Hopinions: Beer Geeks are so Puritanical
This week on Hopinions, Mario asks the questions, “Why do we hide out [sic] love of the buzz?” Are beer geeks really puritanical about alcohol? Are we all just reformed college freshmans or are we one drink away from “Whooooo beeeeeeer!!!”? Read on to find out.
From: Mario at Brewed For Thought
I ran into a mild dilemma last week. I was drinking the Mateveza Yerba Mate IPA for my Beer of the Week and considering all of the aspects of the beer that I thought would be important. Considering this is a beer brewed with a natural stimulant, yerba mate, I felt I needed to address the effects of this special ingredient. This is where I ran into my dilemma.
It seems as if we, as craft beer drinkers, dismiss the pleasurable effects of alcohol too often. We warn each other of strong brews, we talk about the benefits of more sessionable beers, but we seem to hide any happiness we might gleam from the effects of the alcohol.
Now that I was drinking a beer that had an additional ingredient that affects the mental state, I almost felt guilty for wanting to comment on the unique effects this beer was having on me. It was a good buzz. It put a smile on my face. In fact, I may have enjoyed the buzz from this specific beer as much if not more than I enjoyed the actual beer.
So that brings me to my question, Why do we hide out love of the buzz? It’s apparent we enjoy drinking beer and the effects, as beer festivals, tastings, etc are full of smiling faces. Does this journalistic stoicism help us distance ourselves from the “less desirable” beer fans of the world? If we were to let it slip that we do enjoy getting drunk, would we find ourselves god forbid, on the same level as Budweiser drinkers?
My name is Mario Rubio, and I like the buzz I get from my beer.
From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog
I’ve often seen Mateveza Yerba Mate beer on the shelves of my local BevMo but I’ve never bought it. Lately I’ve been doing my Beer(s) in Review with a series of beers focusing around a style, theme or brewery. If I do pick up a single, it’s usually for myself and not necessarily for review. On the heels of such fine beverages as B to the E, Molson’s Kick or Moonshot, I’ve unfairly dumped Yerba Mate in the category of gimmicky caffeinated beers. Brewing with exotic ingredients is nothing new, just look at the Belgian brewing tradition. After reading your description, I’ll have to check out Yerba Mate.
It’s nice that you can admit you have a drinking problem, it’s the first step to recovery. Back to the question at hand, I don’t know of a single craft beer lover who doesn’t, at the very least like, the effects of alcohol. It’s not that we’re trying to downplay it more than it is a case of “duh, of course there’s alcohol in this. It’s beer. It wouldn’t be beer without it”. It’s an accepted part of the deal: you drink beer, you get drunk. Every smiling face at a beer festival is a silent testament to our enjoyment of alcohol.
Unlike coffee or tea, alcohol is demonized to a large extent in this country. There’s an inheirent danger that comes with drinking alcohol. Neo-prohibitionists and conservatives are attacking the alcohol industry from all angles and the last thing we need as a collective group of responsible craft beer drinkers is to provide any more ammunition to these people by running around yelling, “Whooooooooooo! I’m druuuuuuuuuuuuuuunk-ah! Let’s go streaking!”. Or worse, add to the list of alcohol related fatalities.
We’re not in freshmen in college anymore. We have nothing to prove, or gain, from by yelling from the rooftops that we’re hammered.
I am not a teetotaller. I like to get drunk, I love to get drunk. Getting a good beer buzz is part of the reason I drink beer. Alcohol is my vice of choice. When I’m at home, I can feel free to indulge to my heart’s content. When I’m out in public, I make sure to have a designated driver with us or ready to pick me up when the phone rings. As people who want to further the cause of craft beer through our blogs, we have a responsibility to set the example. We need to show that we can enjoy our favorite beers responsibly. Whether or not we like it, we are in a position where we people judge us not only by our words but by our actions. Drink as I say, not as I don’t just doesn’t cut it.
From: Mario at Brewed For Thought
I think you mean “Drink as I say, not as I do.” And I’m not saying we should run around like college freshmen, reaking of vomit and stale Natty Ice. In fact, my wife won’t go back to Boonville with me because in her one trip, some guys grabbed her by the shoulder at 1:30 and screamed in her face, “WOOOOOO BEER!” I’m not even saying we need to change our behavior. We were both at Beerfest in Santa Rosa and I really enjoyed the atmosphere, including the lack of fights, “woo”-ing, and drunken stupidity.
One thing I did want to talk about that you mentioned was the idea of Neo-Prohibtionists. I find this to be amusing. If anything, our society is moving in the direction of being less prohibitive. Despite recent California propositions, lifestyles previous shunned by society are being recognized more and more around the country. The movement for the legalization of marijuana is eyeing a 2010 ballot as a potential opportunity for full legalization of that whacky weed. Sure, alcohol is being targeted as a source of revenue in a time when our governments are swimming in debt, it’s always been that way in many societies, not just the United States. You can always count on people to lean on their vices in hard times, so might as well increase the tax on alcohol, tobacco, etc. I don’t believe anyone is giving serious thought to the banning of alcohol by any means.
From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog
The idea of banning alcohol doesn’t necessarily have to be an outright, overt ban. If you raise the cost of doing business to levels where it’s unprofitable or not worth the time and effort, you will have succeeded in banning something without actually banning it, Neo-Prohibitionist in origin or not. Just because other societies have taxed alcohol and tobacco doesn’t mean it’s fair to do so. Our goverment’s and elected officials inability to balance a checkbook doesn’t mean they should look to industry to bail their asses out of the fire. The idea of legalizing marijuana is more of a sign of desperation out of our government than it is a barometer of progressivenss. I have no doubt that if we were in times of plenty that the legalization of marijuana would even be a topic of discussion.
Semantics aside, a quick trip to any beer festival will easily show that people are not purtitanical at all about their love of alcohol. The ubiquitous, “Whoooooooo!” is a Twitter-sized variation of a love song seronated to beer everywhere. Boonville, a brewers festival if there ever was one, has it’s share of craft beer lovers, aficionadoes, connoisseurs and geeks who all celebrate their love of alcohol by stumbling back and forth from campsite to campsite in search of the next beer.
As champions of craft beer, I think we may have to watch what we do but it doesn’t hurt to let out a “Whooooooooooooooooo beeeeer!” every so often.
