Beer People and Wine People

Tsingtao beer is pronounce with a CH, not with the TS phonetic that lots of folks are using. Just sayin'. I didn't want to start a another thread. That is all. Carry on.

Do you think wine folks would still be so accepting if I were to order a glass of finer Cabernet, made slushy style?

Prolly the same reaction you'd get from the fine craft beer crowd.

As an aside, maybe 10 years ago I opened a bottle "very fine"of wine with my Mom at Xmas dinner only to look on as Mom proceeded to toss in 3 or 4 ice cubes.

Do you think wine folks would still be so accepting if I were to order a glass of finer Cabernet, made slushy style?

I can't speak for the snobby purists, but I have enjoyed wine popsicles and wine flavored ice cream.

Take that snobs!

I for one, consider myself a wine and beer snob. Food snob for that matter.

I can't comment on the craft beer crowd but I do enjoy a well made beer with good food - I'm partial to all the offerings from Bank Street.

I am a wine geek in real life however and while there certainly is sobbery every where, my experience is that most wine drinkers I know are fairly easygoing about wine choices. While I've been anal about wine for years, in my maturity I'm much less concerned with the micro-details. I like a good wine and a good sommelier makes drinking wine out much less a hassle.

Some thoughts on the topic at hand:

1. Virtually any wine with a meal is better than no wine. A Gallo box wine may be bland and relatively generic, but if I'm eatting a bowl of spaghetti and that's all that's available it works.

2. Most wine drinkers have a past and realize that it's, to some degree, an acquired taste - to a generation raised on soda pop I expect that they will initially find white zin more appealling than a concentrated cab or a barnyard smelling expensive French offering. Wine tastes evolve over time. My personal interest in wine tends to lean towards good reisling and sauternes - not dry at all.

3. I think any sobbery directed at beer drinkers is specifically at the dishwater mass produced ilk. I think craft beer is viewed with respect among my wine drinking collegues.

4. Maybe completely unfair but after thinking about it - I think that mass produced wine has a higher utilitarian value than mass produced beer. That may be my personal bias coming out - but that's my impression.

I've been a wine drinker for many years and have participated on numerous wine related internet wine forums over the past 20 years. I'm not much of a beer drinker, but something struck me reading this board about what I perceive as a basic distinction between these two groups.

Bill this is an excellent topic but I'm not sure there is much of a distinction. There seems to me to be a degree of snobbery in nearly every group of people when categorized by a common interest. Even within the craft beer community I perceive some snobbery amongst different types of craft beer drinkers. I personally don't have much interest in high gravity beers but there is a growing and vocal segment of the craft beer drinking/brewing community that looks at this segment as superior or at least more desirable.

These “big beers” are often more complex in their tastes and their creation than a typical “small beer.” They can undergo multiple steps in the brewing and maturing process such as fermenting with fruits, aging in different types of barrels, and exposure to smoke. I would never argue that these beers don't provide the drinker with a lot more to consider than the small beers.

For instance, I went to the CPC last night to taste five NABC beers and have some pizza. Shawn poured me one of each and we talked about them as we tried them together. The first was NABC's new stout (Quaker Foot). I had tried this beer already over at the Rover a few weeks ago. I liked it fine and will not hesitate to drink it when I'm in the mood for a stout. Then things changed rather dramatically.

The next four beers were much more flavorful and tasted to me like they were significantly higher in alcohol content (this may not be the case). These beers absolutely provided more tastes on the palate than the beers I normally drink. The Naughty Claus, 9th Anniversary, Dirty Squirrel, all had bold flavors and the Belgian Double the final beer I tasted had a sour note that I associated with sampling homemade wines at my friend's house when I was a kid. I think it spent some time in a cabernet barrel.

In the end I suspect these beers will appeal to a great many people and while I do admit to feeling a bit inadequate that they did not appeal to me, I accepted my own limitations in this regard long ago. I do keep trying them though. I neither dismiss them out of hand because they are not my preference nor do I hold those who prefer beers with even less taste than I prefer as being less discerning than myself. The most typical form of pilsners and lagers have for me very little taste but may be the most popular styles of all.

So, I'm a beer enthusiast and try not to be a snob. I rarely run into the beer snob type (outside of Sergio's) but when I do, I find that beer is not the only thing these people are snobs about.

On a final note. I confess I'm very intimidated about the whole wine thing. Many of my friends drink wine regularly and I find that they are very non-judgmental with me when it comes to ordering a bottle together. In an effort to become more knowledgeable about wines I've watched the movie “Sideways” multiple times so “I'm not drinking any f'ing Merlot.” Just saying.

I don't think its snobbery on the beer side. Most craft beer drinkers I have met want others to drink craft beer too. Its more like a disdain for the ignorance and stubbornness of people who aren't willing to try something new and continue to drink something that is mass-produced by a mega corp and say that it's good like they know what they are talking about.

The fact is mass produced beer is almost flavorless. You can say "well maybe some people just don't prefer flavor in their beer." Well, that may be true but it is only because they were conditioned by marketing campaigns that that is how a beer should taste.

I doubt most craft beer drinkers would have any problem at all if everyone in America started drinking local beers, Budweiser went out of business, and 500 new local breweries popped up. Snobbery is when you want to remain in your own little elite group. I don't see beer people excluding anyone on purpose. That is just my experience.

