“In order for connoisseurs to exist, they must be outnumbered by philistines, and if the connoisseurs are honest, they will admit that they enjoy this state of affairs,”
Kelefa Sanneh
My wife and I recently went to a Lauren Greenfield photo exhibit entitled Generation Wealth at the Annenberg Space for Photography. Afterward, we went for fancy ice cream and I got a scoop of rose flavor and then went and bought an expensive (for me) bottle of saison from Tennessee.
The irony of viewing photographs of the 1% and of the recession of 2008 and then eating ice cream instead of bootstrapping our own plain vanilla was not lost on us.
So, when I saw the above quote in a book on Mezcal that I am reading (and will review next month), it made sense. There is a split personality lurking within all beer geeks to not only educate but also to lord over those who just aren’t that keen on our little beverage niche.
That caste system can certainly make people drinking Coors Banquet aspire to something more expensive and filled with more quality in 5 ounces than a case of macro lager. But the flip side is that you lose sight of those people who don’t know about craft beer yet, or who have only dabbled in it.
Being able to communicate to all levels of craft beer fan without speaking as if you are the Duke of Draft, is something that needs to be first, acknowledged and then monitored, otherwise we will turn someone back to the advertised glow of industrial corn pop lager which will require nothing more than buying a case of beer from a conveniently placed grocery store.
Something as simple as saying, IMO minus the H, can relax people because you aren’t yet another person attempting to jam an opinion down their throat. People get that enough from Social Media and the SCROTUS.
I still need to watch what I say. Beer can remove my social filter. Ask yourself if you are being inclusive when you speak. If we can all just appreciate the beer and speak of that appreciation without bringing ourselves into the mix, well, some beer events would be a lot more fun.