I am SUCH an EAC!

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Torchiest

Torchiest

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So, I was bartending last night, and this guy was at the bar. He wanted to try a "dark ale," and he'd already tried a couple of our draft beers, so I decided to give him a taste of Arrogant Bastard, just to mess with him and see how legit his beer drinking cred was.

He tasted it, and I said that it was pretty heavy duty. He said it was too fruity! Next he asked for a taste of Fat Tire, which he declared to be "very hoppy." WTF? Finally, I let him try Stone IPA, which was "too stout." This guy had no idea what the hell he was talking about! I gave up on trying to recommend something for him at that point. I think he ended up getting a hefe-weizen or something like that. Maybe a Blue Moon. :confused:

I told one of my beer snob buddies about it tonight and he said he must've read an article about beer recently and gotten his terminology mixed up. It was pretty aggravating, but also kinda funny. Some people!:drunk:
 
Oh yeah, I forgot how he started the whole thing. He wanted to try "ales, not lagers," which actually tricked me into thinking he had a clue. The guy was totally using beer buzzwords without knowing a damn thing.
 
"just to mess with him and see how legit his beer drinking cred was."

Obviously I wasn't there and this could have all been good natured fun but........I have seen many exchanges like this result in an establishment loosing a customer. Just saying.
 
Ya shoulda given him a whole glass of Stone's Runiation IPA first, then have him taste stuff. That'd FHU for the rest of the night as far as taste buds go. :)
 
Actually, when i find someone like this that seemingly wants to learn about good beer I give them the Stone ruination and say "know this you are going to fine extremely hoppy, the bitterness you are tasting is the hops" Lead them in the right direction so they can then understand the terms and descriptions. I am sure when i first started get into beer other than the colorer water i used to drink i got a few of the terms mixed up as im sure you did as well.

But, i can see the humor and or frustration, especially if he acted like he was a know it all.
 
brewt00l said:
"just to mess with him and see how legit his beer drinking cred was."

Obviously I wasn't there and this could have all been good natured fun but........I have seen many exchanges like this result in an establishment loosing a customer. Just saying.
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Well, he asked for a dark ale, and I told him before I gave him to it that it was strong stuff. And of course I told him the name, which is always fun. I'm extremely good at picking out beers for people, if they give me proper parameters. It was almost like a tasting version of rock paper scissors. Each beer I gave him had the flavor he claimed the previous beer had. I was trying to recalibrate his gustatory compass, as it were.

Oh yeah, the Stone IPA and Arrogant Bastard are the only two Stone beers you can get in Texas. :(
 
Unfortunately, I think we will be seeing more of that in the future as the standard light beer becomes less main stream and craft beers become more popular. I'm seeing more SA commercials pushing the other styles. Watch Spike TV for awhile and see if you notice the same thing.

I read a United Airline article that said beer is being treated like wine in fine dining establishments around the world. They commented on the fact we know to be so true, that beer is more complex flavor-wise than wine. In the article they talk about how matching the brew with the food. They start off with Belgians, then English Ales, German Lagers and close with West Coast Brews. Its no longer a social miss-step or faux pas to order a beer at a good resturant.

I guess we'll have to start getting use to it or correct people when they are wrong. I would be inclined to do the later before ignoring them.

Before you know it the wine snobs will be calling all of us EAC's :D

So be it....
 
brewt00l said:
"just to mess with him and see how legit his beer drinking cred was."

Obviously I wasn't there and this could have all been good natured fun but........I have seen many exchanges like this result in an establishment loosing a customer. Just saying.
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OMFG...are you kidding? Why don't you call Torch's boss and let him know that. :rolleyes:
 
¡Ay carumba!

Let me see if I can make this clear. The guy came off initially sounding like he was a big time beer drinker. I thought, okay, the guy likes real beer, I'll give him an Arrogant Bastard. I always warn people in advance that Arrogant Bastard has a very strong flavor. I don't just try to spring a "nasty" tasting beer on them as a way of telling them to f*ck off.

