Now that's the spirit! Reminds me of the time (pre marriage and pre children) when I hopped on a plane one morning for London and spent the day roaming between a variety of different Fullers and Young's pubs before returning to Edinburgh by the end of the day. It wasn't just beer. It just had to be done.
This is merely one viewpoint. Beer for me is a part of every day life, like morning coffee. I could not give one damn about chasing hard to find beers, trading or waiting in line for new releases. I drink beer EVERY SINGLE DAY. I drink beer that I enjoy, not that is obscure, hard to find or expensive. Fuller's London Pride makes up 80% of my beer consumption. It is great beer, not because it is strongly flavored but because it is expertly made and well balanced in it's flavors. I enjoy Big IPAs and Stouts on occasion, ON OCCASION. Those beers are like Sunday Dinner. London Pride is the meatloaf, mac n cheese, pork chops and fried chicken of my beer life. Comfort beer, like comfort food or a favorite pair of slippers. Works every time.
Hell, usually when I'm having my morning Coffee, the site that I find myself to be on the most is this one. Constantly thinking of brewing, enjoying, checking new releases and of course, awaiting for this year's bigfoot. Cheers.
And many of us are content to sit back and watch the fanatics trample each other trying to trump everybody else in getting to the newest coolest hype of the week, while of course enjoying a beer.
Same here, I went to my local store and saw that it was available. However I wasn't expecting to see it in 4 packs. Very Very good though.
The "it's just beer" line is used when it is convenient for people. People serve craft beer at a specific temperature, in a specific glass, with a specific cheese, after they have aged it a specific amount of time, after they have traded mucho $$$$ worth of other beer to get it, etc. Then, when I say that I don't buy BMC products, like Goose Island, because of the parent companies business practices I get slammed with the line, "It's just beer dude, relax, stop trying to make it this big important thing." I think it's kind of ironic to tell me to relax about beer when you're drinking it out of a snifter after your french pressed it with cocoa nibs.....
I do special trips for sporting events and alcohol. I have flown and driven all over the country on road trips to attend baseball and football trips. 90% of the time, I will seek out local breweries/bars/wineries, distillers in the area rather than other landmarks. I don't know why, I just do. I had just as much fun visiting the Coors Factory in Golden, Colorado as I did when I toured the caves at Moet Chandon and saw hundreds of thousands of bottles of Dom Perignon in Epernay, France.
