Ignorant Drinkers

[Levers101]

I dont know about you guys, but I hated beer the first time I tried it. Infact, it took a long time for me to develop the taste for beer that I have now, and there are still beers that I can't stomach drinking. English porters, most amber ales, dunkleweizens, belgian dubbels, etc. I'm sure you guys would look at me funny for dumping some of the beers I have. Anyway, it takes time for lots of people, and you gotta sympathise.

My first times drinking beer were at parties in college. I agree I didn't like Keystone Light (popular keg beer at parties in this college town) when I first tried it, and there are some people, my roommate included, who never got past this. Granted, they are few in far between when you get to the level of college I'm at (i.e. they adapted to the ever-presence of cheap beer and started drinking it). The people I do know that don't like beer are all the type that have never drank much, so it seems they tend towards more neutral drinks or soda-y drinks when they do drink. These people can rarely be turned on to beer, and I've given up on them.

When you do run across people who only drink BMC beer, then offer them something like it, with more flavor. Generally this means a lager. I know I've had the best comments from people who drink mostly Bud Light and Miller Lite, out of a pilsner that I didn't even like that much (too dark, being from LME, along with too much darker crystal malt in the specialty grain bill). Also, an American wheat is always a hit with almost everyone. I've had a few chances to explain beer styles and flavors to people before and if they are willing to listen I order a couple different pints for the table, and let people try them and explain the differences. I guess like wine tastings, but with more variety. In my mind there is a lot more variety in beer styles, but then I've never been able to grasp the difference between a $30 merlot and a $5 one.

 

[HarvInSTL]

This applies to so much more than beer--- politics, sex, wine, food, sports, video games, computers, operating systems.... there are enough people out there being jerks and polarizing people away from their passions. Don't be that guy too.

This sounds exactly like a polygamist hating, boones farm drinking, talking **** on Barry Bonds, Joust playing, Mac using vegan liberal would say. :rockin:

For the record I agree 100% with what you said, just had to make my obligatory drunk post.

I had one of my best friends wife tell me last night she wouldn't drink my beer because it has more sugar and carbs than BMC. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

 

[DeathBrewer]

are u callin ur wife a horse?

 

[Schlenkerla]

are u callin ur wife a horse?

No. He's calling his best friends wife a horse.

 

[CBBaron]

Craig,
I find that your assesment of the reason you drink beer is spot on with why I do. While I enjoy a good buzz now and then cracking a bottle of my homebrew after a long day at work just kind of signals my time away from the office. (well, ok, after my bike ride home ) I enjoy the taste of different beers and getting a buzz isn't what it's all about. I've gone to a few parties and consumed all the time I was there and didn't get overly lit but enjoyed the hefe's and company.

Hey a fellow bike and brewer. Its always nice to enjoy a good beer after I have cooled off and rehydrated after my ride home.

Craig

 

[CBBaron]

I dont know about you guys, but I hated beer the first time I tried it. Infact, it took a long time for me to develop the taste for beer that I have now, and there are still beers that I can't stomach drinking. English porters, most amber ales, dunkleweizens, belgian dubbels, etc. I'm sure you guys would look at me funny for dumping some of the beers I have. Anyway, it takes time for lots of people, and you gotta sympathise.

Also, I love beer, but I love the relaxation that a few beers provides. I've got a really high tolerance right now, and it takes a LOT to get me 'drunk', but I do like a good buzz now and then, and I don't see what the problem is with that. I try to drink only on weekends, but heck, friday night, hard NOT to get 5-6 beers in me.

I also hated beer the first time I tried it, and I still hate the BMC style of beer which was all I knew until I finished college. I didn't realize I liked beer until I got to try some good craft brews, especially stouts, and porters. Since then I've really come to appreciate good IPAs, Belgian strong ales and just about every other kind of full flavored beer. Though I will drink them I'm still not a fan of Blondes, Pilsners, or Kolshes.
Instead of drinking alot one or two days a week, I enjoy a beer nearly every day and sometimes 2 on the weekend. Have to watch those RIS and Belgian Stong Ales though

Craig

 

[BadKarma]

I worked in the bar industry for 20 years.

Do yourself a favor...............pour what they ask for, take their money and move on. If they want to know about your house brews, they will ask. If they don't, they aint worth talking too.

Love the part about the half draft and water!! Classic.

 

[sAvAgE]

OK so I bartend at an Irish Pub that is a bit of an extention for a brew pub. We serve 6 House beers (light ale, Pale Ale, Nitrogen Red, Porter, Stout, Irish Lager) and one seasonal. We also carry common commercial beers as well as some better bottle beers (Schnider Wisse, Aventinus, Frauch) So we are fairly diverse. Now far be it from me to tell someone what beer will taste good to them, but I am constantly battleing misconseptions about craft brews. To me this is ignorance, but changing peoples minds about the quality of fresh brewed craft beers is a challange I face every day.

I love to taste new a different beers whereever I go. And I know I am preaching to the choir, but you all must have faced this problem when offering your beer to friends. How do you deal with it? What do you talk about?

I am very proud of our beers and love to talk about them, and often if they taste our beer with an open mind, they enjoy it. But too often, they won't even try.

Side note: Durring a busy evening, and dealing with a unruly patron, they wanted something we make that was like a Mic Ultra, so I offered to pour them a half draft and fill the rest with water.

