Beer Culture: The US Beer Drinking Team
Last time I told you I was reading a book by Ken Wells called Travels with Barley. I want to share with you a few things I’ve learned about the two (or more?) beer cultures in America.
The homebrewing culture is married to the craft beer culture. They aren’t identical cultures. And, like any marriage, has its difficulties and tensions. Homebrewers make beer at home. Craft beer is the up-scaled (in terms of volume), commercialized version of homebrew that you find at brewpubs and in that small section over in the corner of the beer store next to the imports. Homebrewers constitute a not too insignificant percentage of the commercial craft beer consumer base. The larger part of the craft beer drinker population is made up of taste savvy drinkers who have probably never had a homebrew and don’t really care much about the technical aspects of brewing. I always wondered who represented these people who like craft beer, drink craft beer, but fall asleep when I start talking about isohumulone levels and enzymatic starch conversion. Because of Wells’s book, I now have the answer to this question: it’s the United States Beer Drinking Team.
I don’t know enough about the USBDT to write intelligently about them yet; I’ve just dipped my big toe into their pond and realize that it’s a completely different beer subculture from the homebrewing crowd I run with. You remember my article on beer radio from a couple of weeks ago? Well, the USBDT has it’s own beer radio show called, you guessed it, Beer Radio. I listened to the June 17th edition of Beer Radio (that’s the most recent edition available for download as MP3) and this radio show is very different from the craft beer podcasts I’ve been listening to. There’s absolutely nothing technical on Beer Radio. In fact, there was almost no mention of any craft beer brands at all (beyond a few references to Goose Island). The show’s format seems to be a couple of guys who like beer calling up their friends who also like beer and chatting about random stuff like sports and fitness and how much they can’t stand soccer. To be fair though, the interview with Jeff Cioletti, the senior editor of Beverage World Magazine was really interesting. Cioletti talked about how well the craft beer industry is doing and how that segment of the beer retail market has been outstripping other segments for the last few years.
So if you like craft beer, but you don’t want to get into all the brewing chemistry talk that the homebrewers get off on, and you want some beer themed entertainment, Beer Radio might fit the bill.
