I recently had my attention drawn to a (very) long and well-written account of an ascent into beer geekiness. Joel Mayer, aka “Alemonger”, is a Jersey guy, a lawyer, and had a long, convoluted path to being a self-avowed “beer nut”. All in spite of a (relatively) late start.

A sample:

My second beer epiphany wouldn’t strike for 17 more years. Like I said, that path Tom put me on wasn’t traversed with great consistency – or efficiency. After moving back to New Jersey I continued to enjoy much better beer. Anchor Steam was now generally available as was its California companion, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Those were my beers of choice and for the most part, I didn’t feel compelled to search the liquor store isles for anything else. Had I done so, I would likely have been frustrated by what was still a weak but slowly improving selection. While the store isles may still have been, with noted exceptions, barren of real quality brews, that wasn’t the case at the Tun Tavern Brewpub in Atlantic City. The “Tun”, as it is known to locals, is adjacent to the lower lobby of the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center about four blocks from the Boardwalk. The view out the floor to ceiling front windows is quintessential New Jersey: a parking lot. This view is no Carlos & Pepe’s in Malibu but the featured view at the Tun isn’t outside at all. The featured view here is the featured brew. A bank of shiny stainless steel and copper brew kettles and fermenting tanks is encased within glass walls suspended above the island bar and along a side wall. They brew and pour about a half dozen or so styles on a given day and it was at the Tun that I truly started to take notice of various beer styles and began to appreciate the importance of fresh beer. I’m fairly certain that I had my first IPA there – the style that would eventually become my favorite – but I’m absolutely certain that I didn’t know anything about the style itself except that the numbers on the blackboard said it was a little stronger than the other varieties. I like to think that I went back for more because of the taste and not because it had more of a kick. The beer style and freshness lessons I learned at the Tun were important and certainly enjoyable but not really an epiphany. I’m fairly confident that the epiphany rulebooks all state that they can’t be experienced in a hotel bar within view of a parking lot – especially in New Jersey. For true epiphany number two I would have to head back west.

Well, my beer epiphany was in New Jersey. He’s from South Jersey, though, so I suppose he can be excused.

Good stuff. Worth a read.

Alemonger: The Crafting of a Craft Beer Geek