I'm sure we all know that the purpose of marketing is to get us to buy crap, literally and figuratively. Figuratively I'm okay with. If I don't know a product is out there, how will I know about it and how will I know I want to buy it? Literally, I have more of a problem with.
Take beer, for example. I'm not sure why I chose beer, but let's go with that, shall we?
I have rated more than 360 beers in the last 7 months. Before I began this quest, I admit that I had never heard of New Belgium, Left Hand, and Lost Coast Breweries, among others. Yet they have beers that are at the top of my list.
What beers do we see advertised on TV? Besides Bud, Coors, and Miller, I mean? Let's see...Beck's...Heineken...Corona...Stella Artois...Dos Equis. Yeah, right, the Most Fascinating Man in the World, the hispanic dude who says he doesn't drink beer often, but when he does, it is Dos Equis. Well, duh! Of course he doesn't drink beer often. What he drinks is crap! I wouldn't drink beer often if that is all I drank. Kind of makes you rethink the Most Fascinating Man in the World title, doesn't it?
Becks? Crap. Heineken? Crap. Corona? Crap. Stella? Crap.
Sam Adams and Guinness are the only brews nationally advertised that appear in my Top 100. The rest in the upper crust are relative unknowns for the most part. The ones that appear in my Bottom 100? More often than not, nationally advertised brands.
So the moral of the story (blog?) is that Madison Avenue is a one big prostitute. They will take money to promote crap while the really good stuff remains obscure. The second moral of the story? Most beers advertised on TV are crap.
Want a good beer? Try something you've never heard of. Odds are, you can't do any worse than what you're already drinking and you might just find something better.
Life is good and so is beer.
"Salametlikingiz ucun" which is Uyghur for "For your health." What? You don't know who speaks Uyghur? You must be a Bud drinker. It's spoken by a Turkic ethnic group that lives in Eastern and Central Asia. Any sophisticated beer drinker knows that.
Goal...............524.....365
Progress.........361.....221
Remaining......163.....144
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Day 208 – What a Week I Think I'm Going to Have!
Have you ever had a Sunday evening where you dreaded the coming week? Sure, we all have. Right?
Well, I have one of those coming up and I just have two things to say - I hope I'm overreacting and I can't wait for next Friday evening.
I have an overnight trip coming up where I fly east, give a one-hour presentation to a group of clients, and fly right back home. The presentation won't be bad, but two days away from work for a one-hour presentation means that I have long days coming up, not just the Tuesday and Wednesday when I travel, but the Monday and Thursday as well. Monday is like any Monday, but I also have to get ready to leave for my trip. Thursday morning is the monthly executive meeting where I know one particular part (the last part) will not be a walk in the park. Fun, fun, fun.
It's a good thing I drink.
Speaking of which, a pretty good week. I'm at 343 and going strong, so the four hundred mark is looking pretty good right now. If I was running a marathon, I'd be past the 16-mile marker. Not exactly home free, but getting close enough to think I might just make the finish line after all.
By the way, Abita Pecan Harvest Ale...if you find it, buy it. Excellent ale.
When I first began this quest, it was sort of like the week I think I'm going to have. I questioned whether I would make it to the end or not. And yet, look where I'm at. You have to have faith that things are going to work out. You have to believe that you will make it to the finish line.
Right now, the finish line is Friday evening. It's a good thing I drink.
Life is good and so is beer.
Unfortunately, they don't know that in Qatar where alcohol is forbidden. Bummer. And I thought my week is going to be crappy.
Goal...............524.....365
Progress.........343.....208
Remaining......181.....157
Well, I have one of those coming up and I just have two things to say - I hope I'm overreacting and I can't wait for next Friday evening.
I have an overnight trip coming up where I fly east, give a one-hour presentation to a group of clients, and fly right back home. The presentation won't be bad, but two days away from work for a one-hour presentation means that I have long days coming up, not just the Tuesday and Wednesday when I travel, but the Monday and Thursday as well. Monday is like any Monday, but I also have to get ready to leave for my trip. Thursday morning is the monthly executive meeting where I know one particular part (the last part) will not be a walk in the park. Fun, fun, fun.
It's a good thing I drink.
