BEER FOR THE HATERS?

Beer has its naysayers just as much as its yaysayers (if that’s a word. Which it isn’t). There are many valid reasons why people choose not to drink beer, of course – and that’s fine. We understand. But there are others that really aren’t quite so valid – and between you and us, some of them kind of tick us off. That’s why we make it our business to try and dispel as many of these as possible!

Like, for example, people who say they don’t like beer when they haven’t really tried it. Don’t dislike what you don’t know - just give it a go! (That sounds like it could be the B-Side to that infamous Grange Hill song). If you’re nervous about beer, that’s cool. It’s one of the reasons we offer tasters and guidance in all our bars from our approachable, Cicerone-trained staff.

Another reason that we hear from time to time is more to do with the perception of being a beer drinker; that there’s a negative connotation to picking up a glass, or opening a bottle. This is a wider problem maybe – but every drink has negative stereotypes, from ‘Mother's Ruin’ to ‘Wino’. Yet these days, stereotypes is all they are.

Drinking beer isn’t about unwieldy tankards of uncomfortably warm suds in musty fleapits any more than drinking gin is about backstreet parlours and neglected children. Brewing is an industry of the creative; whether that’s people making the beer, or selling it. In fact, beer has more variations on when, how and what to enjoy than any other beverage!

Then there’s the (pun intended) big reason. The belief that drinking beer is an unhealthy habit, one that leads inevitably to lethargy, beer bellies and weight gain. Well, so does eating cheese. Or hand-carved Serrano ham. Or watching boxed sets of Thundercats. Anything taken to excess, really (which is fairly easy with Thundercats).

Beer simply isn’t as fattening as many people think. A standard 330ml bottle of Dead Pony Pale Ale, for example, contains 118 calories. That’s as much as a vodka and coke, or gin and tonic. Punk IPA will deliver 158 calories. Again, that’s the equivalent of a Bacardi Breezer. Which would you rather go for?

We’re not ragging on anyone here, honestly – it’s just that craft beer has so much to offer. You’d expect us to say that of course – and you’d be right. But the amazing work done by brewers around the world deserves more than to be rejected because of unfamiliarity, or falsehood. Would you dismiss all art based on your perception of a single painter? All trousers based on those worn by MC Hammer?

Actually, those trousers were kind of cool.