I love my job, and I love figuring out what people like and then picking something off the tap wall, and nailing it, finding something they really like. I like to think I'm pretty good at it. My first thought with this guy is, hmm, dark ale, well let's see.

My tap wall has the following beers I would classify as "dark ales":

Abita Turbo Dog (a brown/porter)
Anchor Old Foghorn
Anchor Porter
Arrogant Bastard
Newcastle Brown Ale (which he said he'd had before)
Real Ale Coffee Porter
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot

Please tell me which one you would've picked instead. My experience tells me that most people that ask for ales don't want porters, because if they do, they'll usually specifically mention it. And very few people like barleywines.

The whole point of this story was that the guy was basically saying random words. It was like having a compass and walking north, but then realizing you had travelled west, and then saying, hmm, what happens if i go west, and finding out you've gone souh, and then saying, ok, now if I go south, then what, and finding out you've gone east. I was calibrating my brain to deal with his responses.

I swear to god, I'm not an *******, and plese don't think I'm like that. This whole thing was supposed to be a good-natured, joking, amusing story about somebody that had their terminology all mixed-up, or had a broken set of taste buds. Beer is my passion, and turning people on to new flavors is part of that.
 
beer4breakfast said:
Why would you consider it unfortunate that more people will be exposed to good beer and might learn to like them and understand what makes them unique and special? And why wouldn't you consider educating them instead of correcting them?

Maybe you are an EAC.
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You might be right.

By saying unfortunately, I was thinking of those people who profess to be experts when they are really not experts. Throwing out words not knowing what they mean. I've been around them and you have too.

I'm thinking of the kind of person who you know is full of beans....For example two weeks ago. I had some guy tell me he's a Green Beret and was in Iraq and was on special missions... it was unsolicited conversation.... I was in the service and I know Special Forces people don't out themselves to strangers in a bar. Especially in that category.

Maybe its me but I seemed to have run into a great deal or BSers in my life, I don't have patience for people like that.

Correcting somebody can be polite and not offensive , it could spurn discussion that would educate and enlighten at the same time. That kind of conversation is actually worth having in my opinion. Its normal HB talk at my club meetings.

:mug:
 
beer4breakfast said:
OK, I've had a beer, and now the world seems a more pleasant place. Pardon my churlish tone. :)

I'd have given him Arrogant Bastard or Abita Turbo Dog, depending on whether he wanted something with a kick or something smoother. Honestly, I think Arrogant Bastard ought to come with a warning ... oh wait, it does ...
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It's cool. :mug:

This does remind me of another funny story from a few nights ago. There are a couple of regulars that always drink the local beer, Saint Arnold. They've been chugging down the Spring Bock, which is the current seasonal.

Well, I said something to one of them that night, like, "Don't you want a pale ale?" because they usually drink APAs and IPAs as well. He said they were trying to finish off the Spring Bock keg so we could move onto the Summer Pils.

I was like, "Dude, it's not even technically Spring yet, we're going to get at least one more keg of the Bock after that one; they haven't even started making the Summer Pils yet."

He was like, "Really? In that case, give me a Full Moon Pale Rye [another local brewery's beer]." Poor guy. ;)
 
Haha, that is pretty funny, Torch. I have posted this story a few times, but I bought a variety pack from Unibroue recently. One of the guys says "yeah one guy came in and said he wasn't buying anything from Unibroue anymore". When asked why his response was that the "bottles hurt his lips". :D

That's like driving a Ferrari in the Walmart parking lot.
 
OK - I won't. My FIL says I have the patience of a saint. Only somebody of that stature could marry his daughter!!! No kidding whatsoever.

Somedays that doesn't apply. SWMBO regularly tells me to quit being a jerk.

Everybody has those moments. I guess it it boils down to how well you can restrain yourself.

What I said is true, more and more people will be talking about beer as it gets more popular to drink craft brews. Some will know their stuff and some won't but think they do.

:mug:
 
I know nothing. ...but I do know more today than yesterday and hopefully will know more tomorrow than I do today. This I do know.







...must have more coffee. I HATE MONDAYS!!!
 
