The Today Show today aired another segment on craft beer, which they still insist on calling microbrews, though I guess it’s better than boutique beers, which they used way too much in a previous segment. Overall the segment was comme ci, comme ça, with some good points made, some great beers, but also some of the same nonsense that always bothers me when mainstream media covers beer.
The guest was the Today Show’s Food Editor Phil Lempert, who also bills himself as the Supermarket Guru. While the beers he chose were all pretty good (all GABF winners, he said), the mix and the way he presented them showed he doesn’t know as much about beer as he thinks he does. The beers they tasted were, in this order:
- Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA
- Arcadia Cereal Killer Barley Wine
- Hopworks Urban Brewery Ace of Spades (Organic)
- New Glarus Totally Naked
- Lost Abbey Carnevale
- Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale
- Hopworks Urban Brewery IPA
All great beers, but it’s the order in which they tasted them that was awful: IPA, Barley Wine, Imperial IPA, pale lager, saison, brown ale and another IPA. Does that seem like the right order to anyone?
That, coupled with calling them microbrews, bothered me, though I know the rallying cry will be at least they’re covering craft beer. And while I agree that’s a good thing, I’d still be happier if they didn’t cover it quite so badly. This is especially true because Lempert characterizes himself as an “expert analyst on consumer behavior, marketing trends, new products and the changing retail landscape.” For someone whose job description is predicting trends and being on top of what’s going on, you’d think he’s realize that no one’s been calling them microbrews for at least a decade, probably longer. I know it’s a small point, but it’s indicative of a larger problem with food “experts” who read a few websites, maybe glance at a book or two, and think they’re beer experts, too. I just think there should be beer experts on TV, too, not just food and wine pretenders.
Then there’s the subtle snarkiness, the ubiquitous jokes about drinking in the morning that never seem to accompany wine tastings on morning shows. Why can’t they treat beer with the same seriousness? Why must is always accompany casual jokes and no respect. When Jillian Michaels, the trainer on “The Biggest Loser,” joined the tasting, she remarked about Dogfish Head’s brown ale by smacking her lips and saying “it’s very masculine,” whatever that means. She then admits, seemingly grudgingly, that beer has health benefits but frames it that “dark beer has some health benefits,” which Lempert agrees with by saying dark beers are healthier. WTF is that? All beer has health benefits. Since when are all the health benefits in roasted malt? And that’s what I mean about them being pretenders. Yes, it’s good to see beer on TV, but the price is misinformation almost every time.
I have a simple rule of thumb, anytime someone explains that IPA stands for India Pale Ale then I should probably tune out whatever comes next. If that is the level of information given, then what they are saying has no value to me.
What’s important is that craft beer (I’m not a fan of that term) was featured on the Today show and some people might pick up a sixer of one of the beers featured instead of buying a 12 pack of Bud Light cans.
Personally, I don’t like it too much when people are serious about beer. I like beer to be fun and be treated as such. But, I’ll give you that Jillian was annoying.
Bull,
Thanks for your comment. Perhaps “serious” was the wrong word. It’s not that I don’t want them to have fun with it, I just hate it when it’s dismissively treated. There’s an unspoken “it’s just beer” kind of mentality that I don’t like seeing. It still is worthy of at least some respect for all of the work that craft brewers do in creating so may wonderful beers.
BTW, what do you prefer if not “craft beer.” Just curious.
Honestly, I typically just call it beer unless I’m trying to distinguish it on my blog. In which case I say microbrew, craft beer or good beer depending on what I’m writing. I mostly just want people to drink good beer, I don’t get too fussy if they get some details wrong.
Bull, every time I pour an IPA for someone that isn’t a beer drinker they ask, what’s IPA stand for? What would you prefer someone do?
I don’t like how he implies the other beers have preservatives (I assume beyond the alcohol and hops) when he describes the New Glarus.
All around I agree, it’s a bit hard to watch, althought I wouldn’t mind having that lineup of beer, especially at 8:30.
