Bottle Conditioned

I don’t drink to get drunk. Perhaps I did at one point in early college, but it’s never been my style. Especially now. I consider myself someone who appreciates beer regardless of alcohol content (with exception to alcohol that determines flavor). Thusly, this article, published by MSNBC.com today really pisses me off.

In short, the article talks about binge drinking among teens and adults, and what those groups prefer in terms of beverage selection. The article notes that teen binge drinkers prefer liquor, while adult binge drinkers ‘overwhelmingly’ prefer beer.

So, why does this make me so mad? Behold, the definition of a “binge drinker”:

A binge drinker was defined as someone who had five or more alcoholic drinks on at least one occasion in the last 30 days.

What? Surely they’re kidding. So, all 5,000 people attending the brewer’s festival last weekend here in Nashville are binge drinkers. In addition, if I get up on Saturday and have a framboise with brunch, a Saison mid-afternoon with a light lunch, a nice pale ale as an apertif, a brown or amber ale with dinner and an imperial stout as a digestif, I’m now a binge drinker.

That is complete bullshit. For those of us who enjoy beer for the taste and experience, and who drink responsibly throughout a day, we’re now considered binge drinkers for our passion for the craft of great beer. In their eyes, we’re in the same group as those who buy a 12-pack of PBR and slam it within a few hours on a Saturday night. I don’t think so.

So, we’re now binge drinkers. Furthering that, here is their assumption about people who might have 5 or more beers in one occasion (and yes, I consider a Saturday at home an occasion):

“This is behavior that is common,” said the CDC’s Dr. Timothy Naimi, lead author of a study of 14,000 adult binge drinkers. “It boils down to drinking to get drunk.”

So, if I enjoy a selection of high quality Belgian and American craft beers, either at home throughout the day, at a brewer’s festival, at a homebrew meeting, a vertical or horizontal tasting, or judging a competition - i’m doing it just to get drunk.

It doesn’t stop there. This is the rumblings of the ‘pleasure police’ (thanks to Cigar Dave for that excellent nickname). Once these people can sufficiently pigeonhole beer into being a tool of binge drinkers and a threat to society, the legal action and government control over beer will begin. Don’t believe me? Here’s another part of the same article:

That perception may help explain why beer is No. 1, Naimi said. Because of a governmental focus on the dangers of liquor, beer is generally less expensive and easier to get.

The volume of beer advertising on television is also a factor, said Gail DiSabatino, vice president for student affairs at Clemson University.

So, now that they’ve discovered that beer is the most popular, more focus will be placed on passing pointless laws that attempt at controlling beer and “saving” the population. With all the progress we’ve made in beer legislation up to this point, we can’t let any of it get undone because of a gross misunderstanding of beer.

Keep fighting the fight!

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I’m reading an article in this month’s issue of “Beers of the World”, an English beer journal that seems to focus mainly on beer culture overseas. Although the majority of the beer I drink comes from the states in the form of craft beer (save a few Belgian beers), it’s interesting to read about the culture over there and get an idea of the whole world beer stage.

One article in particular that struck my attention was called “Colder than Cold” (pg. 30 in the August issue, if you’re playing along at home).

The article talks about the ‘cold beer’ fad, and the fact that this phenomenon is moving over to Britain. Great, look what we started.

Throughout the article, there is much talk about how popular “extra cold” beer is becoming throughout pubs across Britain, replacing some of the classic cask ales that have for so long existed in these pubs.

It amazes me that this is happening.

Just when I think that the US is starting to get its act together, with more craft beer becoming popular and supermarket sales of “big beer” plateauing out or declining, it seems that there’s still a lot of work to do. The very place that has for so long been thought of as the classic beer region, it seems, is succumbing to the same fate that American beer suffered years ago (and is still trying to recover from).

Anyway, I don’t have much of a point except to say that it really struck me as odd, to think of British pubs serving “extra cold” beer and making a point to do so. It seems a shame to see such great beer tradition pushed aside to accommodate big beer marketing budgets.

So, do your part. Drink your beer at the right temp (45-55 degrees for most beers, even warmer for high grav) and tell your friends to do the same. Maybe we can still save the beer world yet.

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