Speaking of which, a pretty good week. I'm at 343 and going strong, so the four hundred mark is looking pretty good right now. If I was running a marathon, I'd be past the 16-mile marker. Not exactly home free, but getting close enough to think I might just make the finish line after all.
By the way, Abita Pecan Harvest Ale...if you find it, buy it. Excellent ale.
When I first began this quest, it was sort of like the week I think I'm going to have. I questioned whether I would make it to the end or not. And yet, look where I'm at. You have to have faith that things are going to work out. You have to believe that you will make it to the finish line.
Right now, the finish line is Friday evening. It's a good thing I drink.
Life is good and so is beer.
Unfortunately, they don't know that in Qatar where alcohol is forbidden. Bummer. And I thought my week is going to be crappy.
Goal...............524.....365
Progress.........343.....208
Remaining......181.....157
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Day 194 – Hey! Maybe it's me.
From the very beginning I knew I was the odd man out. In comparison to other ratebeerians, my scoring differed vastly from theirs, as in polar opposites. What they raved about was unpalatable to my way of thinking. What I loved they thought was passable. Are we even drinking the same stuff, I wondered?
In my last blog I waxed unpoetically about the hopheads and the breweries that fed their passion. I claimed that it didn't take any skill to over-hop a beer any more than it would be to over-sweeten your coffee - just add a bunch more. I still believe that a true brewmaster knows how to add just enough hops to balance out the sweetness of the malt.
But hey! Maybe it's just me. After all, I'm not a brewmaster any more than I am a master chef. Do I criticize Emeril Lagasse for adding too much garlic? Certainly not. So why am I so hard on brewmasters for over-hopping their brews?
Before I answer the question, I wonder if brewmasters follow Emeril's lead by shouting "BAM!" as they throw another handful of hops into the wort. It's something to think about. Now back to the question.
I'm critical of brewmasters because, in my humble opinion, style is based on the malt and brewing technique. The hops are there merely to provide balance to the sweetness of the malt. Overdoing any element isn't difficult and, in most cases, ruins the taste.
Yet the other day I read an article about a beer tasting contest for IPAs, the bitterest of brews. Apparently IPAs are the fastest growing segment of microbrews in this country. Sad. Even sadder is that, according to this article, our palates are growing more sophisticated. (Really? Maybe they're just dying off due to the overhoppiness of beer.)
The saddest news of all is that IPA drinkers were compared to red wine drinkers as far as sophistication goes. Folks like me were compared to white wine drinkers. The message was that a "real" beer drinker appreciates the bitterness of an IPA whereas anyone who likes a beer that isn't overhopped hasn't fully developed the palate necessary to be included in the "expert" category.
Are you (insert crude variation of "fricking" here) serious?
I'm paraphrasing what the gentleman said, of course, but what a moronic thing to say. For one thing it is self-serving. If I bottled fermented donkey pee, what better way to get people to drink it than by criticizing them for not having a sophisticated enough palate.
It's a ridiculous statement. Sophistication has nothing to do with differences in styles. Sophistication has everything to do with differences in the same style. Can I detect the subtle nuances between amber ales? If not, if any amber ale will do, then I haven't developed my palate sufficiently. But to claim superiority of one style over another as a matter of sophistication is idiotic.
But hey! Maybe it's just me.
I made the argument last time (and still make it) that a pint of bitter in England is not bitter at all. It is more so than a pint of stout, but it is still delicious and pleasing to the palate. Now the English have been brewing beer for centuries, way longer than we have been a country. They invented the style, though not in the bitterest of examples. Apparently, however, those hicks haven't developed a sophisticated enough palate to know they are drinking the equivalent of white wine.
I'm sorry, but I don't understand the appeal of hops. It covers up the taste of the malt just like too much garlic masks the flavor of a dish (sorry, Emeril!). You need enough hops to balance the sweetness, but that is it. I don't get why people like hoppy beer.
So, yeah, it is me, I guess. I prefer a beer that is smooth and balanced and flavorful. If that is the equivalent of drinking white wine, then break out the chardonnay. I make no apologies for my preferences and I don't accept the argument that I'm unsophisticated as a beer drinker. Over the past forty years I have sampled more than four hundred different brands of beers of all styles. I may not be an expert, but I'm not exactly a newbie, either.
