Pranking Beer Snobs

You're not going to talk any sense into someone with Maple Bacon Coffee Porter as their profile pic.

 

I don't think they're "snobs". Sounds like they don't know beer at all. Besides, beer snobs don't drink Anchor beers.

I have to agree with this. IMO all Anchor beers are poor, mass produced quality.

 

OP, this is a great prank and I may have to borrow it some time. I think many peoples opinions are indirectly influenced by popular opinion, peer pressure, or other environmental circumstances. Either they thought the beer tasted "good" because they were lead to believe it was a good beer, or because they didn't want to stand out amongst the crowd if everyone else thought it was good.

I had a similar situation occur but with slightly different circumstances. For my birthday this year I held a beer tasting with a bunch of friends, some who know a bit about craft beer, and others just getting into it. Mind you, I am no expert but have had my fair share and variety of beers, but I do know the most when it comes to my immediate circle of friends.

The 5th bottle of the night was a 2013 Dark Lord. 10 people in total had samples and 8 people told me they loved this beer and thought it was the best of the night. After hearing all of their opinions and ravings on the beer I was asked what I thought about it. I shared my opinion that I thought the beer was overly sweet, didn't mature as I'd hoped, and was disappointed.

After that, 5 people said they didn't really care for the beer that much upon taking another few drinks. Now, I'm not saying they were right or wrong to think the beer was good or not. But, I think most of them bought into the hype that is Dark Lord, and then a few flopped their opinions once they heard what I thought. My point being and what I've seen a lot of people state, is that when people don't know enough on a subject to be an expert I think they tend to go with the popular opinion instead of formulating one based on truly evaluating what they are experiencing.

Sorry to be so long winded

 

Good post OP, it's been fun to read. I would hope that I would at least be able to identify "the new Anchor beer" as something that tastes like the AAL's that I'm used to, but who knows. I don't even dislike them all that much and am well into a 30 pack of High Life that I bought a month or so ago.

I think it's a good idea to make the so-called experts of any field uncomfortable once in a while. Something like this would make anyone question his expertise in any field and open the door for a greater depth of experience.

 

If Anchor Steam is piss, it's the piss of heroes.

The OP prank is funny but has the potential of ruining the fun of your drinking parties. In practice, expertise (or if you prefer, "expertise") is peer-group-specific, and I can imagine that showing up your friends for not having the knowledge appropriate to actual experts might mute their willingness to venture their opinions about beer in the future. Or maybe not.

A prank that won't be so potentially damaging to your friends' self-esteem: Tell a pal that you scored a growler of some fabled lower-ABV brew that's hard to come by, but actually pour them some great big 14% ABV brew. Make sure he drinks several glasses of this supposed "session beer," so he becomes unexpectedly wasted and passes out on your kitchen floor. Then set him on fire.

 

For anyone new to the idea of expectations clouding one's judgement the "Judgement of Paris" is a good place to start, even if it is about wine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_of_Paris_(wine)

 

Oh, and I did have a tall glass of Anchor Steam for the first time this past spring. I thought it was a good beer, but to me it didn't seem to be that far removed from, say, Coors Original. I wouldn't seek either of them out, but I wouldn't call them"piss water" either.

 

This makes me question, OP. What is a beer snob to you? Do you consider yourself one? Were these experienced "beer snobs?" In other words have they been drinking craft beer for years with several under their belt, or are they new to the scene?

 

Well that escalated quickly...

 

I'm surprised not one of the 7 people who tried the Bud Light caught on to the prank or simply stated that the beer wasn't good. I've had plenty of beers that a friend has "hyped up" (All Day IPA for example) and I always give an honest opinion. Maybe Bud Light really is a good beer but due to the Budweiser name gets unnecessarily shit on.

 

Focal Banger will be brewed full-time in a new brewery to be built in Stowe VT:

http://newenglandbrewnews.com/town-stowe-approves-new-alchemist-brewery-site/

 

Thread TL;DR. But, a funny story: at most beerfests around here there's generally a "Brewers Lounge" where brewery reps and the like can go get off their feet for a while, have a snack, and a couple beers. And local brewers kind of take turns supplying the beer for the lounge. At a fest a couple years ago, a very highly respected area brewer brought a keg of his "new" lager to the lounge, and asked everyone for feedback. People raved about his beer, told him it should become a new addition to his year-round line-up, talk of investing in a packaging line and taking wide distro, etc. You already know the rest of the story; he had bought a keg of PBR and pumped it over into one of his kegs.

 

I agree completely. Also:

ISO: BAOTDL...do they do a Pappy Van Winkle? I hear it's that or nothing.

 

You've got it backwards. Rhode Island sucks. Iron Maiden does not.

 

On a side note, Bottle Shock was a great film...

 

Bud light is insanely carbonated i would have noticed!

 

True. Any beer that goes down with the sting of carbonation like a cold 7UP is definitely a red flag in my book... Perhaps that's why I can quite wrap my head around a lot of these "session IPAs".

 

Going to have to strongly disagree with you here. Anchor Steam, Anchor Porter, and Anchor California Lager are all delicious, and great deals around here. Have you had "all Anchor beers?" Everything they've done? If you haven't, you can't say they're all poor.