It's Not All Okay

Every once in a while, someone will leave a comment on a video or post I've made reviewing a beer that sends me off into a rabbit hole of trying to not only answer their query, but diving even deeper because my own obsession becomes more focused.

I like to know things, if only for my own edification, especially when it comes to craft beer, something I've spent almost a decade talking about in various forms and ways. I started out as a true acolyte, a deliver that the independently made beer could change the world, that we were better people for supporting it and that the community and industry could work hand in hand in delivering a new way to be inclusive, growing and spreading that love like a well poured pint.

Of course, if you've followed along for any amount of time, you'll know that kind of vibrant bullshit is on the surface and pushed by pretty pictures and reels on Instagram by a well meaning, but ultimately silly narrative that never wants to criticise because it's all supposed to be positive and nobody gets free stuff by wanting to talk about the dirty underbelly that hasn't ceased, even after we had some harrowing revelations not so long ago.

People have quickly forgotten the stories collected and shared by Erin, formerly of Little Beasts Brewing, supported by Ren of B. Diversity and a whole host of other brave folks who dared to speak out loud about some pretty horrible experiences that were over looked and kept underground by the community. It is no coincidence that most of the people involved in trying to bring light to that darkness have now, for the most part, left the craft beer world, the toxic blowback and general ignorance of people played a part of it, but no doubt it is the defense of people's favourite breweries, the tribalism and my team can't do anything wrong mentality that fuels the worst of what came at them. The worst of us is often the loudest in defense of what we perceive as something that represents us. That Brewery can't be led by a terrible person, I like their beer and I'm not a terrible person...this is the thinking I see. Fanboys and girls have wished terrible things on people who dare to bring up anything bad about their favourites, fueled by the current rage farming and us versus them narrative at every level of government and personal interaction we see online and in the media. Proper discussion and giving a shit about other people has been replaced with a self centered, me first attitude that belies a good community, a caring one.

But I digress...it seems easier to leave it all behind, drink beer at home and leave the bread and circuses to the clowns who want to run things...or we fight back...

Polk

September 16, 2024