I’ve had my share of beer. Probably a bit too much. Booze as part of a meal is an fundamental as food itself. I enjoy following the cocktail, wine and beer trends. Each season brings in a new concept. Since I’ve become of age, I’ve seen numerous trends in beer including the dry, ice, copper, clear, genuine draft, steam and more recently fruit and ice tea additions.
There are four types of beer drinkers:
1. The Loyalist– Adheres to the same brand regardless of trend or price. They wear the hat and shirt (in many cases half their weekend garb consists of some kind of beer shirt, often teamed with their favorite professiosnal sports team) and a disagreement (ie. my beer is better) or empty cooler would result in fisticuffs. This group often becomes a collector, attempting to collect all 32 NFL T-shirts or 30 Stanley cup figurines.
2. The Bargain Hunter– Enters the beer store with the intent of pursuing the best value. Will default to Carling or Lucky lager in many cases. However, may be tempted to purchase a case of brand name beer using the logic “Ya, it’s only an extra 4 bucks but I get a t-shirt which would cost me at least 15 in the store” or “It’s only 5 dollars more but I do need a flashlight”.
3. The Trendy Drinker– Waits for the TV or tabletop ad to tell them what to drink. Willing to pay and extra dollar or two to have lime or ice tea added. If one of these beer are not available, an overpriced extention of a big brand (Rickard’s red or Alexander Keith’s…more on this later) will suffice.
4. The Aficionado– This person knows the four main ingredients of beer, the meaning of IBU, the difference between an ale and a lager, matches beer to food and is not afraid to let everybody know it as they scoff at Bud drinkers and complain that their pint was served in the wrong glass. These consumers will gladly pay extra for a beer, citing “I need to support the local craft brewer” or “I’m willing to pay for a better quality product”. Tends to dislike the previous three groups.
Admittingly, I’m number 4 but I’ve been known to drink a Bud Light when necessary (I draw the line at Coors light however).
Fare..Eat..Ales 