Garrett Oliver: The Best and the Worst of Beer Drinking | Garrett Oliver | Big Think

Garrett Oliver: The Best and the Worst of Beer Drinking

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Garrett Oliver on beer awards and hangovers.

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Garrett Oliver:

Garrett Oliver is the Brewmaster of The Brooklyn Brewery, the author of The Brewmaster's Table, and the foremost authority in the United States on the subject of traditional beer. After years of amateur brewing inspired by beers he had encountered during a year in England, Garrett Oliver began brewing professionally at Manhattan Brewing Company in 1989 as an apprentice. He was appointed brewmaster there in 1993. He soon became widely known both here and abroad for his flavorful interpretations of traditional brewing styles and as an avid and entertaining lecturer and writer on the subject of fine beer. Garrett has hosted hundreds of beer tastings and dinners, writes regularly for beer and food-related periodicals, and is internationally recognized as an expert on traditional beer styles and their affinity with good food.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Question: Are there awards for beer?

Garrett Oliver: It really depends on what it is. You have the Great American Beer Festival which is very legitimate. The thing to realize, of course, is that they are 78 categories in which you judge beer at the Great American Beer Festival, so if you are basically, you won the gold medal in kind of the watery American industrial beer category then well I guess you won the gold medal in that category. You are the best watery industrial American beer in the United States. People can be proud of that, but it's not, it's kind of like if you had a if you had a category for like the McDonald’s-style burger. Who makes the best of that type? Do you want a winner or don’t you? Well, people who are doing it sure they want to win, so then aside from that though, you can make up the name of 50 different contests and whoever heard of them or whatever else and you enter everything. I guess you can win something you say we won whatever and yeah who knows what that is? And that is one reason like we don’t we go out and tell people about what who we are and what ever else, we want a lot a medals at the Great American Beer Festival, the World Beer Cup, etc, but, you know, we don’t talk about that stuff. I mean sure it is fun and we like it, but me I think I confuses the issue I mean what it really has to do with its, is the beer good? Does it taste good? Is it consistently and are we giving you what we promised and I think that we are the shiny little things they are great to get, but it is not really what we're about so much.

Question: What is your best advice for a hangover?

Garrett Oliver: Well, the best cure for a hang over is to avoid drinking too much especially you will find, you are not there yet, but the older you get, the scarier your hang over, and they are longer and they stick around so. I try to avoid them at all cost, that is said if it does happen I find out that the greasy baked egg and cheese sandwich is the and a very good cup of coffee is about is and as much of water as possible was about well as we are going to do and think strongly upon on your sense there after and try to avoid it next time around. I will tell you some thing the most people do not know which is that there are few things worst in the world and going to work in a brewery with a hang over, so if you ever think that you had a hang over before try, try having a hang over and have in to go work in the brewery the next day and I promise you, you will never do it again or at least you will do your best never to do it again.

Question: Any recommendations for where to get a good hangover breakfast?

Garrett Oliver: Of course if you have a real hang over you might not want to leave your house, but it is a good reason to have some baking, some eggs and cheese on hand of all times, in the case you have to make this your self, but there is a great little daily I got a black in a half of from me and it is been at least a year since I had to use that particular service of this but by the time you get that and you had a nice big cup of coffee, unless you have done yourself horrible damage, you are pretty well repaired.

Recorded On: 3/25/08