This might be the first edition of The Session ever that I didn’t get my Session post published on Friday: it was a long, sometimes frustrating week, and while I was certainly glad to see Friday I just didn’t have the steam left to get this posted. But certainly not due to this month’s topic, suggested by Ryan Newhouse at Montana Beer Finder: “How We Love Beer“:

In light of it being about two weeks before Valentine’s Day, I thought it would be a good time to talk about how we love beer. Pay attention now, as I said “how,” not “why.” Much has already been discussed about why we love beer: its creativity, its taste, its social aspect.

Think of this topic and discussion in terms of being in a relationship (again, a good primer for Valentine’s Day!). You can say to your partner, “Honey, I love you.” But think of the saying, “actions speak louder than words.”

To bring that back to beer, I’m not suggesting we need to be thinking of beer all the time, or as much as we think of our partners (though some of us might!), but I’m curious to hear what you beer lovers do to show appreciation for good craft beer.

Would it be cheating to say I show how I love beer by drinking it? (Only half tongue-in-cheek!)

Ryan offers up a few suggestions for what he has in mind:

Perhaps it’s that you buy a case of your favorite seasonal and share it with others every chance you get, or you commit yourself to only drinking that beer until it’s gone. Perhaps whenever you travel to a new place, you seek out as many local beers as you can instead of finding your favorites. Perhaps you don’t even buy bottled beer, but instead fill your growlers and drink at local taprooms. Perhaps our writing and blogging about beer shows how we love beer.

I definitely make it a point to buy favorite seasonals each year, though I rarely exclusively drink only a single beer for any given period of time—there are simply too many good beers and good breweries and I like to be as equal opportunity as possible—to share the love, so to speak. But seasonal beers are a way that a brewery shows appreciation to its fans and customers (particularly if you can only get that beer locally), so enjoying those seasonals definitely expresses your love and gratitude in return.

When traveling I always try to seek out the local beer that is new to me—and “local” is what it’s all about because without that support, many breweries wouldn’t even exist. Sure, there are always going to be big-name favorites and go-to beers, but drinking locally, and supporting local breweries and businesses, might be one of the best expressions of “how you love beer” that you can offer.

And finally, I love to talk up beer to people, and share good beer or beer recommendations every chance I get—that’s basically what this blog is all about, really. And when it comes right down to it, I can’t think of a better way to express how I love beer than how the past 8½ years that this blog has done it for me.