Monday Rant: America Loves the Underdog

I got to it a few days late, but felt the need to share it with as many as possible as well as possibly getting in some of my input on the issue. A post by A Good Beer Blog explained how craft beer here in the states could eventually shoot itself in the foot.

What I got from the Brewer's Association press release and the post I linked is that it looks like craft beer in America is trying to be the aggressor. Let me explain this a bit more if you still don't understand.

It's always been said that America loves the underdog. We see this in many facets of today's society. The best example I can take from the top of my head is sports. A huge percentage of fans root for upsets. Remember this the next time you fill out an NCAA basketball bracket.

Could it be possible that a good bit of Americans started getting into craft beer because it was another choice compared to the same old beers from the major companies that dominated (and still do) most of the market? Could it have been because some people just wanted to be a part off another potential Cinderella story? In essence, that is pretty much what craft beer in this country is. There has been a huge boom in popularity and market share, but when you come full circle that's basically the situation.

Since I'm a big history buff, the closest parallel to all of this I can find is the Civil War. Especially the Battle of Gettysburg, which is arguably my favorite historical event to read-up on. It seemed to me that craft beer always tried to play it safe over the years. In Civil War terminology, this would be close to conducting a defensive campaign. I don't remember craft beer or the Brewers Association being such an aggressor. It always seemed to take the high road when it came to engagements with the major companies.

The defensive style has always worked for craft beer as evident by the growth. The Confederate Army in the Civil War also found similar success while employing defensive tactics in battle. For a short time it looked like there was a glimmer of hope for the Confederacy to actually win the war. That was until it went on the aggression. Gettysburg was the high water mark, as many historians agree.

I'm among those that believe that General Robert E. Lee had some fantasy that his troops were invincible throughout the campaign and when the battle broke out north of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. Why else would he bring on a full engagement without his army fully concentrated? Why else would he go on such an offensive for the following two days? Why else would he organize a grand, Napoleonic assault over a mile of open ground and send 15 thousand men to be butchered? To make a long story short, those three days marked the beginning of the end for the Confederacy.

That mile of vast, open ground.

If you've been able to bear my history lesson up to this point, you see what I meant earlier in the post. I've always been one to agree with the saying that those that don't know their history are doomed to repeat it. Craft beer is on its way to becoming the very thing it swore to destroy if everything keeps up this way. It's unique in its own way and that's what some of us love about it and it sits in a great place as of now. Craft beer doesn't need to make this fight its Gettysburg, so to speak. We don't need another lost cause movement in the near future. Don't veer away from what's already been successful.