I was surprised to discover that a 2005 Gallup poll revealed for the first time that more Americans said they preferred wine to beer. I'm sure, by the way, that there are a dozen other polls proving the contrary, and the polls the year before and after are probably also a mixed bag. Nonetheless, we look at what Slate's explanation for this is:
"Part of beer's populist appeal—and its edge in the beer vs. wine war—has always been its absence of cant about its main point: to provide a little (or a lot of) happy intoxication. You can appreciate wine, but you drink beer, the saying goes. Wine's cult of connoisseurship has always had a specious edge. Like the Victorian obsession with the "grace" of the nude female form, the high-flown language and ceremony of wine-drinking can seem like a fig leaf of sorts, a cover for fancy-pantses who like to get buzzed."
What?! We possible have Robert Parker to blame for his erudite, arcane vocabulary. Alder Yarrow did a fantastic job of bringing us through the centuries of wine criticism and showing us just how recent the snobbiness of it all has been. Wine always was a lifestyle beverage just like beer always was, so why did it become classist, a point of separation? By the way, the word "lifestyle" didn't enter the dictionary until 1987 apparently!
And then there is the take of the Economist about "wine-track Democrats and beer-track Democrats" because apparently this matters: "Part of Bill Clinton's genius was to bring the wine-drinkers and beer-drinkers together. This was, after all, a man who went to Yale and Oxford but who grew up the child of a widow in the backwoods of Arkansas."
Weirdly, as we have discussed that the wine industry has had trouble accessing the millennial market, it would appear that it's shifting. Many articles have been written that millennials now prefer wine and liquor to beer, making the beer industry worry. They even go so far as to say that millennials account for 42% of wine drinking in the US (partially because they are now mostly over the age of 21. Here is a good article about it.)
If we went down this rabbit hole of politicizing ones choice to drink beer, what does this say about the millennial population? Let's choose not to go there, and agree that someone can like both wine and beer, or that someone's choice of the two is not uniquely lifestyle-defining, but could be as simple as taste preference...let us not forget that eventually it can just come down to what's tastier.
Marion -
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting aspect of the decline of beer consumption (particularly among millennials) is the share shift among brands. Specifically, millennials have been driving heavy growth in craft and import brews at the expense of the super-majors like Miller, Coors, and Bud. The hemorrhaging of the largest beer brands has accelerated this year, with high single digit volume declines among the top 5 brands (with the exception of the Mexican import, Corona). Some of the best marketing minds are tasked with slowing this decline.
Love this, Marion. I would also put myself in the camp of those who like both wine and beer. I will admit that there is still some part of me that makes the association of wine with classy/snobby and beer with chill/low-class. If you'd have asked me 5 years ago, I would say that I only drink wine with my parents but on Saturday the roomies and I bought wine to go with our steak dinner. Maybe this means I'm growing up? God, let's hope so.
ReplyDeleteBut to Forrest's point, I think the worlds of beer and wine are converging. With the recent rush of craft brewing, beer has moved upscale. Now, a beer person can go out and get a "classy 6". If you believe in the beer/wine lifestyle distinctions, this moves a beer person a bit closer to the wine category. Maybe this is what happened to me? Did Lagunitas and Deschutes turn me into a Kenwood and La Crema guy?
I really appreciated this perspective, Marion! I actually wrote a post that had a different take; I did think it was worth comparing the two beverages not on the technicalities of the product, but rather on the softer brand and perception attributes. I think you are right that each one is not inherently belonging to one class or another, but do think there is meaning in the associations we have. I personally ascribe to these associations and make meaning using them; when I show up to a work happy hour, conscious of being the smallest, youngest person in the room, I order a beer because it signals that I can hang with the boys, hold my own in meeting, and get down in the dirt on a messy problem. This isn't a direct class attribute (more about age and gender), but I think for someone who has experienced the burdens of class more than I have during adulthood, they might use the same branding trick with wine.
ReplyDeleteAll this said, I gained a lot from your different take; I think we are looking at the concept of class and wine/beer from slightly different angles. You captured what *is*, whereas I'm looking at what is *perceived* (brand). I think both are important for a complete awareness.
Marion,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the insight and reflection upon the tension between beer and wine consumption amongst millennials. It's amazing to me the barriers that consumers put up between the two products and, as a restaurateur, I see this carry across generations. There is something inherently polarizing about the beer consumption experience that I too find difficult to make a departure from. I enjoy all forms of alcoholic beverages, wine, cocktails, straight spirits and beer but will admit that once I have started an evening drinking beer, I rarely make the leap over to anything else. This is not the case for wine and spirits as I will often start my eveving with a negroni or whisky and then move into white and red wine with a restaurant meal. Adding on to Alex's comments about, perhaps there is some emotional connection with the social context of beer consumption admittedly over-consumption at times) that precludes that isolates the beer experience. I will offer a counter point to Alex's wine snobbery comment from the perspective of working in ultra fine dining restaurants in that beer drinkers are looked down upon when diners have the option of a wide spectrum of choice. In the end, I look at the dining experience to be an entirely personal experience and is someone wants a Coors Light with the salmon and ketchup with the steak, that is their prerogative.
To many consumers they're already inherently political and I think it's important to dissect that, even if we disagree that they should be - As somebody who likes both, I would definitively agree with your assessment that they are quite different drinks and that the politicizing of them is strange. That said, that political dichotomy absolutely exists in very real terms in the minds of many consumers. I don't disagree with Ryan's comment above that we shouldn't judge somebody's choice to have salmon & Coors Light but the truth is that many people in the world absolutely would judge that choice and I think it's worth analyzing and trying to understand why. I grew up in a world where these drinks had political undertones. An interesting point I haven't shared with anybody in the class yet - I'll be seeing my dad for the first time in a while this Winter Break and during class I was pondering what he would even think about me if he knew that I had actual preferences on different variants of wine. I know if I gave the slightest hesitation as to which wine I want to order at a bar with him, he will surely tease me about it. As a consumer, I know that my choice of what to drink will surely create those political signals in the minds of my family members and it's not a bad thing in my case but something interesting that I can predict with pretty high degree of certainty and so it's something we should all be cognizant of - Our choice to believe a decision just comes down to tastiness can't control how other people interpret our choices.
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