When I got into homebrewing years ago, the culture was about the beer. I hate to think that now it's about feeling superior to other people.
I think for the most part it still IS about the beer. I just think for the most part a lot of this is nothing more than a form of the over-zealousness of the recent convert. I made comments like that and believed stuff like that when I started on my beer loving obsession back in my 20's. And even later again when I started brewing.
I used to even believe all that stuff that crap that is now being promulgated as "fact" from the beerwars movie, which plays perfectly into this, and adds fuel to the "argument." You know, the whole whole, "the evil BMCpire use a ton of adjuncts to replace malt, cut costs and put out an "inferior product (an inferior product that few of us could actually ever master
.)
Then I heard the basic brewing podcast with Maureen Ogle and read her amazing book
, which dispelled a lot of those myths that we "beer snobs" like to rub like butter on ourselves to feel superior to others. And really started to see how idiotic AND more importantly how historically inaccurate that really is.
y thing about all this is....The craft beer industry has existed since right around the time I turned 21, about 24 years ago...at least that's when I first noticed there were OTHER beers around besides BMC....there was snpa, and bell's and sam adams starting to pop up in a few stores in Metro Detroit at that time, as well as imports like Guiness, Bredore's and Double Diamond (from England- the first non bmc bottled beer I ever bought)...This stuff was first in my awareness in the mid to late 80's....
In fact when I was underaged I had my first taste of bud, spat it out and made my decision that beer sucked...and drank other things in the interum, mostly wine, and bourbon...in fact the first legal drink I ever bought was a bottle of calvados. Yet, since I loved to read, I always heard about beers like guiness, and other things...so I kept hearing that there was "good beer" out there.
Then I turned 21 and shortly after, like I said above, I began to see these OTHER beers around in bars and better beer/wine stores around my college campus. Plus the first micro brewery was in a resteraunt near campus as well.
I think my first non BMC beer I tried in a bar, was a guiness....And, as much as I think little of it NOW, it was a soul changing moment...I truly found out that there was something better than a budlight out there.
The point being..There has been alternative to BMC somewhat readily available since probably 1985...and more and more everyday.
Despite bmc's control over distribution craft, or imported beer has managed to be available to one degree or another for a lond time.
And now with commercials for Sam Adams, and even a show about dogfish head on one of the most popular cable channels...it really is NOT invisible anymore...if it ever was...And I don't believe it ever was.
Just like it was my choice to explore the world of beer for 24 years, it has been other folks choice to make Budlight the best selling beer on the planet, despite the fact that personally it makes me want to puke. Craft beers make other folks want to puke...It's just the way it is.
It's not AHB's "fault" that their product is the top seller...Nor is it totally a vast conspiracy to manipulate the marketplace as some of us beer snobs want to convince ourselves (though it does go on to a greater or lesser extent) But it's NOT the main...
The main reason is that more folks like those safe, (flavorless to me) light lager style of beer.
And despite a 10% loss of sales over time...it's still going to be the top seller in the market place...
Why? Because the majority of folks choose it over the vast array of other products out there. It simply reflects the relatively safe tastes of human beings...especially the american populace.
Maureen Ogle mentioned it in the basic brewing podcast when Ambitious Brew came out, in both the context of beer, and her next book on meat, the things that are mass consumed in western society be it beer, or food or booze, have the least amount of actual flavor; The light lager, the fast food hamburger and vodka for example. At the lowest end of the spectrum, be it bud light, or Mcdonalds, or absolute vodka- which are all hugely popular, none of them have complex flavor profiles, especially when you consider the "gourmet" opposite of those, a nice craft beer (even a craft lager) and burger from your favorite burger joint where they actually season the meat and use a higher fat content, and some of the higher end vodkas.
American society's tastes since WWII have kind of changed and splintered in two directions, you have Mass Culture and the culture that sprung craft beers, and foodie culture. Postwar America become a time of affluence, but it also became the time of "convenience food" instead of homecooking, the rise of frozen dinners and fast food (some folks would call that "pre-digested" food) which still goes on to this day. And the light lager is perfect for that. It's not "complex." It's sweet as opposed to bitter, it's light as opposed to heavy.
The irony of it has always been that even though the majority seems to favor "fast food" and "lite Beer" the postwar period also gave rise to "Chef/foodie Culture" and "Craft Beer" (actually it started as "imported" beer, but broadened in the 70's to 80's to the craft beer scene) all the troops overseas were exposed to the foods of the world (including Pizza, French cuisine and Chinese Food) and when they came back many of them had a hunger for those foods rather than boring American food and Kraft dinners, and they parlayed their GI bills into chef training and the rise of gourmet restaraunts and to a lesser extent craft beer. Before craft beer there were "imported" beers including Guinness, that managed to stay in the american market place more than likely sustained by folks who had tasted those things overseas. Not just during the war, but also in the re-building phases in the 50's and 60's on.
But, most people are afraid to try new things...so their horizens or limited...but there's also going to be folks, who DO try craft beers....and go back to BMC...because that's what they prefer....there's nothing wrong with them...it's just their choice....
People like what they like. If they like Bud Light, that's their ****ing perogative. Just like it is our choice to like the alternatives...that's just the way it is.
I no longer care who brews what or who drinks what. I think beer is beer, and this is the best time to drink/brew beer. There's plenty for everyone...those who like light lagers and those who like ales...we have plenty to choose from. Hell even in my chain grocery store, there's now more craft beer on the shelves than BMCs.