I found myself pondering something late last night, after being e-prodded by Will Hawkes, on the subject of the rise of the beer off-licence. He'd quite politely asked if I'd like to contribute some thoughts to an article that he's writing for The Grocer magazine.
(Incidentally, that's how the pro's start a blog - infer that you have an opinion that someone deems worthy of canvassing. Gives you a bit of gravitas)
In an email back to him, I said something along the lines of "alongside the rise in popularity in beer, there are also a lot of people who know very little about beer, who are selling beer brewed by people who know very little about beer, to drinkers who can't tell if it's any good or not". I then said something about not wanting to commit myself in print to being a dick - too late! But in the spirit of Eno and Schmidt's Oblique Strategy Cards, "Look closely at the most embarrassing details and amplify"
For many years, beer has struggled to get as wide a coverage as it is getting today. Isn't that what we've all wished for all this time? Does it really matter if some people are in it solely for a quick buck, some of it's a bit ropey, and some people are drinking it just to be cool?
Does it really matter if some people are in it solely for a quick buck, some of it's a bit ropey, and some people are drinking it just to be cool?
ReplyDeleteThere will always be crap in a booming business sector, it's inevitable - it has happened with wine, certain kinds of foods and services, why wouldn't it happen with beer?
But to your question, if you are still able to find the quality/value you want, you've haven't got much reason to complain, and whether the person selling it to you is in it because of the passion for beer or for a quick buck is absolutely irrelevant - in my experience, passionate people who love beer with passion are every bit as capable of selling you rubbish as the biggest cynics. As for why other people drink certain beers, once again, why should I care? It can be a future problem for companies whose marketing is almost exclusively aimed at those people, but that, at worst, is lack of vision, and it's something that they will eventually have to sort out themselves.
I find it harder to answer than that. On one hand, I agree with you - I can still get the beer I want, at a sensible price, and I know who and what to avoid. In some senses, it's a great time to be into good beer - previously hard to find beer is relatively easily accessible. On the other hand, it makes me uneasy - and also makes me sound like a snobby twat - that there is seemingly indiscriminate growth in the market.
DeleteThe cream will always rise, I guess, but the turds don't always sink.
I work in the industry flogging brewing, processing and packaging equipment and personally I think that it does matter that lots of breweries are producing shit beer. I think that the biggest problem with the surplus of rubbish, quite aside from how many potential beer drinkers it may have put off, is that it is taking much-needed turnover and profit away from the guys who have gone out of their way to make great quality and consistent beer.
DeletePersonally, I think that there are a lot of lifestyle brewers out there who are doing an awful job and don't have the knowledge, or the desire to obtain the knowledge to make good quality and consistent beer. What really gets me is that often these people are lauded as the pinnacle of (the-thing-formally-known-as) craft brewing by people who again are in it as a fashion statement...but they know about SEO and they don't cringe when writing nonsense on twitter so they get seen as the experts by people who are just discovering an interest in beer.
I'm currently organising an IBD Young Members debate on this for the end of summer. It's certainly an emotive topic.
I think you're seeing this from the position of someone who makes a living out of beer. From that perspective things are a lot more complex, as every crap beer business of any sort will be getting money that could have well lined your pockets, with the addition that your business might end up being put in the same sack as the crap one.
DeleteAs someone with no stakes in the industry, I have it a lot easier. I choose to spend my money on products or services that I like or have a very good reason to believe I will, and I care little if anything about the rest.
But complaining about this, is a bit like complaining about being cold in winter - it can make you feel better for a bit, but the temperature will not get any warmer. When a business becomes fashionable for some reason, everyone and their aunts will want to have a go at it, and, regardless of their commitment to, or their feelings for, beer, a lot of them will be rubbish. The only thing you can do in the meantime is support those people you think are doings things well and hope that, once the fad passes they will be among the survivors.
""alongside the rise in popularity in beer, there are also a lot of people who know very little about beer, who are selling beer brewed by people who know very little about beer, to drinkers who can't tell if it's any good or not""
ReplyDeleteSpot on Old Chap!
Oh, I know I'm right, but DOES IT MATTER?!
DeleteIn the blogosphere lots of people know lots about beer because they are interested in it.
ReplyDeleteMost people don't because they aren't
They do know what tastes nice and what doesn't
Hence most people drink a Munich Helles and think it nicer than a Fosters. That makes them discerning, I guess. Until that same honesty results in them disliking something enthusiasts like. Then they return to being ignorant commodity drinkers.
Funny old world.
In the blogoshere there are lots of people who think they know about beer because they blog/vlog about it.
DeleteBut spot on Zak.
I usually love your "sand in the Vaseline" approach, Cookie, but I haven't a fucking clue what you're talking about here.
Delete"Oh, I know I'm right, but DOES IT MATTER?!"
ReplyDeleteIn the great scheme of things? No. But it is good to recognise it.
I wouldn't know about that sort of thing. There's a much higher percentage of good beer in the cask micro market nowadays than there was 5 years ago. Who are these crap new breweries? I'm amazed by the quality of new entrants in recent times. It's made a few of the established brewers pull their socks up. On the other hand some others just piss and moan about too many breweries and carry on churning out twig water.
ReplyDeleteI get sent a lot of beer from new breweries - some of it even has "Craft Beer" on the label - and it's not all good. Trust me.
DeleteShhh Zak stop telling everyone the secret about beer...
ReplyDeleteSome of the discussion in this thread annoyed the crap out of me, until I realised that my irritation was actually leading me to answer Zak's original question - "Does it matter?"
ReplyDeleteOf all the various and myriad influences on which beer people drink, "what it tastes like" is only one out of an almost limitless number of factors: what your dad drank, what your first pint was, what you puked on aged 15, the weather, what reminds you of that perfect afternoon, simple availability, unthinking habit, reassuring familiarity, price, packaging, memory aspiration, a slice of lime in the bottle, the pride of brewing your own that might outweigh concerns about palatability - who knows, even advertising may have an effect. So, unless you're me, then who are you to judge me for what I drink? Should I add "...for a smug sense of superiority" to the influences? Perhaps...
Some people care passionately enough about their opinion of something's "taste" (a sense that is impossible to quantify and entirely subjective) and share their personal impression with others. Fine. Get together, talk about it, share your impressions and debate those personal, subjective impressions amongst yourselves until you reach a consensus you're happy with.
But don't tell the rest of us that basically - "Beer - you're doing it wrong".
So, to answer Zak's last question, I'd say "It shouldn't" - but if the answer were to be "It does matter", then I'd ask to who would it matter to, and why?
I'm surprised at you Aidan. As someone who built a very successful business and personal brand out of getting "the internet" right, surely you must know that these things are VITALLY IMPORTANT.
Delete