So the question has been posed: How do you tackle praising or disliking a beer? Everyone’s palate is different, who are you to be the arbiter of taste?

Or in short… Who the hell are you to call BS on a beer?

Let me begin by saying, Bearcat on Beer is a vanity project. It is a hobby. This is not my job. I am about as qualified as anyone else is for their hobby. When I say this is a “vanity project” it is as clear a description as I can give it. Anyone that writes with the intent of others to read it naturally has enough of an ego to think that their opinion matters.

So what makes me worthy of posting about beers here on this website?

First, my nickname since college is Bearcat. So that checks the first box; I got the name.

Secondly, I bought the domain so that takes care of the the rest.

Seriously and to the point, I have consumed a lot of beer over the years. (Ed. Yeah, me too.) I have been searching high and low for quality craft beers for more than a decade. Yet I don’t have any professional training. My taste is developed via drinking and talking about beers with my fellow craft beer drinkers. That’s it.

Do I have the best, most refined palate? Nope. Never claimed to.

What I hope to have, is an entertaining beer blog. This blog is about finding a different perspective when discussing beer, the craft beer industry, and its culture. I don’t do straight “beer reviews.” You can get those elsewhere. I work to find a pop culture, sports, low brow humor or a juxtaposition to weave within the post.

I hope that more often than not these posts entertain and in some some way inform.

Generally, I don’t trash or rip a beer or brewery. It is not in my nature to hammer another man or woman’s hard work on this blog.

But I did that with the last post. I thought the beer was not good. But the post started in my head with a joke about Mango Bomb being like a three breasted mutant hooker. That is how many of these posts start. A stupid joke about a 1990 sci-fi movie or wanting to do a whole posting about beer and Star Wars.

A couple people reached out on Twitter to let me know they agreed that Mango Bomb sucked. A couple spoke up and said it was good. One went further and stated their non-craft beer drinking friends liked it. That’s cool.

In the end… WTF do I know? I know what I like and why I like it. If I can communicate that and at least be entertaining enough for you to come back and read the next post then my ego gets the stroke that this vanity project was designed to deliver.

But I promise to never just rip a beer or a brewery just because my ego likes clicks on a website.

Finally, Al reached out to me on Twitter and acknowledged and complemented the post. For all the clicks and comments the post generated, none… none were more appreciated than that one. I have been a loyal customer for years, that is more true today.

Post Script:

In high school I took four years of art class from a nun who hammered me year-after-year with brutal projects and assignments. My GPA could have been bolstered by taking Choir, but Sister Dorothy left you with more than just the easy A. The most important lesson: “It is not enough to have an opinion about a work of art. You need to be able to properly express why you do or do not like something.” Matters of taste are subjective but quality work is not. You choose to not like a work of art but you need to explain why it is either well-made or not. This is fundamental to my idea of properly reviewing a beer.

Some art is designed to be offensive, difficult to witness, or even loathsome.  That does not make it poor work. It is reasonable to not like something but consider it great work, a master stroke even. You can also have a taste for crap and love it.

Craft beer may be treated as art. 

Maybe it should be treated as art. I think so.

My Dad always says and reminds me: “De gustibus non est disputandum.” I will never forget it.