Quality in Quantity
Regular followers of the “What am I drinking” feature of this site probably note that I go through a lot more beer than wine or whisky. A lot of this has to do with alcohol content. By virtue of their higher alcohol content, wine and whisky necessarily are consumed in smaller quantities. I also don’t just kick back with a few glasses of wine or whisky.
Wine for me is fundamentally a part of a meal. I may have a part of a glass while cooking, or finish a glass after dinner, but it’s not something I just pull to drink on its own. The synergy of wine and food is something I appreciate and am fascinated by, but wine by itself is not as attractive to me.
Whisky gets even more restrictively pigeon-holed, I’m afraid. If I have some, it needs to be a nightcap, and then probably only one. I know some folks think it makes a terrific companion to food, but it doesn’t work for me. I’m also pretty weather sensitive when it comes to my whisky consumption – if there’s not a crisp snap in the air, I’m just not going to reach for a whisky.
Which brings me to beer. Beer is my all-occasion beverage. It works with food, and I have no qualms about consuming it by itself. It has the bonus of packing a lot of flavor into a package that I can drink all evening long. I truly get as much pleasure from a mouthful of good beer as I do from good wine or whisky, I just get a lot more mouthfuls! This is the clincher for me. I used to drink more wine than anything else, but with life as crazy and wonderful and complete as it is, beer is a much better fit.
Now, I already diverge from the pack a bit by being a triple threat lover of beer, wine and whisky. I diverge further from the pack by having a distinct preference for beers of very moderate strength. As the title of the post indicates, I have always been a quality in quantity guy. I’ve learned this about myself over the years, and trust me that some of those early years were full of some painfully disastrous experiments with quantity.
As I have grown up (matured is a bit too kind), I have given quite a bit of thought to this. Once the realization hit that I would derive significantly more pleasure from two pints of 5% beer than one pint of 10% beer, I began to ween myself from “the chase”. In the beer community, at least the online one, there is a great amount of discussion about certain beers (usually hard to get, expensive and high in alcohol) that garner high scores (I’ll save my rant on scoring something as subjective as taste for later). The current top 100 on Beer Advocate is dominated by Quads, Russian Imperial Stout, Imperial/Double IPAs, and Barleywines. Sure, there are a few other styles represented, but most are big beers (I counted a whopping 21 of 100 with an alcohol % less than 7%).
For a while, I was a part of “the chase” after these beers ,as I was after wine with “points” from certain critics. Nowadays, I leave the chase to others. I shared my thoughts on the subject in a post in Mike Sweeney’s fine Stlhops forum. Over the past few years I’ve managed to direct the vast majority of my beer budget into beers that have more or less 5% alcohol or below. I find myself happier, and have plenty of wonderful beers that I truly enjoy to keep my fridge, and now my kegerator, full.
While I’m content on my path, I can’t help but feel a twinge of sadness for those who rush past some really terrific “basic” beers on “the chase” for the latest and greatest double, Imperial, Bourbon barrel-aged, Brett-fermented star. I’m glad those folks are thinking about what they’re drinking, and enjoying it, but I look forward to the time when we can discuss the subtlety and balance of a great Pilsener, Dunkel, or American Pale Ale with as much passion and appreciation as the “big” beers get.
I’m with you Dave. Though I still rather enjoy a nice big beer on occasion, I find that drinkability is really where it’s at.
I too enjoy a big beer from time to time, but the space between those times seems to be growing longer and longer.
I have always been a ‘quality in quantity’ girl. It may have something to do with my ability to have 3 beers and not have slurred speech…unlike when I have 2 whiskeys and have to lay down. I can appreciate the “BIG’ beers…but I do enjoy my pilsner. Again, maybe b/c I hail from an AB family and was nursed on Budweiser….maybe it the clean cool finish I enjoy on a hot summer day…or the way a good pale ale goes down easy with roasted chicken a green salad. Or…it may be the fact that I just really like beer.
Beautiful, well-crafted, succinct post, Dave.
Annie, my vote is for your last guess.
Kathy, thanks for the kind words.
I agree with you Dave. If I have a “big” beer, I’d prefer to split it with someone or start the night off with it. I just love a liter of dunkel or a imp pint of bitter, some conversation, and maybe another round.
I am certainly not opposed to the occasional “big” beer either. What I’d found when I looked in the cellar a couple of years ago was case upon case of “big” beers waiting for that moment to share them, or dedicate an evening to them myself. After thinking about it for awhile I realized how out of synch it was with the way I liked to drink. I’ve cut the stash back through trades, tastings, and severely curtailing the impulse to buy every well-regarded “big” beer I come across. As a result, I’m drinking much happier these days.