I grew up in a place where a very large number of people were proud to call themselves “rednecks”. There are many characteristics some people might attribute to the redneck group, but for me, the biggest characteristic is a love for bad beer. Oh, these proud people will not let you bad talk their beloved “beer” without an argument, but the truth of the matter is that the crap that they are swilling is NOT good beer.
I grew up seeing people drinking bright yellow beer that you could see right through. This beer called itself a lager, but the color resembled…well….the stuff that comes out of your body after drinking anything more than it resembled beer. I didn’t realize this until I was in college.
In the early years of college when the real thrill from drinking beer came from getting drunk and not so much the enjoyment of the beer, we bought the cheap stuff or the stuff that our parents had been drinking all our lives. It got the job done, but I never would have admitted to actually liking beer. Then as we started getting older and the goal was not so much to get wasted but rather to enjoy a cold one, we started buying good beer. We went to the local microbrewery and drank. We crossed the state line and brought home cases of our favorite Pennsylvania-made lager. Myself and my group of college friends had had enough of the good ol’ stuff and wanted a beer that was actually substantial and good.
Then Samuel Adams got huge and the age of the microbrews began. Okay, maybe the age of the microbrews started before Jim Koch got that beautiful beer on the big stage, but microbrews started getting a lot more attention afterwards. We started taking an interest in the different types of beers. Ales, lagers, hefeweizen and a whole army of specialty beers made from just about anything.
Just as in the food world a cooking and taste revolution had started, in the beer world the same was happening. Microbreweries popped up everywhere. People started making beer at home. Beer had become more than just something in a can that accompanied family barbecues. Beer had become a food group that people took VERY seriously.
And why shouldn’t they? A good beer is one of those things that isn’t necessarily a luxury, but it feels damned good to indulge in. Drinking a good beer makes me feel like a grown up. Drinking a good beer is just nice.
To all of those beautiful home brewers and microbrewers and beer revolutionaries, I say thank you. Thank you so much for saving me from that terrible “beer” that my hometown rednecks worship. Thank you for showing me a diversity in something I had no idea could be diverse. Thank you for showing me that Americans (although a couple of centuries behind) can make one hell of a good beer.
PSA Courtesy of Smell My Plate: If you are a poor and misguided person still drinking your good ol’ beer and defending it fiercely to those of us who try to get you to try a beer that actually tastes good, please please, for the sake of future generations TRY it. Don’t turn your nose up at these beers because maybe they aren’t as “down home” or simple as your good ol’ beers. They aren’t as gourmet as you are making yourself think. A lot of these brews are made by simple people in tiny breweries. These beers ARE salt of the earth. These beers ARE something to be proud of and no, they do not make you pretentious for drinking them. Just try them. If you go back to the good ol’ brews, I will assume you have no taste buds but I will also stop bothering you about the subject. I’ll drink my wonderful delicious beer, and you’ll drink your beer flavored water.
Disclosure: My favorite beer is Yuengling Lager. It is the beer we all discovered in college and it really is amazing. As someone who had never been a beer drinker before, Yuengling was my conversion factor. Samuel Adams Winter Lager is a close second. I also love a good hefeweizen.
