Social Perception/Acceptance of Beer vs. Wine

Wine consumption has aesthetic/culinary/elegant sociological connotations beyond the fact that it contains alcohol. For a large percentage of the population, beer consumption has no such connotation. I.e., common rabble do not associate the drinking of beer with anything other than an attempt to intoxicate oneself.

This type of thinking is jail-raped into our collective psyche ad nauseum by prurient, inane advertising campaigns that link consumption of beer with base, mindless entertainment (like sports) and fucktarded shenanigans. The consumers of beer are often portrayed as inept, moronic, callow, and insipid, which makes me wonder why people find this sort of message appealing.

Very intelligent people craft commercials designed to represent a proud, knowing rejection of any sort of refinement, aesthetic appreciation, education, or ... frankly ... taste. And the plebes lap it up. But maybe not as much any more, given how market share is changing.

 

How about when you buy a 750ml bottle of craft beer for $10-30 that is one of the best beers in the world and people think you are insane, but if you drop 3x that on a very average bottle of wine, it's no big deal?

Or when people laugh when you tell them about your beer cellar, then realize you are being serious.

The stigma will always be there, I think. I know plenty of people that get shit-faced by themselves with wine every night, but you won't see that in an advertisement or commercial.

 

I don't know anyone who loves wine but hates beer. I also live in Wisconsin and also don't know many people with deep pockets, if that helps.

 

In ancient Rome beer was percieved as a lesser beverage compared to wine and it was the lower classes that drank it. In northern Europe it was the reserve of the nobility to drink wine since they were the ones who could afford to import the beverage while the people at large drank beer. Even Adolphus Busch was a wine drinker from what I've read, as could be expected from someone of his social standing at the time. Wine thus has a multi-millennial advantage over beer in its cultural perception. This isn't something which will change over night.

 

i think the connotations will die down as craft beer grows up in the US. compared to wine it's really quite a young phenomenon, so a lot of people still assume beer is cheap swill for the masses.

 

As others have said the connotation of wine being sophisticated is one that has built up over a few thousand years, from Rome to the Norman invasion of England and won't change over night. It's built into our very language.

But as far as the fancy restaurants with extensive wine lists and bad beer selections, vote with your wallet. I actually have taken to not eating out at establishments that don't carry at least one beer made in Michigan (my preference my state). I will write the management to explain why I won't be back and inform them of what they can do to correct the situation.

 

All right. First consume homemade products. After the world products.

 

I think the fact that beer is veiwed as "lower class" than wine works in it's favor.
I work in the wine business and it drives me crazy that people aren't willing to branch out because they are afraid that if they don't understand something new/don't like they will be thought of as uneducated and lower class. They'll pretend they know about it/know they like it/dislike just to try to appear that they are cultered, and as a result continue to know nothing about it.
Even new craft beer lovers seem to be willing to try anything and admit if they don't know about something/trying something/hearing about something for the first time. They aren't ashamed to ask about things, try new things, admit they don't know because there aren't as many percieved social repercussions for doing so.

 

where do you live? i dont see this stigma at all where i am and most nice restaurants i go to have a good beer on the menu now.

 

Come visit us in SF; we're making significant strides in this area.

 

With the growing popularity of beer and the amount of beer related media out there perceptions are changing. The fact is that the beer media is just behind wine media. The wine world changed in the 70's with the rise of Robert Parker's "The Wine Advocate," which was one of the first independant wine publications, making wine more "accessable." Parker also is credited with the 100pt rating scale for wines, which beer lovers have adopted as their own. With so many beer magazines, blogs, etc it won't be long before things catch up.

And I'll freely admit I love wine just as much as beer

 

You must live in a crazy rich area to have people that think very avg bottles cost $30-90. I have spent more than $30 once on a single bottle of wine, and it was arguably the best bottle of wine I ever drank. It was a 1982 chateau belair that I bought for my brothers 30th over the summer and we had an amazing steak dinner to go with it. It was a $120 and my parents, neither of whom drink, thought it was a bit much even if it was his bday present.

With that said I will agree that people don't give beer the respect that they do wine, although it is definitely changing. More and more restaurants are carrying larger and larger selections of craft. I live in a city that is looked down on by at least 75% of the rest of the state both demographically and economically. We have a brewpub (even though it's a chain it still does well and has pretty good beers) one restaurant with an entirely craft draught list, 2 with a 75% craft draught list and great food, and a few others with more than just Sam for their craft choices. The one thing we are lacking is a liquor store to meet the craft beer needs.

 

I'm just throwing this out here (have no evidence to back it up)...

Maybe there's just a lot more crappy beer available compared to crappy wine. So just by chance alone, more people will experience bad beer compared to bad wine, and thus, more people will have a more negative association with beer compared to wine.

 

In order for beer to be accepted as more upscale, you need to find a new crappier beverage for the white trash bud drinkers. Since they're the ones who give beer a bad name, you can't exactly turn them on to DIPA's or barrel aged imperial stouts? The trick is setting a new much lower bar for main stream alcoholics.

Only then will beer move up a notch closer to wine.

 

Party trains...ew. Another reason not to go BMC.

 

I dunno, there is some shitty ass wine out there. Ever heard of TJ's "2 buck chuck?"

 

My thoughts? I really don't care about other people's perceptions of wine drinkers vs. beer drinkers.

 

True, but for every 2 buck chuck there seems to be multiple Piels light, Milwaukee's Best, Natural Light, etc. Although, it may just be me...I seem to have tried almost every shitty beer that is readily available.