The Food Babe

If you keep up on beer news, you already know the big story this week that has all of the beer bloggers (and even some people in the science community) talking.

Last year, a food blogger by the name of Food Babe published a post that called out the “big” beer companies for not being “honest” about the ingredients used in beer. (I’ll spare you the details, but feel free to search “Food Babe” and read all of the press if you’d like.) 

I do have a few favorite bits of her article, including her recommendation to drink craft and microbrews as long as they are “independently owned and controlled,” even though a lot of craft breweries use the same ingredients as the big boys. (She actually gave an implied warning not to drink beer from Goose Island, a warning I am happily not listening to as I write this post). The picture at the end of the post of her drinking wine is also wonderfully ironic.

This brings us to the present. This week, the Food Babe claimed victory against Anheuser-Busch as they agreed to post the ingredients of their beer online. MillersCoors also posted the ingredients to several of their beers, but that wasn’t good enough for the Food Babe. She continued her attack on the larger beer companies and even included beer bloggers in the attack this time around. For some odd reason she also brought up the use of hop extracts implying that this is somehow an ingredient with negative impacts on a beer.

Reading about this topic/argument today made me exhausted (and needing a beer). It’s a classic internet argument where the gloves come off due to the fact that one is really only conversing with a white screen and keyboard. The internet has given all of us a voice (myself included) and most of us hide behind its vail for protection. We get involved in altercations that we would never even dream of including ourselves in if the person was right in front of our face. Tempers flare hotter and conclusions are jumped to faster.

Yet outside of this vast world wide webbing we continue to chug along seemingly unaffected by the words we just cemented forever into cyberspace. When we chop down that tree in the forrest, we just ignore the sound it makes.

Which brings me to my point, I want to bring this issue and argument offline. I want to meet the Food Babe, sit down and have a beer with her and talk like two adults should. Instead of attacking her, I want to hear her out. In return, I want her to hear an educated opinion on the issues she is bringing up. She is clearly passionate about her work so why not give her the opportunity to share that passion with someone who’s passion she is attacking?

Food Babe, if you are ever in Chicago, feel free to drop me a line. I know a lot of good places to grab a beer!

And the first round is on me. Cheers!

PS - I realize the irony that I poke fun of beer geeks on this blog. Keep in mind, though, that everything I have posted here I am guilty of as well and have been pretty open about that. How else do you think I get most of my ideas?

I Hardly Knew Ye

The problem with traveling is that you aren’t as inclined to stay up on current events. Your first day back from the road is often spent with a laptop in hand (and, in my case, a beer in the other) catching up on what you missed while you were gone. 

Today I found out the sad news of the passing of one of my idols, Jack Joyce. Joyce was the founder of Rogue Ales & Spirits and one of the pioneers in the craft beer industry. I can whole heartedly say that Rogue is one of the few craft breweries that left an enormous impact on my life and is partly responsible for shaping who I am today.

Long has Rogue been one of my favorite breweries. There is only one brewery on the planet that I have tasted more different beers from (and that is only because that brewery is around the corner from where I live). One fourth of my empty beer bottle collection I have up on shelves in my apartment consists of Rogue beer. Whenever I see a new beer from Rogue on the shelves at my local beer store, chances are I am going to buy it.

I never met Jack Joyce, yet he made an impact on my life. Think about that. I NEVER met this guy but who he is and what he did helped change my direction in life. Sitting here now typing this, it is hard to comprehend that.

Jack Joyce was one of the people I always wanted to have a beer with. The chance to drink a pint, share a laugh and engage in a good conversation. I’ll never get the opportunity to do that. I wish I did.

In the spirit of his passing, I’ve decided to actively pursue and try to convince some of my idols in the beer industry to sit down and have a pint with me. I couldn’t think of anything better than sharing a beer with the likes of Pete Brown, Randy Mosher, Marcy and Geoff Larson, Stan Hieronymus, Father and Son Van Roy and so on. If any of these “dream pints” were to happen, those moments would surely rank among the best in my life.

Cheers to Jack Joyce and to Rogue. 

I hope the bar in the next life isn’t crowded because the first one’s on me.