Monday Rant: Will the Real Snobs Please Stand Up?

I once had a friend tell me a story about how he once was made fun of at the beer distributor because of the fact he was purchasing some sort of fancy beer. The culprit of the the transgression had a case of Coors Light cans tucked snugly under his arm in the check out line.

I had an incident over the weekend which was quite similar. Surprisingly, the guilty party was also a fan of the beers we deem unworthy in many cases. I brought a six pack of beer from my home collection to a social event, announced that anyone was free to take one or more and was quickly barraged by comments concerning these beers. They went as follows:

"If I had to have one of these it would be a dessert!"

"This one here looks like something I'd give to my wife."

I'm rarely one to cause a scene. Everyone has a right to express their thoughts. I didn't say anything to this individual that continued to drink Miller Lite. It struck me as ironic that someone can quickly say detrimental things towards a certain product yet still cling to a product they deem superior when it's fairly obvious that their product is made solely for the fact of being mass produced. The Miller and Coors light beers are essentially that to many of us in the craft beer movement. Yet, some of us are considered snobs.

I, along with the friend I mentioned at the beginning of this post, were always jokingly referred to as snobs. Hence the the name of my blog. With that said, I've never actually considered myself a beer snob after figuring out the existence of real beer snobs. I never realized it was such a divisive term. How ironic is it that the greater number of beer snobs could be residing on the other side of the fence?

Monday Rant: Parody is Pouring

I'd have to guess when exactly it was, but if I had to actually ballpark it I'd have to say it was about a year ago. I'm not sure if I had come up with the idea of doing these Monday Rant posts yet, but I certainly remember it being a rant-oriented post.

I'm talking about a post in which I posted a video poking fun at beer snobs throughout today's craft beer scene and how they spend so much cash on beers like Kentucky Breakfast Stout, Pliny the Elder (or Younger? Either way I don't really give a damn.) and other beers people line up and fight over. I also remember tossing in my own commentary on the entire video ordeal along with the creator's comments.

From what I remember, the guy that made the video series parody had somewhat malicious intent because he was just pissed off at those types of craft fans. Alas, I'm stubborn. So, I was pissed off at the fact that the guy was pissed off. That was also the beginning of my realization that there were societal lines in the beer community. I've made several attempts to drain politics from my life. Now, it's almost as if beer is the same way. Maybe it's just that all aspects of life are like that? One day I'll ask Doc Brown since he understands all mysteries of the universe.

I came across another similar video over the weekend. It's in much better taste. I actually howled at this one. The guy looks from the guy in the corner sells the whole thing. It's a good feeling to watch a parody of really snobby and geeky beer fans and just chuckle at it because you know you've done some of that stuff.