If you were born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s you are considered a part of Generation Y, aka the Millennials. This makes you a part of a very special group. The generations of beer and wine enthusiasts before us seemed content to separate the wine and beer lover in to two very different groups.

Beer drinkers seemed to think of the wine drinker as snobby, white collar and were very much intimidated by the wine industry and all the fancy terminology used to describe it. In return the beer drinker for years was considered simple minded, blue collar and more concerned with the effects of the beer than the taste itself. My, oh, my how things have changed!

Annual wine barrel tasting in Sonoma County is now attended by more people in their 20s and 30s than ever before which gives the annual event quite the party atmosphere. Chances are that the same people attending a wine festival one week will be at a beer festival the very next week discussing with friends a special beer that they have laid down in a cellar because it was meant to age.

Listen closely and you will hear a guy or gal get very specific about how a certain beer was barrel aged, what type of hop was used to make it and what the tasting profile is like. With over a decade in the wine industry and an appreciation for craft beer that dates back in to my early 20s, I for one am happy to see that this generation is not limiting itself to one or the other.

— Peter Lopez

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