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Originally Posted by jason taylor
Maybe connoisseur can be defined as, "a geek that DOES get invited to parties?"
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That’s traditionally the definition of “wonk”. (Well, “a nerd who gets dates”.) But it’s not so much that a connoisseur is always a geek, as that a geek needs to be a connoisseur (of the right sort of subject-matter) to have geek cred.
I suspect the best one-sentence definition of Connoisseur skill might be “What you’ve got to have to write a well-regarded regular magazine column about the form.”
Quote:
Originally Posted by jason taylor
But fine ales? That certainly seems like a knowledge one one expect of a British gentleman. James Bond seemed more of a cocktail man perhaps, but it is perfectly possible to construct a gentleman detective that likes ale.
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In the modern period, certainly. But in the 19th century, well, a gentleman landowner might sup a pint with his tenants at the end of a hard-working day, and be regarded as a good, open-minded fellow for that, but if he showed real technical knowledge of different types and labels, I think he’d be classed as a little eccentric. Even today, in the UK at least, real ale connoisseurs have a bit of an image as beardy types with a lot of extra padding round the waist. Inspector Morse just about got away with it, but he was less of a real ale geek than an opera geek, was more failed academic than gentlemanly, and still rated as eccentric.
If I was creating a gentlemanly character who knew his drinks, I’d probably default to wine for the gourmet, cocktails for the bon vivant, and whisky for the country type. Though that is just a default. Also, beer connoisseurship almost died in the mid-20th century UK, between the consolidation of the big breweries and the rise of the real ale movement.