January Thoughts on a Beer Mat: The craft beverage community needs to stop drinks shaming
A while ago, I found myself clutching the stem of a Teku in a large industrial, unforgivably cold hangar. This abominably cold warehouse was home to a local craft beer brewery and its onsite taproom. It was my first time here, and I began to seriously question my choices getting dressed that morning.
I wasn’t alone. There were many, many bearded and check-shirt wearing men, some also wearing impossibly small fishermen hats, so small in fact, that I wondered how they stayed on[1]. There were also women, but proportionally less, but don’t get me started on gender representation in the craft beer, wine, cider and spirits industry – that’s a story for another time. Oh, and did I mention it was rather cold. No? Well, it was indeed a bit nippy.
The taproom had a total of twelve taps, with eight of them being dedicated to their own beers and the remaining four to everchanging guest beers. There were also three large fridges stocked with various bottles and cans, some their own, some from guest breweries.
I was drinking a barrel-aged imperial stout which smelled of figs, walnuts and wet coffee grounds – well, at least once my nose had acclimatised to the rather boozy aroma the ale sent toward my nostrils.
Others next to me drank hoppy pale ales that smelled like pine and resin, fruity kettles sours and dank IPAs. To be honest the list here was endless. Name a style you fancied, the place had it. Well, almost.
They didn’t even have one conventional example of what is often referred to as ‘the world’s favourite beer’, you know, lager – the otherwise (except here) ubiquitous cold, fizzy beer.
Before you bite my head off, I know I was in a craft beer taproom, where one ought to pray at the altar of hops, where the rulebook was read and torn up, where malt is worshipped alongside yeast strains which can make a beer taste funky and smell slightly of horse sweat (yeah, it’s a thing). But, and I’m not trying to offend any craft beer drinker and brewer alike, where are those chug-able refreshing beers?
So, out of curiosity I asked a craft brewer. I received a raised left eyebrow, a grunt and the following: “Lager? Commercial lager? Nah, I brew art, not this watery stuff! People come here in search of American hops, roasted coffee stouts and fruity ales. No one should be drinking that p***! And I certainly don’t want anyone in here who drinks that stuff! Grow up and learn to appreciate what’s good! … ”
He carried on talking, but I stopped listening. Truth be told, my heart sank. What’s with the attitude?
But Lisa, a brewer and brewery owner can brew and sell whatever they want, you don’t have to go there and spend your money!
Yes, I hear you, dear reader! You are right. I don’t have to. However, this was sadly not the first time I heard this obvious and obnoxious drink shaming.
I’ve listened to cider drinkers who swear by full-juice cider, and anything made from concentrate or not locally grown apples is not deemed cider, but rather some sort of ungodly alcopop.
I’ve sat in gin tastings where our host proclaimed that they are a field-to-glass distillery and therefore produce superior spirts than other producer who buys their neutral spirits in from commercial suppliers and “only” steep their botanicals on site “like making tea”.
I’ve had conversations with craft wine makers who don’t want to sell their wine to restaurants who also offer what they deem “lesser” wines.
I’ve drunk with people who voiced very similar opinions to the craft brewer. I’ve sipped sparkling perry with drinkers who would not touch a keg cider in a pub as it was “just fermented sugar water from China”, and I shared pints with people who will “never, ever drink that fizzy sh*te” and “rather die of thirst than spend money on a lager”.
That’s crazy! And I mean C R A Z Y!! Think about it, Birra Moretti, part of Heineken’s vast beer portfolio, and indeed a very commercial lager, managed to intice people to part ways with a whopping £246.7 million in the last quarter of 20241. Numbers like this show, we like to drink commercial lagers. A lot!
And why shouldn’t we!
There is no rule that states “Though Shall Only Consume Craft Drinks”.
And we like commercial wines, and mass-produced gins, and refreshing ciders.
A recent visit to the duty-free shop on an English Channel crossing ferry just highlighted this for me: Bottles of Yellow Tail next to Echo Falls and Jam Shed, Bacardi, Absolute, Beefeater and Gordon’s, Johnnie Walker, Teacher’s and Jim Beam. Your typical English pub offers Strongbow, Thatchers and Orchard Thief.
We can choose what’s in our glass! And we need to let craft brewers, fellow drinkers and anyone who will listen know, that it is our choice!
We need to show that we want The Craft, The Commercial and The In-Between!
And we want to drink those bevvies proudly, without judgement from anyone![2]
Think about it, the classic lager is unintrusive, it’s a comfort zone. No over-the-top hop aromas to decode, no special long-forgotten yeast strain to taste, no complex malts to decipher. A typical international lager refreshes us without any fuss. And we should be proudly raising our glasses to this plain, pedestrian fizzy beer!
Historically often called bottom-fermenting yeast, lager yeasts ferment cooler and slower than ale yeast, and produce subtle, clean and fresh aromas. There are roughly 150 different strains and compared to the 1500 to 2000 ale strains[3], they certainly do some heavy lifting.
The 2021 BJCP Beer Style Guidelines list twenty-three different lager styles, from American Light Lager to Eisbock[4]! Yes, still a much smaller group of beers, but countries like the Czech Republic and Germany sing the beer’s praises loudly. And who can think of a better food and beer pairing than that of pork stew with a “highly-attenuated pale lager without strong flavours, typically well-balanced and highly carbonated[5]” to cut through meat and cleanse the palate?
It also pairs well with seafood, fish and chips, and cheese, and served cold, it is refreshing and thirst-quenching. Packet of crisps? Pair it with a lager!
We drink it a lot, the stats show that, I’m just not so sure where we seem to do that… so let’s move out onto the streets and sing the beer praise! It’s been there for us, so let’s be there for it too!
And before I sign off, I’d like to let you know that there are signs of change out there. It’s not all doom and gloom – I’ve spotted two closely related beer styles in the top 5 of the We Are Beer’s Top 50 UK Beers 2024 Awards2:
Keller Pils (4.8% ABV)3, by Lost & Grounded, and Hells (4.6% ABV)4, by Camden Brewery, which placed second and fourth place respectively. These two lagers, in a sea of countless pale ales, IPA, stouts and Hazy DIPAs, shine like a little yellow fizzy beacon and show that some craft beer drinkers do appreciate a “simple, pedestrian” lager.
Cheers!
xxx
[1] This may seem like I’m stereotyping the craft beer community and its drinkers, but I’m not. At least not on this occasion. I’m a fully-fledged member of said community and not trying to instil any negativity.
[2] I am fully on the soapbox now, feel free to join me!
[3] Wine & Spirit Education Trust. Beer: Looking behind the label. Issue 1 (2024)
[4] Beer Judge Certification Program. BJCP Beer Style Guidelines – 2021 Edition https://www.bjcp.org/bjcp-style-guidelines/ [Accessed 30/01/2025]
[5] Beer Judge Certification Program. 2A. International Pale Ale. https://www.bjcp.org/bjcp-style-guidelines/ [Accessed 30/01/2025]
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