Why craft beer will never catch on to the BMC crowd.

I blame you for not opening the beer, grabbing him by the face, and pouring it down his gullet. next time don't offer just do.

 

He'll probably die soon.

 

Good idea to give an alcoholic more beer

 

Price.

Sorry I didn't read all the way through but that is the answer.

 

I agree that for a sizable sector of the BMC universe, the appeal of their old "tried-and-trues" is that they allow you to get drunk at a reasonable cost. What has kind of amused me, as a 50-something guy, is how over the years, more and more men have shifted to the Light/Lite versions of Bud, Miller, Coors, etc. When I was in my 20's, light beer was considered a compromise the big brewers made in an effort to attract female drinkers. Virtually no men I was aware of gave light beer a second thought. Then, with the help of John Madden, et. al. they began making inroads with middle aged men looking to keep their waist measurement smaller than their age. Now, from what I can tell, all the frat boys drink is light beer. All I can figure is that these guys like the fact that they can go all night without NOT having a beer in their hand and without passing out.

Anyhow, as for the OP's story, it's been my experience that alcoholics are creatures of habit. They find their formula (x number of cans of Brand Y beer, or 1.5 fifths of Old Rotgut Rye or whatever) and they just follow the routine day in and day out. It's not about enjoying the journey, it's about reliably arriving at the destination with a minimum of effort. You tried to throw a wrench into his "get-drunk" machinery and he didn't want to mess with his established formula.

 

Doesn't sound typical of the BMC drinkers I know. Seems like you're over generalizing from an extreme case.

 

That was moderately entertaining. Thank you for sharing.

 

Seeing all this from a distance, I'm equally confused by the whole "light beer" movement. There's really no equivalent in the UK and it seems at first glance like a product that's marketed towards women. I can't quite get my head around macho guys choosing Bud Light over plain Bud. Maybe the advertisers are just really, really good?

 

According to him:​

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So there's this guy who lives down the road from me. He's a notorious drunk (age?), who pounds fruity foreign beer every day after he gets off work around 3pm (He's probably a hairdresser). He stops me occasionally while I'm drinking my Miller Lite and pissflaps with me a few minutes, passing by every couple of weeks over the last few years. About a month ago, he returns from the Pride parade and offers me 2 of his **** beers. (Who won the war, amirite?) He probably though those arts-n-crafts beers would be an easy intro sampler into the alternative lifestyle that a life-long hetero could handle. He probably wanted to hand me something harder in my hand to try out.​

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Anyway just the other day he stops by and gives me a Wormhole Fruitbier from a load he got at the Ho Foods. He says it's an "easy to swallow German." I tells him I ain't got around to drinking the other two beers he gave me over a month ago. I drink 15 American beers a day (450 beers a month), it is a struggle for me to depart from my daily drinking patterns to even figure out how to sample 2 un-american pansy beers over the course of a month. I should have just dumped it after taking a sip, but my drinkin buddies would have seen the bottles in the trash and told the guys at the VFW. This strawberry can keep his twinkle toe beers to himself. I'm not swallowing anything that isn't american born and forged. I'm set in my ways and this fudgepacker can go find some other fairy to swallow his next load. Craft or crafty, amirite? ​

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Don't tread on this!​

 

I second this!

Next time you walk by, just buy a six pack of Miller Lite and split it with him, I'm sure this cat is one fun cat to hang out with even when you're drinking a crappy beer.

 

They are!

 

I've said this before and I'll say it again:

Most BMC drinkers stick with BMC because they prefer the flavor.

 

I think it has to do with price and the perception of that price point. They are getting a case of beer for x dollars instead of 4 beers or 6 beers for what appears to be a bigger amount of money. The bmc beers all taste the same to me. Maybe to "them" too. I mean what's the difference between "their" lagers and their wits? If you are trying to get drunk, what better way than with a dipa or a barleywine? You can't drink a case of stouts. That's for sure so habit and the idea of how many beers you will be having in a session is a big factor. They don't realize that you can get just as drunk on a few craft beers. Ballast Point Dorado anyone?

 

Holy shit, post of the year!

 

The guy is trying to tell you he doesn't want your proselytizing suggestions on what kind of beer he should be drinking. Take the hint.

 

"Craft beer" is a great example of 'omnivorous consumption' - a term used by sociologists/marketers to describe trends in consumption (buying and/or engaging in an idea or product). An omnivorous consumer will consume products across all genres that comprise a specific market (example: one might enjoy cooking high-end French food and eating out at expensive Japanese places, but still, occasionally, take a trip to the local pizzeria/McDonalds. A univorous consumer, on the other hand, regularly consumes only one genre in a market (examples - the guy who only drinks Millers, your grandmother that only buys original scent Dove brand soap).

As with everything else in life, there are levels to how "omnivorous" each individual consumer is.

Most importantly, omnivorous consumption varies strongly by demographics, personal facets, and social forces including: income, exposure to products, age, and personal conservatism (there are millions (literally) of predictors of consumption).

The bottom line is, yes, some BMC drinkers will never change over to craft, but others may change (over time due to a social force) and become more 'omnivorous' craft beer consumers.

A great example of this somewhat abstract idea is the all-to-familiar "when I was in college, I only drank Natty and Busch. Now, I consume mostly craft beer." The (stereo)typical American college student is broke/cheap and only exposed to BMC brews (in many ways including: placement in stores they shop in/can illegally purchase beer and it's what everyone else drinks!) --- this constructs the univorous consumption pattern of the typical college student. However, as these drinkers age, things start to change and they develop more omnivorous consumption patterns: palate change, additional income, etc can cause this.

 

I would wager that crafts ever growing popularity and BMC's hustle to make craft beers, or at the very least own existing craft brewers, is a much better indicator of a BMC drinkers likelihood to try craft than your individual experience.

I'd like to also pose this question: If BMC drinkers never switched over, where did we all come from? I am sure there is a minority of BA's that went right to craft, but I would imagine many of us started with the very Miller Lights, or something similar, that the gentleman in the story above enjoys.

 

The power of suggestion my friend, American advertisers are good at what they do. If you have ever gotten the chance to watch a Nascar race or NFL game, the ads are laden with their biggest sponsors which are mostly BMC beer companies, and the ads always feature young beautiful people enjoying piss-water. Cue the typical gullible American television zombie where subconsciously the watcher thinks that must be good beer cuz there's hot chicks involved. I think the best part about Craft beer is that most breweries don't actually do TV advertising, and look at how popular they are.

 

Okay Jane, you can't drink a case of stouts, well I am willing to try, and you should be too. It's not stout, but I used to sit down to a sixer of Troegenator in my AF days and drink the whole damn thing.