A Beer Lover's Guide to Reddit
There’s just about something for everyone on Reddit—people who love food, news, tech, GIFs, porn, Taylor Swift’s armpits, you name it. And beer lovers are no exception.
Whether you’re a serious beer drinker, a homebrewer, or just interested in the topic, you can find a variety of interesting and related communities if you take the time to look through the site.
Or, you could just continuing reading.
What is Reddit Anyway? Here’s a Brief Explanation
If you already know what Reddit is, then just grab your warp whistle and move onto the next section.
The homepage of Reddit is duly known as “the front page of the internet,” because its democratic approach enables users to find what content’s trending on the web at that point in time. Users submit links and start discussions, and then other users “upvote” or “downvote” which submissions they like. Because of this setup, good links and discussions tend to rise while the blah ones just fade away.
Every link or discussion has to be submitted to a specific community on Reddit, which are known as subreddits. Depending on how highly subscribed to and trafficked those subreddits are, the more dynamic the content on them tends to be. If you’re interested in a specific topic, you can easily find a subreddit that you’ll end up checking just about once a day.
We probably didn’t do it justice, but that’s kind of Reddit in a nutshell. Here’s Reddit’s own quick overview of what it is:
Reddit's Top Beer Subreddits
There are actually a lot of subreddits dedicated to beer, but we’re only going to highlight the highly trafficked ones. For instance, the subreddit r/beergeek gets about as much use as the Bing search engine, so we’ll leave that one out. Hopefully Redditors reading this will learn about a new sub. And all of you newbies out there, just sit back—you’re about to get learnt.
r/beer
With over 150,000 subscribers, r/beer tops this list. It’s got beer news and related articles, and it’s also a place to start general discussions/ask questions about beer. For instance, in the screenshot below, a user asked “What’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever done to get a special beer?” 253 people commented. That’s what this place is for. And, the content changes daily.
r/beertrade
For those who don’t know, beer trading is a practice where beer lovers exchange local craft beers with others who don’t have the same access to them. With the booming craft beer market, it’s common for some beers to only be available in a specific region. And for that reason, the swap is typically done through the mail. This subreddit has almost 10,000 beer traders, along with packing tips and a reputation list (so you know who’s going to deliver). Post what you want or got to get started.
r/beerporn
r/beerporn is pretty straightforward. You post pictures and—if you want—reviews of the beers you’re drinking. With over 26,000 subscribers, it’s a place you can go to make tons of people jealous—especially if you’ve got a whale.
r/showerbeer
By far the most bizarre beer subreddit, r/showerbeer is a place where you can post selfies of you drinking beer…in the shower. There’s a few rules here. First, the beer label must be predominantly displayed in the photo. And second, if you’re going to show some extra skin, give your post a NSFW tag. With 25,000 subscribers, there’s probably more people than you expected imbibing under the faucet.
r/beerreviews
/rbeerreviews is less trafficked (under 2,000 subscribers) than the previously mentioned subs, but it’s still a good place to learn about and discuss new and old beers. Most of the posts are from bloggers like Bruguru and Brew Review Crew providing their take on specific beers. Posters are encouraged to format reviews based on appearance, aroma, palate, and taste. If you’d like to take a stab at reviewing beer, this is the spot.
r/craftbeer
r/craftbeer is similar to r/beer, but there’s a geekier vibe. With over five thousand subscribers, there tends to be a few more beer-related discussions rather than mostly outbound links to blog posts and articles. We’ve actually participated in a few discussions there and the people are generally pretty informative or eager to learn when it comes to craft.
r/homebrewing
Arguably saving the best for last, we love r/homebrewing and its 100 thousand subscribers. There are tons of passionate homebrewers that frequent this sub, many of them ready to answer your questions and provide encouragement along the way. There are answers and articles here for both novices and homebrewers who have been at it for years. If you happen to be into homebrewing, also check out r/hbl, a fairly active sub dedicated to homebrew labels.
Bonus: r/holdmybeer
Other than the name, this sub doesn’t have much to do with beer but it’s funny. As the description says: "Hey man, hold my beer. Check this out, the classic words that end in either awesomeness or injury.” The sub’s filled with GIFs of what ensues after someone says those famous last words.
Here’s a Few More Subreddits You Might Like
If you're still reading this, you clearly like fermented drinks. So, here’s a shortlist of other active subreddits you might like:
- r/alcohol
- r/wine
- r/cider
- r/drunk
- r/cripplingalcoholism (hey, just in case)
Interested yet? If you want to start participating, just create an account by clicking here. If you’re more of a watcher, that’s fine, too. You don’t need an account to view the site.
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