I fully understand that most people in this country do not drink craft beer or know much about it and may well be scared off by the vast selection and dizzying array of styles. Taking that knowledge one step further, I then understand that articles written in newspapers will be authored by journalists who may not have any beer knowledge. Again, I am fine with that. I encourage anyone to hop on the bandwagon and just write about craft beer from your perspective. The craft beer tent can accommodate any and all who have interest in spreading the word.
Where I draw the line are the articles that seem to be hashed together from what can be charitably called either a fever dream or ten minutes of Googling. One can write a well-informed and entertaining piece, even an opinion piece that calls out the craft beer industry or gives us a pat on the shoulder, without being a Cicerone. But a recent article by Joe Queenan really should be awarded a prize for pasting random beer related terms together while snidely painting anyone who enjoys craft beer as an elitist.
Heaven and my readers know that I have fallen into the lazy trap with some of my postings. I could argue that I was too busy enjoying the beer in my glass but I won’t. I fully own up to my lack of journalistic credentials and creative grammar. But I strive to avoid writing purely derisively about an unknown topic.
Queenan could have written something funny beyond French inspired beer puns about the foibles of the beer snobs. A piece on the sustainability of craft beer growth, poking at hopheads or an ice cold exposé on lack of tap line cleaning would be welcomed. Especially by me. I have thick skin. I had to live in a world without craft beer.
Instead we get lazy opinionating, which this country has a crazy excess of and would make us rich if we could export it. Queenan trots out the old chestnut about how good drink and good food make one into an insta-snob or as he bluntly puts it in no uncertain terms, un-American. Perhaps it was ghostwritten by a now out-of-work republican operative still clinging to a past America.
I don’t condemn someone who bypasses In n Out for McDonalds. I don’t pillory a person who likes Adam Sandler movies and I fully expect the same regard in return. I would sit down with everyone in Queenan’s article, including non-drinking Joe and enjoy their company and marvel at how different each person is just by what beer they choose. Would I make fun of their choices, yes. Would I denigrate their choices, no.
Queenan, it seems, wants to broadly paint craft beer with one color and ignore the rest of the hues on the palate. Me? I will drink all the beers I can afford and use all the words at my disposal and not resort to lazy sarcastic potshots.
(You can read his article HERE and read a point by point rebuttal from Texas HERE)