If anything, it just goes to show how far craft beer still has to go before it has the same respect as wine or distilled alcohol. The fact that it still surprises people that it can be tasted with a discerning palette is an eye opener to me. With my RSS feeder sprouting 30-60 blogs solely about beer daily, it is easy to get enveloped in my own little beer bubble superimposing a brew-savvy world with craft beer goggles. From the BA numbers Craft beer is only 4.3% of the market, if Sam Adams’ commercial is correct 1% of the total beer market is Sam Adams that means only 3.3% is the rest of the craft segment; that isn’t much. Though it has all the cool of your grandparents using the word “bling,” at least its something.
I thought the segment was going fairly well, relatively intelligent (for a morning show), until Jillian horned her way into the segment & the whole thing went in the sh*tter. The regular sophomoric humor that we see all too often on the television. I was impressed with the pacing, giving a short bit of info on each beer, heck, they might have made it to the last beer on the table, Bear Republic Racer 5. If I was Ricardo I’d be pissed @ her. Stupid & uninformed, also unable to know when she doesn’t know what she’s talking about & just butt out of someone else’s time on the show.
There was also a craft beer segment on Good Morning America. Unfortunately its was much of the same, minus Jillian. I am happy that craft beer is being talked about and that is working its way towards being more recognized. However, its hard to watch some of these segments and the way they dumb down beer in general. Luckily craft beer lovers are passionate and active in trying to change the current state of affairs. Eventually, sometime in the unknown future, craft beers will not be labeled as weird or crazy or different and instead be embraced. Thanks for the post J.
Mario, I don’t fault them for throwing out what IPA means. My point was that those steeped in beer knowledge should probably tune out any beer information relayed after that because it will more than likely be elementary information. Otherwise you might get concerned about things like the order in which the beers were tasted instead of just being happy these beers see the light of day in front of millions of eyes.
J – didn’t you know? “Guinness is Good for You.”
I fall into the camp with Mr. Vard on this one. If the “average” Today show viewer saw a piece that featured New Glarus, Hopworks, Arcadia and Dogfish Head, I call that a win for craft beer, microbrew, artisan ales or whatever nomenclature you want to use.
As was mentioned, we live in beer bubbles. Most of the country does not. As much as the inaccuracies make my stomach churn, if one person gets turned on to try any of those beers then I can live with it. And we as ambassadors for beer need to always remember that or we risk pushing away prospective beer geeks.
And we should turn this into a positive tool. Let’s get Jillian to a beer tasting and educate her. She may still be annoying but she will have better facts.
I’m with Jay on this. It hurt my head to watch it. I was excited to see it make it to a segment, but once he poured an IPA first, I wanted to punch the guy in the face (figuratively speaking that is). I think Jay is saying–or at least thinking–if you’re going to have someone talk about craft beer, they should at least get an expert. Garrett Oliver would have been great. You don’t necessarily have to fly in Charlie Papazian–go local. This just plays along with a lot of people’s frustration–particularly those with any sort of solid knowledge about something–when the media gets a less than qualified person to discuss or represent something. Also, I’m pretty sure if they were dealing with the hard stuff, they wouldn’t have started with Everclear and moved to Johnny Walker Blue label–that’s the $100+ bottle right? That’s what going from a high IBU IPA to anything light or malty is like for me.
A nice bump for craft beer, but a poke in the eye for serious beer lovers.
I watched the craft beer segment that was on the CBS Early Show this week. They had Adam Rapaport from GQ (which recently did a 50 Best Beers article) come in and talk to Harry Smith about a few selections. Unlike the NBC broadcast, Harry got into it and seemed to know a decent amount about ‘good beer’. He enjoyed some Allagash White, Ommegang Hennepin, Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale, Anchor Steam, Rodenbach Grand Cru, and Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout. The beer selection was definitely more varied than the Today Show. Apparently Harry is a big fan of Samuel Smith’s and was remarking about visiting the brewery while in England.
Anyhow the segment was done much better than it’s NBC counterpart. I’d love to have your take on it Jay. Here’s the link: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6424959n&tag=mncol;lst;3
I lkike how she goes right for the Totally Naked. Horray for Wisconsin beer!
Guinness is very nourishing?! I was just waiting for him to recommend it for new mothers or pregnant women!!!! Which by the way some doctors are still doing in the UK – yes, I’m serious!
I was impressed with the selection – there were some excellent, varied beers to taste. I was surprised the first beer tasted was an IPA. Jillian killed the segment with her inane interruption, but at least she liked the Carnevale. Too bad they did not get to taste Racer 5.