GUD BLOG: SINGLE POST
Beer vs. Wine: the phony debate
“All generalizations are false, including this one.” ~ Mark Twain
Hoppy, smoked, sour and everything in-between, I love craft beer. I have less regard for some craft beer drinkers. In the many years of following conversations relating to all things alcohol, I have found it is the craft beer drinkers that most often rely on disparaging their counterparts, particularly in the sphere of wine, to express their opinions.
So it goes with this latest invective by Stone Brewing Company co-founder Greg Koch pronouncing that the pairing of cheese with wine is a great myth.
I’ve touched on this subject before with what I believe is a far more nuanced article about whether one should choose wine or beer to pair with food. As with any broad topic, the truth is beyond measure, or at least heavily obscured by the many trades with a stake in the matter.
I get the whole Stone Brewing you’re-not-worthy shtick. And it’s obviously in Koch’s business interest to proclaim the superiority of beer over wine. But the attack on the “snobby, stuffy world of wine” and wine drinkers as mostly “oh-so-desperate-to-be-sophisticated housewives of Orange County” illustrates that Koch has only a base level understanding of wine and wine drinkers. The combination of arrogance and ignorance might work well for cable television politics but it comes across as ridiculous in any genuine conversation.
Koch does acknowledge that the possibility of a decent wine and cheese pairing exists before venturing “an educated guess that 99.9 percent of the time, you can find a far superior craft beer pairing”. Who exactly is the pseudo-expert here?
Perhaps the thing that puzzles me most is that this Koch fellow seems to have more than a passing interest in the food movement that rejects the industrialized system in favor of fresh and local. Yet the entire basis of his assertion employs the same tactics, aimed at the reptilian brain, used by the light beer industry he ostensibly scorns. Is it that difficult to make the case for pairing cheese with beer on its own merits?
I realize that much of Koch’s article was written tongue-in-cheek. Before you simply dismiss me as a curmudgeon it is important to remember that Koch is a respected figure in the craft brewing industry. He has the ear of many drinkers that have only recently found their way into quality beer from the macro-brewing wasteland. Why waste that voice on a phony debate?
2011.03.09 Todd Abrams at 11:58 am
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6 Responses to Beer vs. Wine: the phony debate
Why can’t all drinkers just get along? There’s plenty of room in my house for lots of drinks and lots of cheeses that go with different drinks.
Thanks for the punditry on my punditry. Unfortunately, you mischaracterize my comments, and have taken a few of them out of context. That’s OK, that’s what the internets and punditry is all about! Truth of the matter is that when I do Beer v Wine events we do it WITH the wine folks. They love participating in a healthy, and friendly “competition.” Why? Because it highlights QUALITY…and we fight together on that front. A wee drop of hyperbole to get folks attention? Guilty as charged. However, you should realize that you’re spending way more time on some of my hyperbole rather than the body of work that I’ve done. Why? Easier I suppose. And again, that’s what the internets are for!
Thanks for adding to the conversation. It’s all good brother, it’s all good.
Cheers,
Greg
Greg, I’m not really familiar with your body of work other than Stone beer. I am only commenting on this particular beer and cheese article. If I mischaracterized or took anything out of context it is merely because that context wasn’t part of your editorial.
The whole idea of wine and beer folks as divided bodies is peculiar. People should drink well, period. The conversation shouldn’t be about wine vs. beer, it should be about craft wine and beer vs. shitty industrial wine and beer. That’s the more important dialogue, in my regard.
I understand your angle as someone in the craft beer industry, while you can understand my position as a consumer of good drinks and good cheese.
Anyway, thanks for the reply. Now I have to figure out what I’m going to drink tonight. Cheers!
Here’s a thought…Drink what you like! They all go well together. I’ve had just as many good beer pairings as I have wine pairings, and not just with cheese but with steaks and deserts and whatever. There have even been nights when I’ve switched from one to the other simply because of my mood. The only true “snob” is the person who can’t see the way outside their own tiny little box. If you don’t have the adventurous spirit to experiment, then you simply can’t make any comparisons and you don’t really KNOW anything.
Todd,
Please understand that you did not react to what I wrote, but rather to what you skimmed off the top and re-wrote. I said that the Myth of Wine & Cheese must die. Yes, the Myth must die. Not the reality. You re-wrote that and misquoted me as saying that “the pairing of cheese with wine is a great myth.” That’s not my opinion, nor is it the case. Great wine and cheese pairings are not a myth. They clearly exist.
So what IS the ‘Myth’? It’s that in order to be sophisticated one should throw a Wine & Cheese party. The reality is that most of these consist of mediocre cheese and mediocre wine with little to no understanding of either. THAT my friend is what must die.
You also write “But the attack on the “snobby, stuffy world of wine” and wine drinkers as mostly “oh-so-desperate-to-be-sophisticated housewives of Orange County” illustrates that Koch has only a base level understanding of wine and wine drinkers.”
No, this illustrates that you are again re-writing my words. I do NOT believe that wine drinkers are mostly the clueless ‘desperate-to-be-sophisticated” types (although while I would not be surprised to learn that most DO fall in that category, I would not make that statement). I DO think it is those types that are getting together over bad cheese cubes (or whatever is ‘expensive’ at the cheese shop) and random bottles of wine…and by throwing the two randomly together they’re thinking that they’re sophisticated. Ugh. It’s a Myth.
And what is NOT to attack about the “stuffy/snobby” world of wine? If they’re being stuffy and snobby…they’re asking for it! ;-]-= Do I think that great wine and wine culture is by its nature stuffy and snobby? No, and I did not imply it. I have many many friends in the wine industry, and they are neither. Instead, they’re artisans that are passionate about their art.
Once again, Beer vs. Wine is intended to highlight the better side of the equation. It is yours to misread, misinterpret and malign as you see fit. For us doing it, we’re having a great time and opening a lot of eyes. It’s FUN. We have a great time. And it’s all positive as you can see from this Beer v. Wine clip: http://vimeo.com/channels/64976
The truth of the matter is that we get along great.
Same with Pro Wrestling (to create an amusing stretch of an analogy). Backstage they’re all friends and comrades. It’s only a few nutballs in the audience that think the ‘fight’ and the ‘good vs. evil” is real. You don’t need to watch out for the performers, you need to watch out for the nutballs in the audience!
Cheers,
Greg
I like the wrestling analogy, but to carry it through, I suppose I’m not one for the big overly dramatic act of carrying out the fake fight. And I think it carries through in your original article – the hyperbole you mentioned without a lot of the behind-the-scenes context and in light of the ten-plus years this “debate” has been discussed on the internet lend themselves to dampening what appears to be your intended meaning. My two cents, anyhow.
That said, of course, your events sound like a lot of fun.
All the best with them in the future…