I'll get off my high horse now. You can have your IPAs and over-hopped pale ales and I'll stick to my hefeweizens and witbiers, my red and brown ales, and my porters and stouts. Life is too short to worry about the bittering of brews.
By the way, I have less than 200 beers to go. In the beginning, I had to drink 1.43 beers per day. Now I only have to drink 1.19 beers a day. Piece of cake.
Life is good and so is (balanced) beer.
"Kassutta" which is Greenlandic for "Let our glasses meet."
Goal...............524.....365
Progress.........329.....201
Remaining......195.....164
In my last blog I waxed unpoetically about the hopheads and the breweries that fed their passion. I claimed that it didn't take any skill to over-hop a beer any more than it would be to over-sweeten your coffee - just add a bunch more. I still believe that a true brewmaster knows how to add just enough hops to balance out the sweetness of the malt.
But hey! Maybe it's just me. After all, I'm not a brewmaster any more than I am a master chef. Do I criticize Emeril Lagasse for adding too much garlic? Certainly not. So why am I so hard on brewmasters for over-hopping their brews?
Before I answer the question, I wonder if brewmasters follow Emeril's lead by shouting "BAM!" as they throw another handful of hops into the wort. It's something to think about. Now back to the question.
I'm critical of brewmasters because, in my humble opinion, style is based on the malt and brewing technique. The hops are there merely to provide balance to the sweetness of the malt. Overdoing any element isn't difficult and, in most cases, ruins the taste.
Yet the other day I read an article about a beer tasting contest for IPAs, the bitterest of brews. Apparently IPAs are the fastest growing segment of microbrews in this country. Sad. Even sadder is that, according to this article, our palates are growing more sophisticated. (Really? Maybe they're just dying off due to the overhoppiness of beer.)
The saddest news of all is that IPA drinkers were compared to red wine drinkers as far as sophistication goes. Folks like me were compared to white wine drinkers. The message was that a "real" beer drinker appreciates the bitterness of an IPA whereas anyone who likes a beer that isn't overhopped hasn't fully developed the palate necessary to be included in the "expert" category.
Are you (insert crude variation of "fricking" here) serious?
I'm paraphrasing what the gentleman said, of course, but what a moronic thing to say. For one thing it is self-serving. If I bottled fermented donkey pee, what better way to get people to drink it than by criticizing them for not having a sophisticated enough palate.
It's a ridiculous statement. Sophistication has nothing to do with differences in styles. Sophistication has everything to do with differences in the same style. Can I detect the subtle nuances between amber ales? If not, if any amber ale will do, then I haven't developed my palate sufficiently. But to claim superiority of one style over another as a matter of sophistication is idiotic.
But hey! Maybe it's just me.
I made the argument last time (and still make it) that a pint of bitter in England is not bitter at all. It is more so than a pint of stout, but it is still delicious and pleasing to the palate. Now the English have been brewing beer for centuries, way longer than we have been a country. They invented the style, though not in the bitterest of examples. Apparently, however, those hicks haven't developed a sophisticated enough palate to know they are drinking the equivalent of white wine.
I'm sorry, but I don't understand the appeal of hops. It covers up the taste of the malt just like too much garlic masks the flavor of a dish (sorry, Emeril!). You need enough hops to balance the sweetness, but that is it. I don't get why people like hoppy beer.
So, yeah, it is me, I guess. I prefer a beer that is smooth and balanced and flavorful. If that is the equivalent of drinking white wine, then break out the chardonnay. I make no apologies for my preferences and I don't accept the argument that I'm unsophisticated as a beer drinker. Over the past forty years I have sampled more than four hundred different brands of beers of all styles. I may not be an expert, but I'm not exactly a newbie, either.
I'll get off my high horse now. You can have your IPAs and over-hopped pale ales and I'll stick to my hefeweizens and witbiers, my red and brown ales, and my porters and stouts. Life is too short to worry about the bittering of brews.
By the way, I have less than 200 beers to go. In the beginning, I had to drink 1.43 beers per day. Now I only have to drink 1.19 beers a day. Piece of cake.
Life is good and so is (balanced) beer.
"Kassutta" which is Greenlandic for "Let our glasses meet."
Goal...............524.....365
Progress.........329.....201
Remaining......195.....164
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