The Art of Reviewing Beer

As some of you may have noticed, my reviews aren't so much "reviews" as they are "suggestions." It's not that I don't know how to perform a review, since I do just that as an Associate PC Editor for GameDaily... it's just that I don't like getting that detailed about my beer. At least not yet.

I leave all the technobabble - the specific hops, what the beer smells like, or what flavors can be tasted on the front, back and sides of your mouth as it washes down your gullet - to the likes of Michael Jackson (the other Michael Jackson), my buddy Ed Sealover who writes for the Colorado Springs Gazette and the many others who actually know what they're talking about.

Me? I'm the Every Beer Man. A category somewhere far above the Neanderthal Keystone guzzler yet far below the fully evolved Chimay (a Trappist Monk beer) connoisseur. I love my craft beer with a passion, but not so consumed by it (wife edit: not consumed by it my ass!) that I know every little nuance about every beer.

For me... I either like how a beer tastes, or I don't. What it's brewed with only has a marginal impact on whether I'll like it or not. I've been known to go in spurts. For instance, there was a time when all I consumed was Pyramid's "sissy la la" (as some called it) Apricot Weizen (called Apricot Ale back then). While I still enjoy the fruity beers, I drink a lot of different styles now. In the summer it's almost exclusively Hefe, wheats, pils, and I've even started to like some hoppy pales (although IPAs are still way too strong for me liking). Stouts and Porters, my mainstays during the cold winter months, taste horrid during the hot summer and vice versa with lighter ales in the winter.

So there ya have it... me in a beer nutshell.

I finally received my Sam Adams specialty glasses the other day. Cracked them out, washed them down and gave 'em a whirl. At first glance you don't think an entire 12 oz. beer will fit - but it does. If you pay particular attention, you'll notice that liquid pours into these glasses much differently then the flat sided pint glasses of old. It actually creates a swirling effect that "opens" up the beer. Furthermore, the bead inside the rim of the glass actually does something - what, I'm not sure. I'm not a physicist, I'm a beer drinker! It just does something different to the beer as it tumbles over the edge into your mouth. The curvature of the rim also feels absolutely perfect as it rests on your bottom lip. This sucker is worth the money!

Has anyone else out there purchased these, and if so... what do you think of them?

Until next time... Zivjeli! (which means "to life" in Croatian; ironic that my name is the last three letters of this great word, dontcha think?).