French wine philosopher Pierre Boisset once said:
“Wine is at the same time simpler than people say and more complex than they think.”
Pretty easy to plug in the word beer for wine and make as much sense.
The quote comes from Hugh Johnson’s delightful memoir A Life Uncorked and he bring it up to make a point.
“Any fool can make a subject complex and any fool can say it is simple. But how much do you have to understand to grasp the essentials?” Johnson asks.
He goes on to write that most people try either too hard at wine or not hard enough, that it is an all-or-nothing passion.
“So what does the reasonable, perfectly balanced person need to know? That wine is not one thing, but many. To appreciate it you don’t have to swallow an encyclopaedia, but you do have to pay attention.”
Again, the analogy holds up well, just as it would for cheese, jazz or … pick your passion.