, what you've found on tap, new beers found, beer events, good beer deals or bar specials, good beer bars... both local and those you've found on your road trips. I liked reading about the Swan Market, What is going on at High Falls, The places you visited in Boston... things like that. Let us know that the new Webster MacGregors has opened and that you went there and what your opinion is of it. Stuff like that is perfect for the blog and I'd be happy to add my thoughts to it.
As for extreme beers, I agree with you. I love a good hoppy west coast style IPA but can do without all of the new extreme DIPA's popping up everywheres that have taken things a step further. They are fun to sample in moderation at a beer festival but I would never order a full one while out and about at a bar as I would only be able to drink one or two and then would be done in order to make it home legally. Would hardly be worth making that long drive to and from for only one beer.
- Jim -
Beer!!!
I just checked your archives from 2005. There's some good stuff there. You could recycle.
I haven't been reading this blog long enough (since January), so I don't know what you've done or haven't. But, what about:
The best beers in the Americas by style
Macrobrew corporate analysis (like the recent Michelob post)
What do you know about the history of beer in America?
That's all I got.
Start reviewing 40 oz. I'm considering a month of 40s reviews myself.
Hey, this is Pete - how about bringing back Friday's Overrated Beer reviews. I miss those. I only like to do about one and a half hours of real work on Fridays, and that used to be one of my favorite instruments of procrastination. Thanks!
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