One of the biggest sins in the beer geek world is forgetting where we came from.

Some beer geeks tend to act as though they emerged into the world fully formed, drinking Brettanomyces-infected sours and bemoaning the fact that most double IPAs just aren’t hoppy enough.

But really, that’s bullshit. Every single beer geek who now drinks imperial stout for breakfast once drank your mainstream craft beers. Beers exactly like Matilda Bay’s Fat Yak. Beers that they at the time time thought were ‘‘exciting and new’’ (two points if you picked the line from the theme song of TV’s The Love Boat). But they don’t think that today.

Oh no, today, they pour scorn on that beer and look down their nose at anyone who drinks it and finds it really tasty.

I don’t really understand why they do this. Do they truly forget that they, too, had to start on their beer journey somewhere? Or are they too busy trying to be one of the cool kids to admit that – shock! horror! – they once drank a beer that the great unwashed love?

It’s a head scratcher because, really, there’s nothing wrong with this beer. Nothing at all. Sure there isn’t as much fruity hop characteristics as I recall. The geeks would say ‘‘aha! That’s proof that the megabrewers are watering down the recipe to save money!’’. Nope, I’d just say my palate has substantially changed so that beers that were – compared to mainstream lagers – really different, now seem quite pedestrian.

The reason it seems different is because my palate has been forever altered by those sours, those imperial stouts and those double IPAs that it can’t help but find a Fat Yak rather lacking.

But that doesn’t – DOESN’T – make it a bad beer. Or a beer that deserves to be reviled.

For me, it truly passes the BBQ test – how would I react if I was at a mate’s BBQ and they handed me a Fat Yak? I’d be totally okay with it.

And I think other people should too. Or at least remember the beers that got them started and not be so damn high and mighty about things.