a debate

06Nov06

Ok, I think there are exactly two people who read this blog, but if you’re not Leah or Danyah, then here’s a little newsflash for you: I am from St. Louis, Missouri. I. LIKE. BUDWEISER.

I don’t care if it’s tacky, or illustrates bad taste on my part. I LIKE IT. I’ve been proud of it since I was a kid. It reminds me of home, of growing up in St. Louis, of Cardinals games on hot summer days in old Busch, of being desperately lonely and homesick in Ireland one day and crying with relief at tasting my hometown brew, of the five million A-B brewery tours I’ve taken, of my first taste of beer at my sister’s wedding (I was 15), of Grant’s Farm, of Soulard, of the light and easy drink that got me hooked on beer in the first place. And so on. No matter how much beer I have in my life, I’m going to continue drinking Budweiser on occasion. Not to say I’ll drink it exclusively or argue that this is the ONLY beer people should drink, but I honestly think there’s a place for Budweisers in this world, and it’s not all just marketing.

Another story: when I originally told Leah I was interested in learning more about beer, we had the following IM convo:

Me: Leah, I’m so obsessed with beer lately, I want to learn everything
Leah: ooh, I can help
Me: Yeah, but how? But where should I start?
Leah: well, do you want to just know more about drinking? or do you want to start brewing eventually?
Me: Ummm, hmm. I would love to learn how to brew, but I don’t think I have the time or money or space for that yet. For now I want to learn enough so that I’ll be able to decide what I like and am interested in brewing down the road
Leah: get these books
http://www.amazon.com/Radical-Brewing-Recipes-World-Altering-Meditations/dp/0937381837
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0812930355?v=glance
and frequent this website
http://beeradvocate.com/
Me: Ok, but I’m not going to stop drinking budweiser at cardinals games, nothing you can say will make me stop
Leah: don’t worry – i drink old style when necessary
me: hee
Leah: but those 3 things (and reading our beer blog!) will get you started

Notice my primary concern upon admitting I was going to learn more about beer? It was the idea that I’d have to give up Budweiser and become a snob about beer if I learned anything about it. Luckily, I have a tutor as laid back as Leah (didn’t you do a blog post on old style vs. budweiser at some point, Leah?) who assured me that I wouldn’t have to do anything of the sort. Leah wouldn’t be too keen on the idea that she was even indirectly supporting Anheuser Busch (hey, Leah is indirectly indirectly supporting the Cardinals! Isn’t that sweet?), but I believe she does support freedom in beer choice. Which was my original concern, and the point of this entry.

Now I know what you’re thinking. “Man, she is DEEEEEEEE-FEN-SIVE! Perhaps the lady doth protest too much?”

Well, maybe. But the reason for my outburst at the moment is because I went to my first beer function, and as is to be expected, I bristled like a porcupine when a beer snob I met started ranting and raving about Budweiser (and by extension, the entire “immature” american beer palate and the ridiculous power of marketing, etc – this guy was British and kept going on about the savvy British taste in beer). Sigh. I don’t want to pretend to be the lone crusader supporting Budweiser. It would be like trying to be the lone supporter of Microsoft or Starbucks or McDonalds – life just doesn’t work that way. I mean, even calling Bud my “hometown brew” as I (sentimentally) did above is inviting mockery.

But neither do I want to have to defend myself every single time the topic comes up in conversation. And I don’t want to skip fun beer tasting events because I’m concerned about sounding like an idiot. Budweiser is like my comfort food. To paraphrase a cliche: “If loving crappy beer from St. Louis is wrong, I don’t want to be right!”

So can I feel that way and still be a savvy homebrewer? I don’t really know. Ask me again after my next homebrew meeting…

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