Of all the possible things to do in life, why would anyone decide to devote free time to reviewing beer? Obviously, this is a question we at The Perfectly Happy Man must have an answer for.

I think it’s pretty obvious that beer has been around a long time. It is more than a substance. It is more than a beverage option. It is a past time, an important variable in cultural and historical stories. Beer has been the cause of great trouble, helped starving masses endure hunger, caused people to make extremely rash decisions, benefited culinary pursuits, and progressed in form and function over hundreds of years. Today, beer plays an enormous role in Western life (that’s our immediate context, but it obviously plays a similar role in other parts of the world as well). “Mammoths” of the industry like Miller-Coors and Anheuser-Busch control a lot of the market share, and have all the money for sponsorship, advertising, etc. But there’s more to beer than marketing and money making.

At the root of beer reviewing, I think, is a desire for both preservation and revolution. People want to preserve time-honored traditions and also revolutionize the technology and process around beer and brewing. Essentially: we like to take the best that the past has to offer, and use it to change the future. This is a worldview that’s alive in niches all over the world. There are thousands upon thousands of craft breweries across the globe, where ordinary men and women are getting creative in their own unique cultures and contexts, brewing up concoctions and hoping to one day give the world a beer for the ages. Not every craft brewery or home brewer has it out for the big companies, most simply long to expand the beer horizons of the general public. After all, there is more taste out there than High Life. Or Milwaukee’s Best.

Here at The Perfectly Happy Man, we’re reviewing beer a) because it’s something we already think about, b) we’re extremely interested in building up the existing community around beer, and c) we recognize beer as a unique tradition and want to do our part to make that tradition accessible to people who may be on the fence, or may have the curiosity but not the direction. Some of us have been tasting and reviewing beer longer than others: that shows in the reviews, and our diversity is something we’re proud of and will continue to showcase. After all, the best way to expand your knowledge of a thing is to make intentional steps to evaluate and discuss it.

Another reason we’re reviewing beer is because we want to support responsibility. A lot of people drink beer poorly. Many people have dangerous dispositions towards the stuff. When abused, beer is vile. The Perfectly Happy Man isn’t about “beer at all costs.” Rather, it’s about treating people sensibly, and enjoying a thing within the context of responsible living.

So I guess that’s a little bit about why we’re reviewing beer. We love the people, we love the variety, we love the innovation.

Cheers, hopheads!