I personally believe there is a time and place for every
beer; from the stankiest and nastiest of swills to the ambrosia of the gods.
Every beer has something to tell you if you are willing understand the
context it was produced and consumed. That doesn’t mean that this has to be the
time or the place where its strengths or weaknesses are made clear.
That being said, Jolly Good Fellows falls pretty heavily
down on the side of the craft and microbrew side of things. Below is a simple Venn diagram that shows a visual representation of where we want to stake our claim. We realize there is a
lot more diversity in the beer world but this gets the point across. (It is
important to note that we have a strong favorable impression of imports also.)
We will spend a majority of our time exploring and
celebrating the diversity of beer, reveling in the fact that for most of its
existence beer has a heterogeneous history.
We are witnessing the rise of this again right before our very eyes in
America where micro and craft brewers have placed an emphasis both on
creativity and quality.
This doesn’t mean that we will ignore macrobrews though. As
a post-modern beer drinker, you simply can’t.
Macrobrewing still has hegemony in the market; both in what is consumed
and how beer is created. Their sheer size alone and global reach means they
have incredible influence and a dominate position in price for ingredients.
(This is particularly true with hops.)
They also wield incredible political clout. They are
profitable big businesses that have survived for a long time and are marketing
and lobbying powerhouses. At the very minimum they must be acknowledged for
setting the “standard” to improve from and for serving as the monolith that
micros and crafts needed to respond to.
So don’t be surprised when on occasion we explore these
monoliths and their hold on the world, looking to understand their
contributions, their context in the brewing world, and how they continue to
influence how beer is both produced and enjoyed.
With all that out of the way, our main purpose here is to
celebrate beer in all its wonderful diversity, creativity, history, future and
our enjoyment of all of it. Thanks for
reading and as always please share your thoughts in the comments!
A manifesto? Really? I would say there are some basic questions that remain to be resolved before you go all Unabomber on us. As craft brewers/microbrews have gained popularity, their sales have grown and in some cases that growth is significant. Where is the line between macrobrew and microbrew? Is Sam Adams still a microbrew? Its not on the scale of Miller, but its not on the scale of Central Waters either. The brewaphilia approach would be in the middle sweet spot - where we appreciate all of the brewers.
ReplyDeleteYes, a manifesto: a public declaration of intentions, opinions, or motives.
ReplyDeleteYou do bring up an interesting point about size, which is why I lumped craft brewing in with micro. (I actually read a description of brewery which described itself as a nanobrewery)
As regionalization continues and as these producers achieve greater market share, national reach even, definitions are going to have to change to reflect what they are. I think that is why a lot of them are now preferring the term craft brewing.
As for appreciation, I think we do appreciate them all in some capacity, but since there will probably be more pointed commentary aimed at the large ones at present we are in the correct spot.