I've just remembered this anecdote I've been told a couple of months ago. It goes somehow like this:
The people of Pivotéka Pivní Rozmanitost went to a craft fair in Ustí nad Labem with their brewing project Pivovar Nomád (I owe these beers a post). At their stand they were selling Žižkovský Svrchňák at 25CZK/0.5l. A man came by and asked about the beer and the person at the stand explained him what it was about, but the man ended up saying that since he didn't know the beer, it must be bad (or something like that), and he went to another stand to buy Gambrinus for 29CZK.
The first reaction of everyone who heard/read this story was (in several languages) "What a twat!", which is actually, unfair. People shouldn't be critisised for their tastes in beer, you and I can legitimately say that Gambáč is crap, so what? We all like at least one thing that other people can legitimately say it's crap. What can be critisised though, to a certain extent, is this bloke's attitude, which didn't show an open mind and a spirit for adventure. However, and much to the chagrin of some, the truth is that consumers with an open mind and spirit for adventure are a minority. Most of the people are conformists, they don't want surprises and will always look for what they know and has been certified by experience, beer is no exception.
This guy has probably grown up drinking Gambrinus, he likes it, he enjoys the beer. Gambrinus is a constant, a certainty, in his life; if everything went pear shaped tomorrow, this geezer knows that his Gambáč will always be there, that it will not let him down, it'll be as good as ever. So, perhaps, this gentleman's reaction was the product of something deeper than the mistrust for something new and unknown. Maybe he was afraid, afraid that he would like Žižkovský Svrchňák more than Gambrinus, afraid that this one could be that epiphanic beer that makes you realise that the stuff you've been drinking all your life wasn't so good after all. And if all of a sudden Gambrinus isn't so good, so reliable, if it's not anymore certainty, a perhaps never was to begin with, what can be the other certainties in his life that are nothing but an emotional mirage?
Maybe I'm overanalising all this, and this bloke, beer tastes aside, was actually a twat after all.
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the advantage from the guy drinking the rotgut liquor, or the boxed bum wine is that they are at least cheaper then the fancier stuff.
ReplyDeletehe's a twat cuz he went to go spend MORE money on a far FAR shittier beer. I haven't even had the Svrchňák, and i'm still comfortable saying gambac is shit compared to it.
Obviously, for this man, Gambrinus isn't rubbish, after all, he decided to pay more for it than for a beer he didn't know, which, come to think of it, it's possible he wouldn't have liked it, given that it is quite different to what most people are used to. That said, it was twatish of him to judge it as bad without even knowing it.
Delete(I know wonder what the reaction would have been if the price of Svrchňák had been 30 or so CZK.)
I can understand the man's thinking. Especially if he was a hardcore pissshead, who didn't have the money to experiment.
ReplyDeleteSometimes "brewpub" beers are poor and undrinkable.
At least with Gambac, he knows he won't be throwing any away.
If could choose, I would probably also go for a different beer. Žižkovský svrchňák was a beer that really disappointed me on Dočesná in Žatec.
ReplyDeleteI can't say I would ever care to drink it again also. However, the Pivovar Nomad Nighthawk 17 degree black ale I had at Prague Beer Museum was asskicking. I wonder what Gambacman would have to say about that one? Probably something about it making your tits grow and he'd still rather have a Gambac. :-) JKAnPRG
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