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    Monday 13 August 2007

    Trust The Tabloids To Talk Crap

    Some time ago I commented on an article in The Observer which made some very simple errors when it came to describing certain beers. It is not just the quality papers though who cover beer and obviously the tabloids make similar stupid mistakes.

    The Sunday People is just as bad as can be seen here. Actually some of it is quite interesting and it does make good reading but there are some silly mistakes which can only lead to confirming common misconceptions the public already have about the drink we all love. I will highlight just a couple of stupid comments.

    "Beer is made from water, malt, hops and yeast." So what about unhopped beers? What about wheat, fruit, spices, vegetables etc. This is the UK not Isle Of Man or Germany you know.

    "Belgium has the most individual beer brands - boasting 400 types." What on Earth is this comment all about??

    "Americans accuse us of drinking warm beer because English bitter is usually served at a 12 degrees celsius - compared to all those ice cold Buds." Oh yeah because all they drink over there is Budweiser isn't it? It is amazing how many people actually believe there's no decent beer in USA and this will only feed that myth.

    I hope you have fun reading the article. There is a lot of truth in there, and having met a fair few Danish beer fans I can see that the comment about the vikings is certainly accurate!!

    3 comments:

    Stonch said...

    I agree it's a bad article, but I think you doth protest too much when it comes to American beers. Isn't it true that the macrobrewed, adjunct lagers are more than 90% of the total market? If so it's a fair generalisation really! ;-)

    Mark Edwards said...

    However bearing in mind the article was written in the wake of GBBF where there were nearly 40 cask US beers and a dozen or so bottles, these could have least have got a mention. The biggest selling brands over here are crap macro lagers too, but at least our press accepts there is better stuff out there.

    Anonymous said...

    I think you're being unfair about the four ingredients - generally speaking, that is what beer consists of!

    If you're not caught up in the beer world as we all are, it is very easy to be unaware of the American craft beer market. A few years ago, before I became a beer bore, my beer-mad uncle surprised me by saying he was off to America for a beer holiday. I wondered what on earth he was going to drink.

    That comment about Belgians is interesting though. It's repeated in a lot of places (although I've read 500 and 600 as well). I wonder if anyone actually knows?