Blog Info

Beer rates every beer in town

The Backstory
Specifically, the title refers to every beer sold in Hanover, New Hampshire. Located just over the river from Norwich and only an hour from Burlington, Hanover has access to a huge number of microbrews from what is one of the highest brewery-per-capita states in the US - Vermont - but is also only a quick jaunt over the White Mountains from Maine, gaining access to Portland's numerous breweries as well. As a liquor-control state, New Hampshire has effectively contained college drinking to beer, except for special occasions, especially since Hanover (at less than 11,000 residents) cannot support a state liquor store on its own. The most popular local importer (Stinson's; if you're ever in the area I highly recommend it) has a surprisingly esoteric selection, and although most students at Dartmouth tend to stick to the always-smooth Keystone Light, there is a strong enough subculture of true beer aficionados to support the store's more classy choices.

Personally I didn't touch beer until I was a college freshman. The taste was just not something I cared to have on any sort of regular basis. As a freshman, beer pong (Dartmouth pong specifically, it's played with paddles and is significantly more action-packed than Beirut, ask me about it if you're interested) was the place to be, and so I became a proficient beer-chugger without ever liking the taste - enough to earn myself the dubious honor of being nicknamed "Beer" among my group of friends.

That changed my sophomore spring when I began hanging out more frequently with my mentor, Frank King '10, a member of Alpha Chi Alpha and a true beer connoisseur. He taught me that there was more to beer than the shitty macrobrews of the masses (looking at you, Coors/Keystone/Bud/Miller/Natty), and that there was a whole world out there waiting to be explored. As such I like to think that I've become someone who can tell a good beer from a bad one, and who can effectively recommend beers to people who have never tried a good one before based on their own tastes rather than my own (which is important when starting off a newbie).

The Mission
With this blog I hope to dispel the myth that all beer tastes awful simply because some beer tastes awful. I intend to rate every beer that can be bought from my local distributor. Some of these will be microbrews that can only be found in the Northeast, but many (probably the majority) will be purchasable nation- or world-wide. As a result of this I hope that readers can become not only more knowledgeable about the different types of beer available, but also more willing to try out beers that may interest them, perhaps despite previous bad encounters with Natty Ice or those of its ilk.

In addition to my own ratings, I am always more than happy to hear what others have to say about beer in general, and also those that I may not have tried. I know some readers in particular are operating a home brewery (which is basically my dream job), and I know that there are several others that are just interested in beer as a topic, so I would be more than happy to have this blog be a meeting ground for suggestions, new beers you've tried, anything like that. I am as open to new opinions as anyone, so don't be intimidated by my amazing formatting skills and long paragraphs :)

The Ratings
I tend to rate low, not only with beers but with games as well. 5/10 is my average - the same as perhaps a 7.5/10 from a major review magazine. Because of this I've decided to rate each beer with a letter grade rather than a numerical grade. If people see a 5/10 they may assume "oh god this is going to be awful I'd better steer clear," but if they see a B- they may be more apt to say "well, it's not at the top of my list but I'll try it out eventually." This behavior is more of what I want to encourage and so I will be rating accordingly.

All in all, most beers at or above a C will be worth a taste. Don't go buying in bulk before you taste - what may be great to me may not suit your palate as well. And of course I can guarantee there will be beers that I simply don't like the taste of, that others will enjoy immensely. Don't take my word as gospel, rather try to use it as a guiding word for those of you who simply have not entered the realm of good beers at all yet, and use it as a starting point for discussion for those of you who already have a good understanding of beer.