That "A-Ha" moment

I thought I'd share a little bit about myself and my journey with beer. After all, it is that journey that has led me to this point. Beer is my life. I fall asleep thinking about it, and it is what I think about when I wake up. Part of that is because I work in the beer business. But, mostly it stems from the fact that I am obsessed with it on every level. So, where did all of this begin? Well, it all started in 2002 when I worked at Azalea.

There aren't many good things that came out of my experience at Azalea. Two things, though, stick out. I met one of my best friends, Justin, there. We bonded and became great friends, and he is now my partner in just about all things beer that I do. The second thing was that I was introduced to La Fin Du Monde.

Azalea, for the most part, had a fairly pedestrian beer menu. But, towards the end of my time there, they started to up their beer game. One of the first beers they added that was different and interesting was La Fin Du Monde from Unibroue. LFDM is a Belgian-style Triple, refermented in the bottle to give it a great champagne-like effervescence. At the time it was brought in, I didn't really drink beer. If I went out for the night with people from work, I nursed a Bud Light and mainly did shots. I loved tequila at the time. But, since we were selling LFDM at work, I thought I should at least taste it. It sounded interesting, and alot of people I worked with said that it was really good. So, I tried it and fell deeply in love. I knew it was modeled after Belgian beers, so I sought out every Belgian beer that I could get my hands on. When I would go over to friends houses and they would buy a bottle of wine to drink, I would buy a 750ml bottle of Chimay Blue. I quickly fell in love with the Trappists beers, such as Orval, Westmalle and, of course, Chimay. For the next year, this is what I drank. Then, someone, I don't remember who, told me that I should try Anderson Valley's Hop Ottin IPA.

Now, as much as I loved Belgian beers, I didn't know what an IPA was. But, I was given a free bottle, so, I gave it a shot. Well, that really was the beginning of the end. Nothing I had ever drank tasted quite like that. I loved this beer dearly, and still do to this day. On the back of the bottle, it is described as a Hophead's dream (or something to that effect). So, I decided that I must be a Hophead. From that point, it was all hops all the time. You couldn't cram enough hops into the beer for me.

And, that was it. Two beers and about a year settled my fate. To this day, my passion for beer is one of the only things in my life that has never wained (Beer and my love for my wife and my dogs).

The passion was there at that point, but I would have to give Len Stevens credit for alot of my growth in terms of my knowledge of beer. Len intrusted L&N's beer list to me, and it was that duty that introduced me to alot of different styles and started my knowledge of how to pair beer and food. My knowledge, as well as my passion, more than doubled in the three years that I did their beer list.

So, there it is. After L&N, I took a job at Whole Foods as their Beer Buyer, and from there I landed at Schlafly where I am today. This is all that I want to do. I will always be employed by something involving beer. I imagine being with Schlafly for quite a while. But, if I were ever to leave, it would be for a different job in this business. Beer has been very good for me and to me. I guess that this blog is just a way for me to give a little bit back. If this site inspires even one person to give craft beer a chance, I will count it a success.

If anyone else would like to share any of their stories of their awakening to craft beer, I'd love to hear them all. Shoot me an e-mail at 502bber@gmail.com. I will post them as they come in.

Long live craft beer. Until next time, Cheers all.