The debates that surround beer are pretty lightweight in the context of the world. Craft or kreft? A pint or a half of even a third? In the latest issue of the brilliant Beer, two chaps debate the pint versus the two/thirds — lads I couldn’t give a monkeys, my engine remains cold: I want a pint of Otter Head but would rather a glass of Duchesse de Bourgoyne, what’s the problem? In the Guardian a few weeks ago the saintly Ben McFarland told us it was time to ditch the pint glass. Why? Yes, good glasses look good but surely it’s up to the drinker if he wants a half or a pint of Anchor Porter or 6X? Let’s have a choice. On this occasion I suspect the hand of a commissioning editor looking for a fire in an abandoned tenement building that he can call the end of civilisation? Or maybe it’s the wine drinkers of beer drinkers’ demon lore that have taken fright? Or maybe it’s just the cultural cringe of this country? Or maybe it’s a quiet news day in the saintly kingdom of N1?
What is it about British (I ask myself if it is English but really think it’s anyone in the English-speaking isles off Europe) cultural mores that throw out this you’re-either-with-us-or-not argument that for me chucks a dead diseased camel down the wells of debate. Chill. But then beer is relatively uncontroversial and worth a few slaps around the rhetorical face: imagine the debate around more weightier subjects: capital punishment or not, gallows or guillotine, sharia or chocolate?
Who drinks "craft"? that's so last year.
ReplyDeleteThe post modern rat lets nowt but "artisanal" pass his lips in 2012
Actually artisanal is already on the wane (despite the fact I’ve been using it for years), the new nomenclature is ‘resistance beers’, as in standing up to ‘The Man’
ReplyDeleteResistance beer? Not heard that one before. Amusing.
ReplyDeleteFor whatever reason, any argument which boils down to "a bit this, a bit that, it's complicated" is either (a) hard for people to process or (b) seen as boring. Think that 'vs' only comes into the picture because a handful of people believe that allowing an opposing lobby any space whatsoever is as good as conceding defeat.
Too much of the school debating society instinct in some journalism?
Perhaps but I’m not the best to comment on school debating as was one of those who stayed well clear of debating anything while at school
ReplyDeleteThe discourse is immature but maturing. There is jostling for position in the ranks that feeds the accentuation. For me, when the word debate enters the room, I want to pull out my CDs from the mid-90s. I may have strong opinions (and many more half backed) but if it isn't a discussion it is pointless. Because it is only beer. This place I was in yesterday in Montreal gave me a whole new vocabulary for good beer in the way it was presented and appreciated. Who am I to "debate" knowing how many more places and approaches like that there are out there?
ReplyDeleteSorry craft, artisanal, resistance... it's all so last week. If you want to know where the next leap in the dark is taking us look no further http://aleheads.com/2012/03/07/craft-beer-trends-to-watch-for/
ReplyDelete