As enjoyable as it is to discuss beer, debate about it, and even have serious philosophical differences about it, none of those exchanges really have any meaning except for what we give them.
It's only beer.
Those three words earned me a lot of derision about a decade ago in an online beer forum. I can't recall what the topic at hand was, but the point I was trying to make was this: As enjoyable as it is to discuss beer, debate about it, and even have serious philosophical differences about it, none of those exchanges really have any meaning except for what we give them. It's just opinion.
And I say this as a person for whom beer has provided many new friends, a decent amount of money (from my income as a beer writer) and a minor bit of notoriety, mostly of the good variety.
People in that forum many years ago pointed out to me, and in a not very kind way, that people make their livings from beer and that I shouldn't just say it's "only beer" because some people had to take it very seriously.
Well, duh. Since I am one of the people who (partially) makes his living from beer, I am aware of that. But they missed the point. My point was not that people shouldn't take their careers seriously. My point was that, in the end, our opinions about craft beer don't matter. (And again, I say this as a person who makes part of his living giving opinions about craft beer.)
So when one finds oneself getting this really angry at someone for an opinion about a beer, or starts engaging in incredibly hostile behavior because of someone else's opinions about certain beers, it's probably time for a reality check. The same goes for opinions about restaurants, music, sports, and a whole host of other things that we do to entertain and distract ourselves.
Why am I writing this? Because as I started work on this column, the city of Boston was on lockdown while authorities search for the remaining suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings. I had another beer column half-written but my heart wasn't in it. How could I write about beer when I have friends basically being quarantined from horrible violence just 90 miles away? After all, it's only beer.
Now, does beer matter? Sure it does. And it can even play a role in scary times. When the bombings occurred, I rushed to a pub to share a brew and a sense of community with neighbors. Music matters, too. It can be great at providing comfort or catharsis. Same with food and sports and everything else we do for fun.
But when people are lying in the streets bleeding; when people have to sit down and explain these horrors to their children; when we have to wonder why anyone would be OK with killing people at all, never mind an 8-year-old, then getting upset about someone's ideas about beer (or a sporting event, or a certain band's talents) seems small and silly.
So go hug your loved ones a little tighter. Go walk your dog a little longer. Go listen to the favorite album a little more closely. And, yes, go have a beer with your friends. Because although "it's only beer," it can be a good vehicle for connecting with what truly matters.
Peace.