Pranking Beer Snobs

ISO: Dat Topper!

 

Scam? Not really, he offered them free (albeit lousy) beer, now if he was trying to sell said beer, that would be a scam. Some here need to lighten up... I see two groups of people in here, those that think this was funny, and those that know they'd be fooled and are mad about that fact and taking it out on the prank. Now, the "zombie dust as bud product" ... that one is just mean.

 

It was free, but that doesn't change the fact that he deliberately mislead them to believe it was an Anchor Brewing product.

 

So much wrong here it hurts. Traditional, lol. Stop reading the BA's old craft definition.

 

I'm pretty sure that's what makes it a prank. To be a scam, they have to be out something... what have they lost?

 

Douche alert!!! on your friends. The fact that they praised the beer when they thought it was some new craft creation and then changed tune when they found out it was BL is pretty DBish. I drank tons of that stuff in college to be able recognize it easily. Just because it's from a craft label doesn't automatically make it quality, mass produced beers aren't automatically crap either. Funny experiment, very humbiling for your friends I'm sure.

 

They don't have to be out for anything. The OP maipulated them for his amusement. Thus the scam. To prank he should have given no description and just asked for opinions.

Either way, I recall putting Tabasco in peoples soda, when I was 12.

 

This may give you some insight:

"Why are we being punished for brewing with a locally grown ingredient, which started out of necessity, and has continued out of tradition? And why is it only bad to use adjuncts if you are brewing an American Lager, yet perfectly acceptable to use them in basically any Belgian style of beer, IPA’s or double IPA’s? The use of adjuncts in those styles is to lighten the beer, period. Labeling us as strictly an “adjunct brewer” as you so kindly have in your list of ‘Domestic, Non-Craft Brewers,’ is false. What you fail to give us credit for is that we also make a dozen traditional German-style beers that are all-malt and have never contained adjuncts. Yes, we brew our American Lager beers with a small portion of corn. This is the traditional way we’ve always brewed them, and the way we will continue to brew them. Have you looked at the price of corn lately? For us, it’s more expensive than malt. If we were so concerned about producing the cheapest beer possible, our American Lagers would be all malt! We brew them this way because that is the way we always have done it, not because it is cheaper. We put the same amount of pride and effort into producing our American Lagers as we do our line up of all-malt “specialty” beers, since we can’t dare call them “craft.”"

Jace Marti
6th Generation
August Schell Brewing Company

edit: It isn't like adjuncts have to be added as corn syrup (which is the only thing you are focuing on now) but you said "unmalted grains" previously.

 

Honestly, I wouldn't consider this to be any objective statement on the efficacy of their taste-buds or the quality of BL stuff entirely because of your latter point - that sort of thing has a much bigger effect on one's perception than one might think.

With that said though, I would generally say it's a funny little gag. Sure, I'd be miffed if it happened to me, but I'm not going to pretend I wouldn't be fooled by it, and really it's a funny idea. OP's buddies will be laughing about it in a week, maybe two tops, and it'll all be water under the bridge, it's not like he infected it with salmonella.

 

If he gave descriptions and asked for opinions it would be a "survey"; "manipulation for amusement without causing any harm or loss" is as close a definition as I could write for "prank".

edit: I'm bored, so:

Prank: a trick that is done to someone usually as a joke
Scam: a dishonest way to make money by deceiving people
source: merriam webster

 

pretty snobby to perform this ruse, no?

 

Just throwin this out there-- Anchor Steam is basically piss water as well and have ZERO CLUE how it remains so highly regarded here.

 

I think it's all in fun and why get bent out of shape over it…..still beer! The other night my bf handed me a can of what I thought was beer, it was late, dark and I was buzzing good enough…. And said " I accidentally opened one of your good beers" handed it to me. I took a sip and said "this tastes very familiar". It was coconut water!!!! It was funny! So anyone can be fooled under the right circumstances. I was just glad he didn't break into my "good beer"!