Evangelism

[TLDR version: Not everyone will join our army. Keep trying. It's just beer]

Are some people just hopeless lost causes to the craft beer crusade? I was out with a colleague (American) tonight who I'm determined to show good beer. This came about because he had made two statements that demand both hope and despair from the craft beer lover. Paraphrasing:

1. "I didn't used to like beer, but I really like Japanese beer. So maybe I just wasn't trying the right kinds before."
2. "A friend of mine is really into homebrewing, so I'd be interested in trying anything you make."

Now, my first instinct was to pour half a glass of pilsner and fill the rest with water for him. But, no. We are on a mission to show people the world of flavor. And you catch more barflies with honey ale than malt vinegar. Right? Once I was shown just how wide open the world of beer is, I thought, as many of you likely have, that there's no such thing as a person who doesn't like beer; there are only people who haven't met the right beer yet. The array of ingredients and techniques available to brewers is vast, and so are the flavor outcomes. But there are a couple of problems: a lot of our "that doesn't sound like beer" suds that might win over the palates of those that "hate beer" are expensive, hard to find, "not beer", etc. And yes, everyone tastes the same chemicals (don't even start trying to tell me that you aren't always eating and drinking chemicals, hippie) a little differently. It's entirely possible that what tastes wonderfully harmonious to me may seem horrible for you, and vice versa. So perhaps we shouldn't judge others for their tastes, even when it's so obvious to us that they're wrong. Bitterness is an acquired taste (the only one out of the accepted basic tastes, or so I hear), and the degree to which you enjoy a particular food or beverage may be due to a quantifiable difference in the lay of the land on your palate, not due to a certifiable difference in your booze addled noodle.

So what can we do? Hopefully the "ales are beers. so are lagers" line sank in, and my friend gained a little knowledge. He drank his pint (Baird Brewing's Red Rose Amber Ale), but probably won't order it again. I'm not sure what he liked or didn't like about it,...and it can be difficult to discern this if people aren't used to or, frankly, not interested in tasting food and drink beyond "i like this", "i don't like this", "it does/doesn't taste poisonous". And that's the main problem in this case: his preferred drink is basically straight vodka (the mark of quality being tastelessness) or whiskey (which is "okay"). So maybe he likes bland beverages (and peat? what?). That's fine. Not everything has to be about interesting or unique flavors. Maybe that's not the point. In fact, you know what? It's not the point. The point is people enjoying time together, whether their drinking piss-in-a-can mass market lagers, Pliny, that $6 handle of vodka, ancient single malt, or actual goat sweat. Craft still and will always needs converts, so my plan is to continue to slowly present more options, probably starting with Scottish ales. I will buy a bottle or order a pint of what I want to drink, making a slightly greater effort than usual to vary the roster, do my best to encourage the nonbelievers around me to see the art and passion that goes into the glasses we cherish, and to remember that it's just liquid refreshment. Our libations are best, naturally, but we're a little biased.

As a final note, my own mother won't drink the beer I brew. She says that every beer she's had in her life tastes unpleasantly yeasty to her, and that it's probably okay that she doesn't expand her alcohol preferences...which I'm certain makes no sense to any of us. Why would you place a limit on your own happiness?! My plan for her is to serve "sparkling wine" and see how she raves until she learns it's all malt (I swear a tripel I had the other week tasted exactly like a bubbly dry chardonnay).

Another night squandered in the saloons of Tokyo.

乾杯