Texas Beer Distribution

Texas brewers are lobbying to be able to sell their brews in stores.

Texas needs a lot of new laws. And while this isn't the most important, it certainly needs addressing. The linked article from the Austin American-Statesman notes that you can find 1000 different beers (though I'm not sure this is true) in Whole Foods. But most of us don't shop at Whole Foods. When I lived in Texas, I went to the HEB in my town. There, as in most Texas stores, the beer selection was abysmal. Your top beer in a Texas grocery store might be Fat Tire, if you are lucky. Texas brewers were almost totally locked out, outside of Lone Star (awful), Shiner Bock (too sweet and massively overrated, even if a unique and old product from a small Texas town), and, for some reason, Real Ales (a pretty solid brewery out of Blanco, of which I recommend the Pale Rye).

To put this in perspective, when I moved to Ohio, I was overwhelmed and delighted at the beer selection in stores. And Ohio is hardly Oregon.

Of course, the Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas are opposed because it might cut into their profits by like 0.5%. And this powerful lobby may kill the bill in corporate lapdog Texas.

America's Top 100 Beer Bars

I find it extremely disturbing that I have visited all of 2 of America's top 100 beer bars. Austin's Draughthouse is good in some ways, but seating is pretty limited. On the other hand, the parking lot is basically a tailgate scene and that's fun. Top 100, not sure. Hopleaf, in Chicago, definitely lives up to its reputation.

But 2? Time to start drinking.

Deep-Fried Beer

For some reason, I find this deeply disturbing.

Crisis of Masculinity Blogging: Beverage Edition

I get really annoyed at how beer is portrayed in American society. It's seen as a lower class drink and associated with white trash behavior. Meanwhile, wine is seen as so much more civilized (watching people start eschewing beer for wine as they move up the socioeconomic scale has amused me since college). Bogus studies say that wine is better for the body than beer, when in reality wine drinkers are wealthier and that's why they are healthier. Wine is a wonderful drink, but it's also surrounded by so much bullshit you need hazmat gear to protect yourself.

It's not just rich wine drinkers to blame for beer's bad image. The beer companies themselves promote beer as the drink of "real" men, usually but not always white. Equating beverage with gender only reinforces ideas of beer as a drink women won't like. What's worse, beer commercials tap into the insecurities of men to promote the drink, both creating and riffing upon an already existing crisis of masculinity to sell product.

Sociological Images has a collection of such ads directed by, all of people, the great documentary filmmaker Errol Morris. I didn't know Morris was a masculinity worrier, and maybe he was just doing this for the cash, but he sure knows how to use gender roles to sell beer.





The first ad relies on men for national security, even if that means riding your bike to get your Miller High Life; here is men sacrificing for their country in ways expected of them, even as it may be satirizing those ideas a bit. The second ad though really nails the crisis of masculinity. This poor guy--having to spend time with women. What kind of crazy things will they say next? Thank God you have Miller High Life to protect from the castrating effects of being in the company of women!

These ads, and the others you can watch on the link above, are totally absurd, and do nothing but reinforce ideas about both beer and gender that drive me crazy. If any women (or men) want to have some tasty beers with me sometime, I promise that I won't recoil from the fear of being feminized!

Best Revolution Ever

Via Pancho Wonton, who says, "Based on the flag in the window, I'm assuming this is Cuba. Now if this is what Communism is all about sign me up!"

Indeed.

Historical Image of the Day

Ice delivery to the home of Fred Pabst, beer tycoon. Milwaukee, 1901.

Historical Image of the Day

Virginia Brewing Company, Roanoke, VA, 1912

Low-Alcohol Beer

Yes, Yes, Yes.

That is my feeling about this article chronicling the rise in low-alcohol microbrews. Except they are not really low-alcohol. Reasonable alcohol is what we are talking about here. 4 and 5%.

I have been frustrated by the rise of the extreme beer. 9% beers. Extreme IPAs. Triple bocks. Little of this is good. When I go in to a bar to have a beer, I am not looking to get loaded. Yet you can have one beer at these places and feel pretty buzzed. I guess there's a place for that. But having choices is nice. Too often, the only reasonably ABV beer is Budweiser and who wants to drink that?

Mostly I feel that this extreme beer thing reeks of masculine bullshit about drinking the toughest stuff. Are the hoppiest IPAs really good to drink? Is getting wasted on 2 or 3 beers a good night? Not for me. I prefer a night of steady drinking where I am not going to get a hangover. I like a really tasty beer and I like to try a couple during a night. To me, that's a really fun night of drinking. It's hard to have these days. I'm happy to see a response to these unfortunate trends developing.

Historical Image of the Day

Advertisement for Weinhard's Beer, Portland, 1906

Fetishizing the Hops

Eric Asimov is right when he opines,

"India pale ale is a case in point. Not content with a sturdy ale awash in refreshing bitterness, many brewers are making their I.P.A.’s stronger and stronger, with a hop bitterness so aggressive it will knock anybody out of her hammock. These beers can be fascinating in the proper context, but it’s August, man! Cool me off, but don’t bowl me over."

Indeed. I don't understand the idea behind making IPAs so strong they are essentially undrinkable. I feel like it's some sort of weird masculinity contest, where only the toughest can actually drink some of this stuff. A good IPA is a nice thing. Frankly, IPAs generally aren't my favorite beers, but I do enjoy one of good quality on occasion. But hoppiness for the sake of it is just silly.