New contributor: Robb

I’m really excited to welcome another nerd to the blog.

Robb is not your typical beer nerd. Don’t get me wrong — he appreciates the difference between good beer and crap. The last time I visited him in NYC, he had a big bottle of Chimay Red waiting for us. We drank that, then headed to a very cool Belgian beer bar near Times Square. This was before I was a full-fledged nerd, so I don’t even remember what I drank, but I know the place was worthy.

Anyway, back to Robb. He’s one of the best writers I know, and he has been a blogger for years. He currently runs his own personal site, KiSS THE FiST, and also writes for the Sling Blog. And don’t be surprised if you run into his stuff elsewhere — he’s nothing if not prolific.

On this site, he’ll add a totally different voice and point of view. He’ll write about beer, but it won’t sound anything like what we’ve posted so far.

His first post is almost ready to go, so you should see it soon.

New contributor: Folko

I finally got one of the other nerds to pass along some content. Eventually, I’ll set things up so that posts from different authors are identified as such. In the meantime, I’ll tag each post with the author’s name.

So, let me introduce Folko. He’s a full-fledged beer nerd – and a cigar nerd and a scotch nerd, too. He’s also a part-time homebrewer, although it’s been a while since his crew cooked up anything.

He has good taste, a ton of knowledge and a well-schooled palate. Advance warning, though – many of his tasting sessions involve beer and scotch and cigars, all in the same sitting. He’ll be the first to admit that, at times like those, tastes and smells tend to blend together.

I’m looking forward to getting some of his reviews posted, and hopefully that’ll help improve the frequency of our posts.

Site update, and the “Beeriodic Table”

Apologies for the lack of posts recently. Call it a holiday hangover. We certainly haven’t stopped drinking good beer, though, and that should lead to more content soon. We’ve also been active on Twitter, so if you’re following us there you’ve gotten a taste of all the good stuff we’ve sampled.

Speaking of “we” — I’m excited that a couple of the other Nerds are really close to writing their first posts for the blog. This was never intended to be a one-nerd operation, and I’ve pestered the other guys enough that they’re close to contributing. So keep an eye out for some different voices and viewpoints. Just remember that we’re all nerds, and we all love good beer.

One last thing: I received this link from a number of different people over the holidays. It’s a version of the Periodic Table, but instead of displaying chemical elements, it lists beer styles. A friend of a friend noted that it should be called the “Beeriodic Table”, and who am I to argue with that?

It’s pretty cool. Its best feature is the way it gives you a visual look at how different beer styles are related. If you know you like a certain style and you want to expand your palate, check the table for directions.

Let’s say you like Guinness, but you haven’t tried many other stouts. Guinness is considered an Extra Stout (or Irish Dry Stout, or Export Stout, depending on where you look and where you get it). Both Dry Stout and Foreign Extra Stout are on the Beeriodic Table. Below those styles, you’ll see Sweet Stout and Imperial Stout, respectively.

So next time you feel like a Guinness, push yourself a bit. Look for something such as a Mackeson Triple XXX or a Young’s Double Chocolate on the sweet side, and a Great Divide Yeti or Lagunitas Cappuccino on the imperial side.