Who is our Celebrity / Pop Culture Craft Beer Champion?

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I was thinking about this when the whole Vermonster issue came up, that the world of Craft Beer is pretty small and insular.

Though Social Media played a big role in getting the word out, we seemed to hit a glass ceiling around 18,000 on facebook and the biggest account on twitter was ~12,000 (BeerAdvocate).

When it came time to break the story out into the larger world, we quickly found that our interconnected community of a 10s of thousands wasn't going to cut it. We really needed someone that millions would recognize to get the word out.

Fortunately, it never came to a long fight, because I think we really hit the low hanging fruit. Getting the message out beyond that would have been a tough fight.

So with that in mind:
Who do you know that is a craft beer lover that can connect to a million people?

This ideally would be someone instantly recognizable by many demographic groups and could get on TV and put out a message.

This has to be someone outside of the beer world. So don't list Papazian or Palmer or Caligione, etc.

We're looking for people in
  • music
  • sports
  • movies
  • TV
  • media
Even
  • internet fame
  • or famous for being famous
People that most folks would recognize if they saw them.


Post links / quotes of celebrities talking about craft beer or pictures of them holding / drinking craft beer so that we can elect our Craft Beer Champion.
 
See, this is Fail.

kid-rock-beer.jpeg
 
I don't know I think if Jim Koch talked about it, it would make quite an impact. Outside beer in particular, get a Food Network person on it, despite his lack of brewing prowess Alton Brown certainly has a voracious following and would definitely support craft brewing over energy drinks.
 
Well the energy drink thing is over. I'm just asking the question for reference and fun.

Alton Brown is a pretty good answer.

No beer industry or writers though. That's the rules.

It has to be an outsider.

In my first blush look at this most of these famous tools like Amstel light or PBR and so on. We need a Craft Beer guy.

On another note, George Wendt was paraded around the GABF this year because he wrote a book about drinking. I haven't heard anything about it, but I just get a yellow fizzy beer impression about him.
 
Not exactly the most well known celebrity, but Jason Segel from "How I Met Your Mother" is known for his love of beer.


It's a good start and outlines the elusive nature of the problem:

We didn't actually believe he'd be back. We thought he had friends in the other room and had just needed a minute to use the little boys room. But, oh no, he came back. He even sat down next to the birthday boy and shot the sh*t with us as he sipped what looked to be perhaps a Sixpoint "Otis" Oatmeal Stout or something else dark and in an imperial pint glass.

Had I been on my game, I would have asked, "What's that you're drinking there, Jason?" And I might have even gone so far as to ask his favorite beer, whether he prefers American, Canadian or some other country's beer and where he most enjoys drinking beer, etc. It could have been my own personal "Frost/Nixon" minus the tension, politics and controversy and plus lots of beer. But I dropped the ball.
 
Ya, he could have been drinking anything, but it definitely wasn't BMC. At least in this writer's case, he was too awestruck to ask the real beer questions.

Turns out Jimmy Fallon loves playing beer pong with his guests. Not exactly a poster boy for craft beer, but a celebrity acknowledging beer non the less.
 
A side not e to How I met your Mother is they have mock up fake craft beer bottles and sixers of lady Killer Ale and Alexander's Famous.
 
I like the Alton Brown suggestion, because he's outside of the craft beer industry, yet he is within gastronomy generally, so he is seen (in a mass media way) as an expert.

Anyone know Perez Hilton? Britany? :)
 
Matthew McConaughey wants to name his unborn son after his favourite beer.The 'Fool's Gold' star - who is expecting his first baby with girlfriend Camila Alves - is planning to pay tribute to his beloved alcoholic beverage, just like his brother.A source close to the actor said: "Matthew's older brother Michael named his second son Miller Lyte because he loved the beer so much. And Matthew loved the name so much he really wants to name his son after his favourite beer. He is thinking of going for Bud after Budweiser beer."

I found this to be quite interesting. You think having all that money would help them appreciate the finer things in life. If my father named me Miller or Bud I'd be forced to thrash him, period.
 
Im good friends with a glut of popular straight-edge hardcore bands... something tells me that they aren't the kinds of people you are looking for.
 
Billy Joel gets my vote. I hear he makes house visits. Which is very good for an ambassador.
 
Kyle Hollingsworth of the String Cheese Incident is in the latest issue of Zymurgy- sounds like he's kinda doing this already. But yeah, he's not a huge celebrity.
 
Drew Carey would be in interesting. I always admired how he highlighted small craft brewing on his show (even if it was the gimmicky "Buzz" beer). With his daytime game show gig, now, I don't know if he would be game. Still, he could get the message out double-quick and be able to put the right edge on it.


TL
 
All we need is one NASCAR driving country singing bear hunter with a bigfoot pick up truck to extol the virtues of craft beer and we have won.....Yes, much of the BMC drinking public really are that shallow. ;)

So i'll say Toby Keith. We need to kidnap him and craftbeerboard him until he is our Manchurian candidate.

PS If we can't get him, please feel free to craftbeerboard me! :D
 
All we need is one NASCAR driving country singing bear hunter with a bigfoot pick up truck to extol the virtues of craft beer and we have won.....Yes, much of the BMC drinking public really are that shallow.

What you really need is to have Russian River sponsor an entire NASCAR team. Can't you just see a Pliny the Elder car?
 
Also, well known in the right circles are Tycho and Gabe of Penny Arcade, a videogame web-comic. They also run the largest video game convention in North America and a succesful charity Child's Play. They know geeks because they are geeks. Geeks are also much more likely to try something like homebrewing because they enjoy specialty beers.
 
Stephen Colbert and his Nation!!!!! I don't know what he drinks, but I'd peg him as a craft beer drinker.

When he does his salute to various congressional districts, he could highlight any craft breweries in the district
 
I like the Stephen Colbert idea.. I wonder if the "Colbert Bump" only works for specific people/things or if an entire industry could be bumped?

I'm not sure if he's ever done anything BMC related but, I know every time I see Mike Rowe on television I think to myself, "Man, I kind of want to have a beer with that dude." I can't imagine him drinking bad beer.
 
Sorry I think Mike Rowe is far too everyman to pitch craft beer. To keep that image I think he's more likely to say "it's Miller Time", than "make mine Stone IPA".
 
Kind of sounds like Rowe is into the "local" scene. I believe he's originally from the San Francisco area. So, Sierra, Anchor, and, heck, even Negro Modelo kind of make sense.

He lives in SF now, but he's from Baltimore.

Sorry. Pet peeve of mine. Negra Modelo.

Nice catch, I didn't notice it. Amuses me that a beer publication made that mistake. Either they didn't catch it, or they don't know how to use [sic] tags.
 

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