The photo on the left was taken at our destination last week — Zion National Park in Utah — and the photo at the top on the way there. Whiting Brothers businesses, motels and services stations, operated along Route 66 from 1926 into the 1990s (though their presence was severely diminished before the end).
These remains are located between San Fidel and McCartys (New Mexico), on one of the short patches of 66 you’ll occasionally find paralleling Interstate 40 in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. There’s no motel in sight and what’s left of the gas station is in the background.
Sierra will be talking about climbing Angels Landing at Zion long after the WB sign has disappeared, but there’s something to be said for being able to make the little stops as well as enjoying the destinations. They are both part of our plan for the next 15 months.
Now back to your regularly scheduled beer programming.
– Cerevisaphile? Lew Bryson asks if it is “time to stop calling each other “beer geek?” And solicits alternative terms. Alan McLeod picks up the challenge, advocating “Beer Nerd.”
You’ll find plenty of ideas in the comments at both blogs.
So far nobody has brought up a suggestion that beer writer Gregg Smith made years ago: “cerevisaphile.” Perhaps just as well.
Lew suggests beer fan. I like that. In fact, we used the term in “Beer (Eyewitness Companions).” You can be an avid fan, a casual fan, a bandwagon fan (you are either on the wagon or off the wagon).
– The Session. Another suggestion that pops up in comments is “beer people” — a good excuse to remind everybody that’s the theme for The Session #14 on Friday.
– From the business pages: MarketWatch has an update on hop shortages. Mostly dreary. And from “Brew” Blog: Land Grab and Shakeout in Craft Beer?
Beer Geek is an accurate term for some people. If you have to line up with other enthusiasts for the release of something you become a geek. Star Wars, Nintendo Wii, Dark Lord Day. If you’re willing to wait in line for something, you must accept the fact that you are totally geeked out on it.
Beer Nerd really only applies to people studying beer in labs. When you get into heated arguments about different beer proteins being better for foam stability you know you’re a beer nerd. The side exception to this rule is Beer History Nerd, which is also acceptable nerd status.
Beer Fan is too basic overall. A person who drinks a 12 pack of Bud Light per day could also be consider a beer fan, especially if said person has in the past made bets on the “Bud Bowl”.
Cerevisaphile could far too easily be mistaken for someone who drinks a lot of Mexican beers. The other issue is that you must explain to people what that means. If we only get one new term in beer culture I hope Cicerone is the one that sticks first.
I’m actually quite satisfied with the current system. If you have knowledge of beer you’re really in one of three categories, geek, brewer or writer. Geeks are really just terms for people who don’t get paid for something they’re enthusiastic about.
I’m a geek and a nerd and a person that likes beer. You can call me whatever you want to!
Also, I seem to have waited in line for Star Wars, a Wii and at Dark Lord Day. Geez, Swordboarder sure knows how to label a guy!
I am too. I only put the label on because i put it on myself. 🙂
I liked cerevisaphile so much, I’ve had it as my blog heading since I started. I’m indebted to Gregg Smith for the term. The reason I went with that is because I appreciated his lingustic approach of returning to the Latin root word, and adding the “-phile” suffix. Good stuff.
I don’t know if I’d call myself that all the time, though. Much as I feel “aficionado” and “connoisseur” are stately words to describe one who enjoys beer, I can see how that might sound a bit pretentious. And when some of these words are broken down, they may mean different things to different people.
All these terms look good in print, but sound a little too haughty when spoken. That’s the challenge: to make beer appreciation respectable, but at the same time inclusive.
Beerist. We should be beerists. Really, we should.