Brewers as artists

I'd agree that some brewers are artists. Not all, but there are those whose work shows off the difference between a workmanlike job and creative art.

Edit: However I'll liken it to a sculpture or a painting more than to a story or a musical composition.

 

Art in the crafting. Rote motions and button pushing in the replication.

 

The people who make subs at Subway are called sandwich artists. So, I suppose brewers can be called artists too.

 

You bet that brewers are artistic. Have you noticed that some get their inspiration from literature or folklore like maudite? It's like the devil himself plays tricks on your eyes with that beer and the reddish tint it has that seems to come and go without reason. Have you ever had a troegs beer? Those fellows brew a beer that is smooth and as finely crafted as delicate etching, seamless and flows like silk. Today I had an outstanding beer whose flavors were powerful and yet twinkled. And the beer had a color that was luminous and pastel. A good brewer loves his craft and can excite you with raw energy like an artist. You can taste the difference from a beer that feels like it was born of some passion and one that was just thrown together, without much care over an assembly line- crank it out mentality.

I could go on all day but then add the names, the label artwork and the people who made it and it's so alive!

 

As a homebrewer, you can try to create a narrative with what you brew and how you brew it - but I would think of it as part of your personal creative process rather than something that is actually communicated to the drinker through the beer.

 

I believe brewer can and should at times, be regarded as artists. I believe the emphasis on narrative is unnecessary, narrative is not necessary in all art.

I do appreciate Seth Godin thoughts on art and an artist.

Brewers who are pushing beer as a commodity are not artists. Brewers who are creating an artisanal product certainly are.

 

Brewing is no more solitary than cooking. In my mind there is very little difference between the two, and my interest in brewing is tied closely to that of cooking.

 

Some brewer's are artists in the pre-Romantic sense, when art and craft were one, but you can't brew a narrative into a beer. The narrative's imposed by the drinker.

Otherwise the narrative is suggested by the brewer and we call it marketing.

(I don't brew. I have the hands of a poet and the soul of a bricklayer.)

 

Personally, I don't buy into these Seth Godin quotes (nor the commodity distinction). If I created a painting, and the act was not a personal act of courage that challenged the status quo, the painting would still be art in my eyes. It would still be art if it was a commissioned piece as well.

I don't know if I would or wouldn't classify beer as art. But if I did consider it art, I would certainly consider both Hill Farmstead's and Budweiser's beers as art.

 

Dear OP,

If the first word you are going to associate with "art" is "narrative" why in the world wouldn't your examples of art include literature?!?! Yes, "artistic" photos (qualifier necessary), paintings, and music can tell stories, but come on, man, there is one artistic medium whose primary function is narrative, and it isn't any of those three.

Sincerely,
an offended member of the literati

 

Please tell me your joking...

 

Why should I be? I mean, I guess I'm not really offended, per se, but the spirit of the post was in earnest (obviously not without a dose of fun). Yes, literature nerds are as serious (likely more) about literature as beer nerds are about beer. I happen to be both.

 

Very much off topic & I don't mean to quarrel with you but, it is a bit silly that someone else's opinion offends you. There are over 7 billion people in this world, with nearly 7 billion different perspectives. If your offended by something someone says from their perspective, that's your problem, not theirs. And yes, this is just my opinion, take it or leave it.

 

@ OP

I can see this. Some beers are complex enough to take your palate on a journey I think. One I had the other day, Prairie Bomb, was this way. So many things going on; chocolates, roast, coffee, caramel, vanilla, heat from the chili peppers in the finish. If matched with a historical event or story in the label work, like per se the downfall of the Aztec empire, this could be done. The heat from the chili pepper in the finish could tell the story, symbolically, of the torched cities of the empire, etc..

 

Brewing is certainly an art.

Think about it this way. With any art you can teach technique up and down. Anyone can be taught how to paint, or how to use grammar, or how to make a barrel of beer. It is the artwork of the process that separates the Rembrandts and the Dostoevskys in the same way that separates that phenomenal beer that you can't wait to have again from the mediocre one that you've already forgotten.

 

I think of craft as the synthesis or art and engineering.

It wouldnt work as a trade organization definition, but its how I like to think of it.

 

Brewers can surely be artists in the same way a woodworker or a shoemaker is an artist. They have a refined skill through which they can express beauty, but its not "fine art". I don't see beer having a "narrative" but I do see beer possibly being a reflection of where it's from. To allow you to taste the earth.

 

Same here. I got into home brewing because I love to cook and enjoy making the things I love from scratch. To me a good cook is one part artist and one part scientist. A good brewer is the same.

Good post OP.