by Roger A. Baylor » Mon Dec 31, 2007 11:18 am
Point taken, but there are ways around it if you're willing to be pro-active. While we do not offer Bud, Miller, Coors or any of the big three's light beers, we have Spaten Premium Lager from Munich on draft every day. It is golden, it is light to medium bodied, it isn't bitter, the price is fair and we sell four kegs a week of it, plus another of Pilsner Urquell.
When someone asks for a Bud, the servers know to offer a sample of Spaten as an alternative. It hardly ever fails.
Any restaurant that includes "Okinawa potato ravioli, leek fondue, garlic chives and Pecorino" as a menu item already is serving notice that there will be few (if any) compromises when it comes to the menu. I'm not a wine guy, but my guess would be that if such an establishment could find something similar to White Zinfandel without those words appearing on the label, it would train the wait staff to offer such a wine as an alternative.
And yet, the conventional wisdom about beer is permitted to dictate an entirely different set of considerations. The conventional wisdom is rationalized as being something beyond hope of altering, but if conventional wisdom had not already been successfully challenged, there would be no market for the Okinawa potato ravioli -- and there obviously is.
As Garrett Oliver writes, "Real beer CAN do everything" when it comes to pairing with the current diversity of cuisines in America. But if it isn't allowed the chance, the "business as usual" paradigm won't ever change. Why doesn't beer get the same boost as other aspects of the restaurant?
And, as with the kitchen and the wine list, shouldn't this knowledge come from the management, and not the wholesalers?
Roger A. Baylor
Beer Director at Pints&union (New Albany)
Digital Editor at Food & Dining Magazine
New Albany, Indiana