Bottle Conditioned

A few recent postings and articles have me thinking.  As craft beer lovers, we can sometimes easily get labeled “snobby” or “holier than thou” regarding our opinions about craft beer.  For me, I try to avoid falling into the uber-snob camp, taking the approach that each person has different tastes, and what I consider a great beer may be terrible to someone else.  Seems logical. 

Anyway, a few things have come up recently that have danced on the fringe of this, so I figured it was time to talk a bit about it.

The first one was a flurry of articles and blog posts last week about Blue Moon and its place in the craft beer world.  The initial blog post by Stan Hieronymus at his blog created some interesting discussion around a central theme:  should Blue Moon have a place at the craft beer table, being considered a quality craft beer among its brethren?

It’s an interesting debate.  As a craft beer enthusiast, it’s very easy (perhaps too easy) to quickly dismiss Blue Moon as a junk beer due the fact that it’s made by Coors.  Fair enough, and considering the reputation of other “craft brands” produced by the mainstream beer companies, it’s easily understood why Blue Moon gets the rap that it does.  However….as true craft beervangelists, are we perhaps missing the point?

Blue moon gets people into drinking better craft beer.  Shouldn’t that be the standard we’re apply to these brands?

Thousands of people are getting into discovering niche branded beers through these “craft” labels that the macro guys are putting out.  Even if those of us deeply entrenched in the craft beer circle don’t consider it a good beer….perhaps we should respect what it is doing for craft beer as a whole.

Yes, it’s easy to take the other side.  “Sure Justin, we get that, but if people drink Blue Moon and don’t like it, won’t it ruin the notion of craft beer to them in general?”  Yeah, maybe, but those folks aren’t coming over to our side regardless.  Think about it.  Someone coming from a macro-beer background who doesn’t like Blue Moon will probably have an aversion to most other craft brands out there.  Those folks don’t care about taste, period.  If anything, their complaint won’t be that it lacks body or development, or that it lacks complexity…it’ll be that it has too much flavor.

So…as difficult as it may be for some, perhaps we in the craft beer world should be looking at the real issues surrounding the craft brands put out by the big guys.  Yes, many of them aren’t good.  Yes, many of them can’t really be considered craft beer.  But, if those brands (however bad they may or may not be) are transitioning folks to explore more craft brands…well…good for them.

Homebrewing

I don’t talk much about homebrewing on this blog, or the podcast for that matter, but a series of posts on a discussion forum got me thinking.  To the same end that craft beer drinkers should consider Blue Moon as good for the craft beer industry, so should homebrewers give the same thought to beginner homebrewing systems.

As an all-grain brewer for a few years, I’ve sunk a good deal of money into gadgets, kettles, cooling systems, etc… for my hobby.  I do it because I like how much control I have over my beer - and I’m a nerd.

In the brewing community, there is sometimes a real animosity against basic brewing systems, particularly one called “Mr. Beer”.  Yeah, Mr. Beer is a oversimplified solution to homebrewing, and may not produce the best beer in the world (or does it?), but again…we’re missing the point.

It exposes more people to homebrewing and sparks the seed of curiousity that helps expand the hobby as a whole. 

Many homebrewers start out with very basic systems in order to get a slow feel for what it takes to brew your own beer.  I think it’s a great thing that there are homebrewing systems available that allow people such a low barrier to entry into the hobby.  For many people, those basic systems quickly get overhauled into sophisticated, garage-hungry, multi-tier, all grain facilities.   If someone wants to start with Mr. Beer….we shouldn’t look down on that decision, rather, we should be excited that another person will be exposed to the hobby of homebrewing. 

The same goes for Blue Moon and drinking craft beer. 

So…I realize that this rant is probably random and loose, but that’s ok.  If it gets one more person thinking about it, then my job is done

Let’s put down the snobbery and hail anything that serves as a gate for people into the world of craft beer and homebrewing.  Once they’ve got a foot in the door, we can win them over with the huge offerings inside.

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