I remember this brew pub I used to work at, and what they did is position the Microbrewed beer. you can do this for a discounted cost or for free, management would have to be a part of this. We had a Tray that you could request and had sample glasses of the different types of beer that you are selling. While you are with the customer, While the customer is tasting a certain beer, you or the waitress explain what is briefly in the beer and why it tastes how it does, explain the body, aroma, flavours to look for while tasting.

I know this method does work but you can't win them all. They will just go to the ones that they like. "THis does not taste like beer at all. Give me a Bud light, now that is a real beer" Just had to throw that in there

 

[kornkob]

This sounds exactly like a polygamist hating, boones farm drinking, talking **** on Barry Bonds, Joust playing, Mac using vegan liberal would say. :rockin:

For the record, I ....

• am a monogomous polygamist (My partner doesn't wanna share)
• prefer Mad Dog 20/20 to boones farm
• didn't know that there was still a professional baseball league
• haven't played Joust in years (but that was a cool game that ate a lotta quarters)
• don't own a mac but do use a PC mod that turns my task bar into one like the one they have in OSX
• think vegetarians are a food source
• am typically socially liberal and fiscally/internationally conservative

For the record I agree 100% with what you said, just had to make my obligatory drunk post.

Cheers!

 

[mblakely]

I am more than willing to sell anybody (within legal limits) any beer I have. That being said, I am also trying to sell the beer we make. The frustrating part is when I sugest and offer a sample of one of our beers. I have had the guest turn their nose up at my offer and tell me that "craft beer sucks". I am left a bit dumbfounded. By no means do I think that I will find a match for all drinkers, but give it a try. That is all I am asking. I know that sometimes a commercial beer goes down a bit easier sometimes, and I have drank my fair share of bud.

I just started this thread to voice a bit of frustration. Because I am passionate about my job and Beer. I would love to share that passion, but I will not push it on someone who does not want to listen. But trust the person who is serving you, and listen to their sugestions. Most of us find great new beers by listening to the advice of the local beer store clerk.

There are many other things about bartending that is frustrating, but those are forgotten by the end of the night. Ignorance just grinds me.

 

[fifelee]

The frustrating part is when I sugest and offer a sample of one of our beers. I have had the guest turn their nose up at my offer and tell me that "craft beer sucks".

Turning down free beer. That guy obviously has issues and isn't worth a moment frustration.

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

I would love to share that passion, but I will not push it on someone who does not want to listen. But trust the person who is serving you, and listen to their sugestions. Most of us find great new beers by listening to the advice of the local beer store clerk.

Would I listen to my bartender? Depends on the bar. "What's good here?" will sometimes get you a Corona or a Heinie... or an MGD... or whatever you got for a discount from the distributor because nobody's buying it.

That Miller product with the lime? Yeah... are you telling me there aren't a few thousand bartenders in each major city trying to push that stuff on people right now because they got a deal from their distributor?

Trust my bartender? Give me a REASON to trust you. If I'm a craft beer drinker and you offer me a craft beer, I may take your advice, but I have had bartenders also suggest things that are just flat out bad. When I walk in, your #1 job is to sell beer. If that means making a friend and getting me to trust your judgment, then you will do that. If it means pushing a crappy product, then you will do that. That is your job.

It's great when you have a bartender you can trust, but if I'm already skeptical of you, it's gonna get worse when you try to make helpful "suggestions". Especially if I'm retarded enough to say something like "craft beer sucks".

 

[HenryHill]

That Miller product with the lime? Yeah... are you telling me there aren't a few thousand bartenders in each major city trying to push that stuff on people right now because they got a deal from their distributor?.

Miller 'Chalada Style'...what a joke.

I'd rather have a Corona with a Mexican lime shoved in it any day than that crap!

Isn't it....Man Law: Never fruit your beer...?

The lime is supposed to hide off flavors, not add exciting new ones. 'Chalada' will die. Quickly. Funny how the Modella comes in brown glass...

 

[FireBrewer]

Especially if I'm retarded enough to say something like "craft beer sucks".

If I heard that, I think my reply would be "so does your tip."

 

[olllllo]

Miller 'Chalada Style'...what a joke.

I'd rather have a Corona with a Mexican lime shoved in it any day than that crap!

Isn't it....Man Law: Never fruit your beer...?

The lime is supposed to hide off flavors, not add exciting new ones. 'Chalada' will die. Quickly. Funny how the Modella comes in brown glass...

Here is the real deal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelada
Under the right circumstances, it can be outstanding.

 

[Edcculus]

Being in college, I drink a lot of crap beer. That being said, all of my friends are very open to the beer I make. I put beer into 2 categories: party beer and good beer. If I'm partying or broke, I pretty much have to drink the obigatory bud or even busch light... It is a very rare occasion when someone springs for a keg of a decent commercial brew. I usually pre-game with a few of my brews or something good I've bought. Everything else literally goes down like water.

Like I said, I'm very fortunate that all of my friends really enjoy most of the stuff I brew. I dont readily hand it out though...cause they didn't pay for it .

In response to people trying beer, or not liking certain craft beers - I just dont understand this. I love beer. Plain and simple. I've never come across a beer I just couldn't finish. There are certain beers or styles I dont really care for...but I just stay away from them.