The response to the post about the ethics of running a series of posts for a fee has been interesting - and, shockingly, far more civil that then outburst of Engerlander finger pointy hand baggery over at Taking the Beard Out of Beer today. It's as if they don't know that being in a beer community means you just don't say certain things? It starts out so innocently:
But when I got to the BrewDog page I was so incensed by their comments I actually chucked the book down in disgust. I don't think I need to go into why BrewDog do what they do, I think we're all familiar with their shock tactic methods by now, but it's one thing to thumb your nose at authority and it's another to tell outright lies. The comment, photographed right, is simply outrageous, the UK brewing industry closed? Yeah, ok lads...
Whaaattt?!?!? "Lies"??!??! "Outrage"??!??!?! Oh, misery. Oh, calamity. What has happened to our happy house where we all agree, we all get along?
Frankly, what annoys me the most is knowing that all the people in the conversation or at least most of them make money from the beer trade one way or another. It sure would help me a hell of a lot if I could get a sort of guide to the various interests at play that are not being admitted, the cheques that are cashed as we follow along with the allegations and counter charges. Perhaps someone can prepare a fully annotated version with a flow chart.
God forbid that people should have different experiences. When folk in the future suggest the best beer thinking comes from "pros" I will have to pull out this wee chestnut for review.
Comments
Stan Hieronymus - January 30, 2012 8:10 PM
Alan - Could you elaborate on what you mean by 'beer thinking'?
(Punctuation taking into account English origins of this.)
Alan - January 30, 2012 9:11 PM
Give me a bit... a few more years...
Alan - January 30, 2012 9:56 PM
But it is connected to from about this point I suppose...
Bailey - January 31, 2012 5:55 AM
At least two commenters, John Clarke and Sid Boggle, aren't in the industry, as far as I know.
As you've pointed out many times, being paid to write about beer can turn into a deal with the devil: junkets, freebies, VIP treatment, first-name terms with brewers... as readers, it's all too obvious when a writer is mincing their words to keep the industry sweet, and it makes us queasy.
The Beer Nut - January 31, 2012 6:13 AM
Oh no! They're on to me!
*forces promotional frisbee into shredder*
Bailey - January 31, 2012 6:19 AM
TBN -- when we met you in London, the Guinness sweatshirt and enormous green felt Guinness-branded top hat were a bit of a giveaway.
And for more fun with conflicts of interest, see our latest post reviewing Tap East...
Alan - January 31, 2012 7:31 AM
TBN: surely more LIES about you!!! I think it is OUTRAGEOUS that people have opinions about you that differ from mine - especially when I have a plan to make some money one day thought my association with you.
It's all more proof that so much of this PR smacky stuff should be shelves is the juvenilia aisle except for the whole growing up bit. Stan, perhaps we can start with what "beer thinking" isn't.
Alan - January 31, 2012 7:34 AM
PS: I am starting to think that B+B might have some sort of shadowy Maltese ties... if you know what I mean.
Alan - January 31, 2012 8:20 AM
More interests... err, "friends"... to be kept warm and blanketed. Yet: "[t]hat does need to be said, though it would be far better perhaps, if it was said by others and not our bumptious friends from the North." A whole big sad mess of jockeying for righteousness, authority and "friends" still so far.
Chris - February 7, 2012 12:07 PM
Hate to harp on an old post, but I just found the thread and eh...
"The friends I've made through brewing are too numerous to count. I've done collaboration brews, I've borrowed casks and malt, I've loaned hops, clips and yeast, I've shared pallets of mini casks with other small brewers and I've brain picked when I was having clarity issues. I couldn't ask for a better business community to be involved in and I'm chuffed to be able to call upon large and small brewers all over the UK if I need to."
Do you think the fact that she's a beer writer, whom breweries can obviously buddy up to for purposes of press, would have anything to do with that?
Alan - February 7, 2012 12:45 PM
Not too old a post! To be fair, I gave a seminar with staff of a brewery last evening. But I was not paid, bought the beer as a gift and treat the access as time with friends and myself as the curious beer thinker. You do have access as a beer writer but then do you "commoditize" the results of access without mentioning the financial interest?