It’s been about 5 years since I first started to learn about what beer really is. Before, beer was, well, beer. It was a golden-light color and was consumed ice cold, because that is how I was brought up.

In small towns all across our nation, beer is something that has one style and flavor, a side effect of countless hours of TV advertising and powerful branding campaigns by the big beer pushers. Of course, there was Guinness here and there, a beer that always scared some off because of it’s color (another staple of small-town mentality).

The same can be said for the type of cuisine that can be had in suburbia - the finest dining around wasn’t really that fine. So after working in a decent restaurant s for years, and developing a palette for good beer, I’ve turned into somewhat of a snob.

I like to eat fresh food and try new things, so everywhere I travel I tend to seek out different places to check out.

Most restaurant owners or managers put a lot of time in their menu, and I’ll be the first to say that’s where my first impressions of the place start. However, the beer selection available is where I really start making my decisions of the place.

For example, I took a trip to Vegas last year, and noted the beer selection in some of the casinos I went to. Most had the usually light beer bullshit, Corona, Heineken, and maybe Guinness. I flew hundreds of miles to see these lavish casinos where people were driving Rolls Royces, just to drink a Coors lite. You’ve got to be kidding me.

It took some time, but I did find an Anchor Steam at the hidden bar/restaurant that no one was really hanging out at. I couldn’t understand why the main bars at most of the casinos didn’t have anything decent - I expected to see some West Coast beers, but didn’t find any, which really just added to the fake-ness of the place. Supposedly there was some crazy micro-brew bar out there, but it wasn’t on the main strip.

The same can be said for some of the places I’ve eaten at - wonderful places that look nice and seem to be classy and sophisticated. All that goes down the toilet when I see your shabby beer selection.

Your food has to be awesome. The service has to be top notch as well. But for a snobby food lover like me, these things won’t necessarily bring me back; throw an amazing beer selection in, and not only will I come back, I’ll tell all of my friends to go there.

Many will say that restaurants have simple beer menus to cater to the masses, who drink these. These beers don’t complement the food at all. A good restaurant should always be trying to create an experience, and they should do that by introducing me to new foods, flavors, and of course, beers.

Make your restaurant stand out just a little bit by offering some different kinds of beers. It doesn’t have to be a huge selection, but any place that I see a decent brew or two on that beer list is going to earn points.