Bud Shaming

     Sorry for the lack of posts lately, kids.  Hell of a month.  Now enough about me.  Let's talk about what we're all doing wrong and try to figure out why we care so much about what the other half (or, umm, er... 90ish percent) drinks.

    

     So, a lot of hubbub gets made among craft beer drinkers about looking down on people who drink American Macrobrews.  The idea here is that the Macrobrew drinker, sometimes referred to as a "BMC" (Bud-Miller-Coors) drinker, is some poor ignorant beast that either doesn't really like the taste of beer, or just doesn't know any better... and if it's the former, then it's also because they don't know any better as they've never tasted what might constitute a "good" beer.

     First, let me get my potential hypocrisy out of the way.  Although I don't believe it's quite the same thing, I tend not to believe people when they say "I don't like beer".  There are so, so many kinds of beer, it's much more likely that you just haven't found one you like.  Don't like bitter things?  Great.  Have some Brouwerij Huyghe Van Diest Früli Strawberry Beer (really just better known as Fruli) which, shockingly, IS a beer... even though it tastes of sweet strawberry ambrosia with hardly a hint of what a lay drinker would consider to be beerish.

     Even within styles there's so much variation that I put very little stock in "I don't like IPAs", or similar comments.  I have a friend that doesn't like IPAs either, but she sure has enjoyed some very fresh Ithica Beer Company Flower Power with me on multiple occasions.  It's coming to be that words that used to symbolize a clear demarcation of style hardly mean anything any more.  Consider the difference between a Harpoon Brewery Harpoon IPA and a Somerville Brewing Company (Slumbrew) Sittin' On Hop Of The World.  Maybe I'm cheating a little because one has fruit in it (peaches!), but they're both "IPAs".

   You know what?  Three paragraphs in and I'm already digressing.  Not a good sign.

     Anyway, I'm not talking about getting people that don't drink beer to come into the fold.  I'm talking about craft's version of slut shaming, which I'm going to call... Bud Shaming.  A lot of craft beer drinkers look down on BMC drinkers.  The fact that there's a term for them at all shows the "us against them" mentality and, on one level, it's understandable.  There are real issues out there, like competing for shelf space or tap lines, that craft beer makers have to deal with every day.  For the more hardcore craft beer drinkers, our empathy leads to this institutional mentality that we, the underdogs, are secretly better in some way.  

     Go to the Three Penny Tap room in Montpelier, Vermont, and note the Bud Shaming signage, admonishing anyone who even thinks about ordering a BMC beer (bonus points, TPT is also tap only, so there's another sign chastising you should you even think about inquiring of a bottle list).  Even my favorite beer store, Craft Beer Cellar in Belmont, MA, until recently operated its website under the name "No Crap Beer".  Thankfully, in my opinion, they changed it, because the Bud Shaming attitude is not reflected in the store.  I've been in there when someone has asked for Bud Light, and the clerk told them that they don't carry it, but also proceeded to make some recommendations based on what he now knew the person liked to drink.  Which leads me to:

     Point #1 - No matter how big craft beer gets, no matter how renowned a craft beer bar or store is, someone is going to come in and ask for Bud Light... and you shouldn't get mad about it.

     I read an interview once with the owner of a very successful brewpub, and he said this exact thing happened just about every day.  What he doesn't ever do is simply say "no" and let them leave.  He says "no, but try a free sample of this pilsner we make and tell me what you think".  Sure, he's trying to make a convert here, but there's some leeway when someone comes to you, as in this situation.  But the article didn't make me think he was the kind of guy that would go into someone else's bar and tell someone ordering a Silver Bullet that they should try a different beer instead.

     Point #2 - You don't know crap about Vodka.

     Or cheeses.  Or whatever else you might fill in the blank with.  Recently, I was at a liquor store down the street to grab a bottle of vodka.  I grabbed a bottle of something I knew to be a good mix of tasty and affordable, and no one swung down from the rafters to tell me why I was ignorant.  Thing is, I am ignorant... and that should be ok.  I'm sure there's some amazing "craft" vodka, or even just a less-popular but slightly more amazing common brands to be had.  Yes, I'm sure someone who really knew their stuff would have audibly groaned at my choice, but I would hope that a Finlandia or Svedka purchase wouldn't cast me as someone's enemy.

     Point #3 - My father is always going to drink Moosehead.

    My parents live just south of what is rapidly becoming the "Seacoast NH Beer Trail".  They own growlers from Throwback Brewery and Blue Lobster Brewing Company, but there's also going to be Leffe, or Coors Banquet Beer, Stella Artois or Moosehead in the beer fridge.  This, in my opinion, is good enough.  I'm not about to try to get someone to stop drinking something they enjoy just so I can feel superior.  Them being open to trying new things is, and should be, the best someone should reasonably expect.  And, I'd like to think, if they didn't care about trying the latest limited release coffee stout or rye porter, that should be fine, too.  They can have theirs and I'll have mine.

     Point #You Probably could have just started reading here - It's about price.

     Recently, an article circulated that highlighted what beers were most likely to lead to ER visits.  They had one thing in common, and it was not ABV (though I think a couple of bombers of Smuttynose Brewing Co Graviation could definitely get me into some trouble).  The common factor was price.  They were all very cheap beers.  Maybe not the cheapest, but I'm sure if someone compiled a list of beers most likely to be binged on, good old Natty Ice and Keystone would make the cut.  Even with more moderate drinkers, the reason that Macros dwarf everything else is the craft beer doesn't pass the cost-benefit sniff test for most people.  You don't need to be an economist to know when you're buying an 18 rack for 15 bucks, you've cracked the mythical "less than a dollar a beer" barrier.  This is a comfortable area for most drinkers to live in, and until craft can come up with an answer to it, maybe we should think twice before Bud Shaming.

     For a lot of people, they just want to buy something they like well enough (or maybe they really do love the taste of an adjunct lager... but remember the "Vodka" point here) that they can either unwind with or maybe even catch a buzz and not have to pay too much for.  Fair enough, in the world of craft, beers like Narragansett Lager has crossed the sub-dollar line if you buy it in a large enough package, and Berkshire Brewing Company has most of their bomber bottles priced around $5 each, but for every one of them there's a thousand Imperial Barrel-Aged or other labor intensive beer that even some craft devotees look at and say "it costs HOW much?"  I start getting antsy when a single 22oz bottle is much above $8, and I'm fully aware most BMC drinkers would think even that price is absurd ("What?  Does it get itself from the fridge for you?").

    Beer friends, I implore you... tend your own garden.  You shouldn't care what someone else drinks.  You shouldn't Bud Shame.  If someone asks you for an opinion, give it nicely.  If someone is amiable to trying a sip of something, offer it kindly.  Just because you like one thing and someone else likes another doesn't give you license for... well, anything at all.  It doesn't matter if the reason is ignorance (in the dictionary sense of the word), preference or price... you've got your own life to live and your own beer to drink.  That extra energy could be used to open something delicious.  You know what else is delicious?  Tolerance!  No, that's a terrible line to end on.  Remember to edit that out.