I don't think its snobbery on the beer side. Most craft beer drinkers I have met want others to drink craft beer too. Its more like a disdain for the ignorance and stubbornness of people who aren't willing to try something new and continue to drink something that is mass-produced by a mega corp and say that it's good like they know what they are talking about.

The fact is mass produced beer is almost flavorless. You can say "well maybe some people just don't prefer flavor in their beer." Well, that may be true but it is only because they were conditioned by marketing campaigns that that is how a beer should taste.

I also enjoy craft beer and do not like most mass-produced beer. However, the type of attitude above does not convert any Bud drinkers. If anything, it makes them more hesitant to try craft beer.

You are saying that everyone who prefers to drink Bud/Miller/Coors is ignorant, stubborn, and incapable of independent thought...

That's ridiculous. Some people like watered-down, flavorless beer. It doesn't mean they are "wrong" or "ignorant". No matter how much it offends anyone's delicate sensibilities, tastes will always vary.

I am all for introducing people to craft beer. But not everyone is going to like it, and that doesn't mean that there is something wrong with them. I have found that "Hey, try this." works better than "Hey, Stupid, the beer you drink sucks and you're a sheep".

I often feel the need to defend myself, if one of my friends says "oh, Dan drinks good beer". "Yeah, but I'm not one of THOSE guys..."

I don't think its snobbery on the beer side. Most craft beer drinkers I have met want others to drink craft beer too. Its more like a disdain for the ignorance and stubbornness of people who aren't willing to try something new and continue to drink something that is mass-produced by a mega corp and say that it's good like they know what they are talking about.

The fact is mass produced beer is almost flavorless. You can say "well maybe some people just don't prefer flavor in their beer." Well, that may be true but it is only because they were conditioned by marketing campaigns that that is how a beer should taste.

I also enjoy craft beer and do not like most mass-produced beer. However, the type of attitude above does not convert any Bud drinkers. If anything, it makes them more hesitant to try craft beer.

You are saying that everyone who prefers to drink Bud/Miller/Coors is ignorant, stubborn, and incapable of independent thought...

That's ridiculous. Some people like watered-down, flavorless beer. It doesn't mean they are "wrong" or "ignorant". No matter how much it offends anyone's delicate sensibilities, tastes will always vary.

I am all for introducing people to craft beer. But not everyone is going to like it, and that doesn't mean that there is something wrong with them. I have found that "Hey, try this." works better than "Hey, Stupid, the beer you drink sucks and you're a sheep".

I often feel the need to defend myself, if one of my friends says "oh, Dan drinks good beer". "Yeah, but I'm not one of THOSE guys..."

Let me give an example. My dad is often like "I don't see how you drink that crap" referring to any craft beer. I say "Listen, why don't you just try drinking this new stuff for a while. Once you acquire a taste for it (just like you had to do with bud light I might add) you will realize that Bud Light has no flavor. Do you like food with no flavor? No. Yet you are convinced you like beer with no flavor." But he refuses to give anything a try other than a sip which is not enough to form an opinion on the subject.

Now I don't think my dad or anyone else who drinks bud light is incapable of independent thought. I do think they are ignorant (about beer, not stupid people in general) and stubborn. I myself drank bud light for about 10 years and only in the last couple of years started trying new beers. I am no expert on beer by any stretch of the imagination. But i did finally realize "wow, now i get what Roger Baylor and all those other people on Louisville Hot bytes were talking about...bud light tastes like crap."

So if it makes you feel better I include myself in the category of people who were ignorant. I'm not making a personal attack on anyone. I love and respect my dad still, promise.

Dean Corbett drinks Bud Light. So, it must have something to recommend it.

As an aside, maybe 10 years ago I opened a bottle "very fine"of wine with my Mom at Xmas dinner only to look on as Mom proceeded to toss in 3 or 4 ice cubes.

Sounds like your mother is my kind of woman. Smart and knows what she wants. I have been known to put a couple cubes in my Bud when it is not cold enough.

. The Naughty Claus, 9th Anniversary, Dirty Squirrel, all had bold flavors and the Belgian Double the final beer I tasted had a sour note that I associated with sampling homemade wines at my friend's house when I was a kid. I think it spent some time in a cabernet barrel. .

The Abbey's Dubbel (a Belgian brown of circa 6% ABV) was aged in cab barrels from a famous, boutique Napa winery. Clay Carpenter of Bryant Distributing arraigned the barrels for us so we could make something special for his wedding. We have the beer on tap at both locations. This will be a fun beer to taste over its brief life to experience the changes in flavor. I will lay back a couple kegs for future research purposes.

Awesome thread, many valid points. For my 2 cents, I'll just say that whenever I see some drinking a Bud Light or something along those lines, at least at a restaurant with a variety of options, it represents laziness and close-mindedness.

Awesome thread, many valid points. For my 2 cents, I'll just say that whenever I see some drinking a Bud Light or something along those lines, at least at a restaurant with a variety of options, it represents laziness and close-mindedness.

I didn't know I was so lazy and close minded. I appreciate the gratuitous insult. I will do my best to change so that you will think better of me.

The Abbey's Dubbel (a Belgian brown of circa 6% ABV) was aged in cab barrels from a famous, boutique Napa winery.

Wow David, I would have guessed that this beer was stronger than that. Would this quality as a sour beer as mentioned in another thread recently? I'm curious about the sour beer thing.