The Weak and the Hippocrites

Yep, crankin' 'em out today!

This has been on my mind for a while now. But allow me to preface the following with this: it's beer, drink what you like. If you like light beer, good for you. But if you're gonna start contradicting yourself, I'm going to make a point. And if you're the second-largest brewing company in North America and you contradict yourself, I'm going to crush it.

SAB Miller owns a ton of brands around the world and no doubt contract-brews quite a few of them. You may also know SAB Miller as Miller beer, or even Miller Lite. You may even be familiar with the recent "Man Law" Miller commercials.

One I did see recently (that magically disappeared) was the Man Law against adding fruit to beer. Maybe someone pointed out to Miller that some of their brands use fruit, as in Leinenkugel's Berry Weiss or Fusion Pineapple.

Maybe Miller could make a Man Law against using rice and/or corn syrup in brewing (yes, that's right!)

So fucking what if it uses fruit? A founding principle of the craft brewing industry (largely owing its existence to homebrewers as most craft brewers started as homebrewers) is experimentation. Like Dog Fish Head Brewing. Like Kalamazoo Brewing Co (aka Bell's). Like Boston Brewing Co (aka Sam Adams).

Maybe the Big 3 are just pissed because craft brewing grew ~10% last year whereas they actually lost some. If they're smart, they'll take notice. People are learning what beer is.

Maybe there should be a Man Law against drinking beer for its caloric and carbohydrate content. How fucking weak! Cutting carbs here is like ordering the Big Mac meal and washing it down with a Diet Coke.

Maybe there should be a Man Law about only drinking what the commercials tell you to.

In terms of beer, I say drink what the hell you want. Lots of hops/no hops, lots of malt/little malt, fruit/spices/whatever. Drink a watered-down, corn and/or rice syrup lager?

Whatever floats your boat.