If you've never said something along the lines of "new bartender is cute", we're very different types of people.
Tell that to the Other Half brewery, its their quote. I don't really care or think at all about the buying habits of whatever age group "Gen Z" is, ha.
I'm sure that at some point in my life I've said something like that. But I can't recall a single time I've ever had anything approaching a conversation about the attractiveness of a waitress. If I knew someone who regularly tried to make conversation about how cute the waitress or bartender was I would think of them as creepy and avoid them socially. It seems weird, to me, to discuss a stranger's looks at any length and weird to comment on strangers' looks with any regularity.
I read that quote as them saying that their goal isnt to chase the latest taste fads of the current generation, rather it's to focus on what they believe is excellent beer and put it out there for each new generation to discover.
I just went looking for beers at my local liquor store, and there is still a nerve ending selection of hazy IPAs, and little else
Even I didn't think Jack meant their whole conversation was centered on the appearance of their server. I think it was probably just a passing comment in an otherwise flowing and rambling convo, as tends to happen over beer. Unless, of course, at least one of the members of the group is in a possible bracket where they may have an mutual attraction, then it's fair game.
Lemme put it this way, I would find it weird if me and my buddies regularly had conversations that I would summarize as "talking about sports, how attractive the waitress is, etc..."
I think they had a convo that didn't have a specific core topic, and just kind of went wherever, and for the purpose of his post Jack just typed the first couple of random things that popped into his head. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
OK, I read that as they don't even understand that they are the ones chasing trends that won't last nearly as long as the actual great brands that I mentioned.... Side note...a "new generation" beer drinker could be anybody...it doesn't have to be "Gen-Z" or whatever labels have been created...it can just be whoever that recently discovered anything from a new local brewery, to somebody picking up Sam Smith or Weihenstephaner for the first time, or even..gasp an Other Half hazy...I just found their wording a bit off for what they actually are (a trend, hype, marketing machine). That is all.
This was the full quote in the article In the context of the article talking about how, as gen z is entering the phase when they would be taking over as the demographic driving "hip" alcohol trends, taproom hype is dying down and the market is flat it sounds to me like the Other Half guy is saying that they don't want to (keep?) chasing trends and instead want to keep brewing what they brew and trust that it will be there to attract new generations of drinkers as they come by.
This was an amusing exchange. Not to stir things up further, but as someone who I’m guessing is smack in the middle of you two in terms of age/generation, let me attempt to split the difference if I may. Some thoughts that might enter your head, including but not limited to the attractiveness of the person serving you your beer, are probably best kept there. My observational skills are probably about as good as anyone else’s—I’m married but I’m not blind!—but I’m also sensitive to the distinct possibility that any such discussion, especially in a noisy, crowded atmosphere, could make its way back to the subject of the comment and make that person feel uncomfortable. Or it could just as easily make one of the friends I’m hanging out with uncomfortable. That’s not such a huge stretch to make. So then you have to ask yourself, what’s to be gained by making such a comment vs. what might be lost? There are obviously differences regarding how people in different age groups think about the appropriateness of mentioning certain topics, especially in a public setting, but, just speaking for myself here, I generally tend to err on the less potentially “creepy” end of the spectrum in such situations.
The conversation as someone who is either the oldest millennial or the youngest GenX goes like this "Goddamn" "Yo" "Mmhmm", then you move on.
I feel like we're probably beating a dead horse with this conversation at this point (but hey, why let that stop me?). I actually thought Terry's (@BBThunderbolt) explanation made the most sense. That Jack just said the first thing that came to mind when providing an explanation concerning he and his buddies topics of conversation (the point being that they were focused on their own business and weren't paying attention to what other patrons were drinking). Knowing Jack and his approximate age demographic, it's highly unlikely that they sat around discussing the charms and physical attributes of the female wait staff over pints of lager. Could be wrong, but that's my guess.
Beating a dead horse for sure. I suppose what makes the question interesting to me, and perhaps why it has drawn in so many diverging thoughts and opinions, is the very fact that that was what first came to Jack’s mind, and what that might suggest about the different ways that people of different generations think. I think what @unlikelyspiderperson was saying is that for some people—and probably, generally speaking, the younger they are the more likely this is to be the case—that very example of a topic you might be discussing with friends over beers would simply never cross your mind. And that raises the more interesting question about how different generations think and behave, and what they consider “normal.” Hence the “boomer” reference. That’s how I interpret it anyway.
Yeah, the idea that a stereotypical conversation for some guys hanging out is "drinking beer while talking about sports and our pretty waitress" strikes me as a very boomery idea. Like I said, maybe I just have classier friends then I realized, but thats a wild ass idea of "normal" in my experience.
