Whenever two people get into a discussion over which beer is good and which isn’t, I always roll my eyes at them. And you would think that by now I would stop, because it happens so often. It’s a case of "what am I not getting here?". I have those quite often, whenever there is a heavily contested subject or people spend a lot of time and energy on something that seems fairly pointless, I want to be a little humble and approach the subject with some humility. So instead of saying "that’s a total waste of time", I try to understand what’s so special about it. Well, without fail, after taking an interest in the subject, I conclude that it *is* a total waste of time. It seems that when I don’t "get it" from a distance, no amount of scrutiny will change that, and while I waste my time on it, at least I can say that I didn’t dismiss these people’s great passion without trying to grasp it.

But back to beer again. People arguing over which beer is the best is one thing, a point in time where I can say with complete conviction that "this topic is not for me". But when they ask my opinion about beer, that’s when I get dragged into it. "How do you like the beer?" "Well, it’s beer.." Yup, that’s my answer. I just don’t see the big difference. Heineken is more bitter, Amstel is a bit sweeter. I’ve had about two of each since I’ve been in Utrecht. But it’s not like there’s a big difference. One beer that does stand out is Corona, very light color and very delicate taste. That’s one I could probably pick out of a line-up. The rest is mostly various brands with subtle differences. Or maybe I just don’t drink enough beer to appreciate what sets them apart. I’ve been drinking tea all my life and I could tell you which brand of tea has what taste and how they differ. I’m not religious about it, though, unlike beer fans.

But more than distinguishing between brands it is about classifying beer into "good" and "bad". You will hear statements like "in the Czech Rep they have great beer". So apparently any brand over there is great. I’ve no idea what makes beer good or bad, either way a summer cyclist [or a fruit smoothie] wipes the floor with it.