All I can say is that people who go around trying to sound like they know everything about something they know virtually nothing about deserve to be taken down a peg or two.

The onus is on them to ask if a suggestion could be made that might suit what they are looking for. It is not on the other person to say, "Oh, I'm sorry, but you obviously don't know what you are talking about. Let me help set you straight.":mad:

I mean WTF is wrong with asking for help? Not directions, of course :p , but help.
 
evanmars said:
All I can say is that people who go around trying to sound like they know everything about something they know virtually nothing about deserve to be taken down a peg or two.

The onus is on them to ask if a suggestion could be made that might suit what they are looking for. It is not on the other person to say, "Oh, I'm sorry, but you obviously don't know what you are talking about. Let me help set you straight.":mad:

I mean WTF is wrong with asking for help? Not directions, of course :p , but help.
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evanmars

Beer4breakfast is passing out EAC citations.

The fine is answering 75 newby questions.

You can plead your case in HBT court or just stay online until 75 questions are answered.

beer4breakfast will tell you the court date and time.

If you are found guilty the fine is answering 150 newby questions or suspension of HBT membership or complete revokation of said membership.


Don't feel bad he busted me earlier! I will pay instead of going to court! :D

:mug:

That would be EAC smack talk!
 
I have a friend that always says "I cant stand dark beers", but, and this is the funny part, he considers dark beers anything that isnt straw or golden colored a dark beer. He drinks Coors only, and if its darker than that, its a dark beer. Even a darker colored lager to him is a dark beer. Sheesh...Id hate to put a stout in front of him...
 
evanmars said:
All I can say is that people who go around trying to sound like they know everything about something they know virtually nothing about deserve to be taken down a peg or two.
Click to expand...
How's this for not sounding too smart... WTF does EAC mean. :eek:
 
evanmars said:
All I can say is that people who go around trying to sound like they know everything about something they know virtually nothing about deserve to be taken down a peg or two.

The onus is on them to ask if a suggestion could be made that might suit what they are looking for. It is not on the other person to say, "Oh, I'm sorry, but you obviously don't know what you are talking about. Let me help set you straight.":mad:

I mean WTF is wrong with asking for help? Not directions, of course :p , but help.
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BTW - Thanks for agreeing with me.

You guys got off easy. I had to read the whole thread to figure it out.
 
Tony said:
I have a friend that always says "I cant stand dark beers", but, and this is the funny part, he considers dark beers anything that isnt straw or golden colored a dark beer. He drinks Coors only, and if its darker than that, its a dark beer. Even a darker colored lager to him is a dark beer. Sheesh...Id hate to put a stout in front of him...
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That's really funny, because I deal with that all the time. People ask for a dark beer, and they really mean something like Shiner Bock or Fat Tire, which are FAR from dark in my book.

BierMuncher said:
Okay I got it.

I'm trying to picture that anatomical image in my mind. Somehow the figure-8 is involved.

I dunno.
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LMAO. Hilarious!
 
Dude said:
OMFG...are you kidding? Why don't you call Torch's boss and let him know that. :rolleyes:
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Go back, read my post a second time. I started off the a pretty clear disclaimer as an attempt to avoid confusion that I was speaking about exchanges "like" this not this specific situation. No torchiests were harmed during my observation of these situations that he did not participate in.
 
Torchiest said:
That's really funny, because I deal with that all the time. People ask for a dark beer, and they really mean something like Shiner Bock or Fat Tire, which are FAR from dark in my book.
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You are correct. That's why, when I go into bars and am in the mood for something really dark, I ask for the nastiest dankest damn dark beer you've got... Don't hold back.

They usually get the idea. If I were tending bar and someone asked for a dark, I'd probably just toss them something like a shiner bock. If he's a hardcore beerlover, he won't complain (much), and if he wanted something darker, he can ask for it next time.
 
I don't have a problem when people don't like good beer (I spend a lot of time around people who only drink BMC), I just don't understand it. As far as being an EAC, it sounds like the guy at the bar was being an EAC over something he knew nothing about, and people like that should always be pointed at and mocked in my book (I kid, I kid...or do I?).
 

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