My first impression was that this statement was outright false. I hate to do this, but I'm going to reference the work I'm doing on my Masters Thesis. Having read much Kierkegaard, he makes some points that, more or less, boil down to the fact that when "the masses" are given freedom and equality, they squander it. They learn that society or anything in it is a glorified "race to the bottom" with the winner being the one that can set the bar the lowest. The bar, in this case, is the lowest common denominator by which all humans can meet with the lowest amount of effort. Because men are equal, there is no difference between the President, for example, and a janitor. These comments, while not expressly applicable today, were very penetrating at a time when this resident of Copenhagen watched the legitimacy of an absolute monarchy become twisted and tainted under the overbearing freedom of the post-French Revolution public. And while, in a perfect world, the President and a janitor are equal under the law, Kierkegaard saw a society where classes had become obsolete as the public had access to the same things those former nobles and aristocrats had. Kierkegaard's comments do still speak some truth today in the "lowest common denominator" department.
The arrangement of American capitalism is such that Americans work extremely hard (in most cases) relative to the hours they work. I don't have any actual data to back this up, but I can't help but taking this from watching and reading news reports about domestic issues stemming from individuals being overworked and underpaid, especially in this economy. Therefore, there is a vast quantity of blue-collar America that is willing to settle for whatever comes their way after work is out. Work demands the use of their intellect, their quantitative analysis skills, their problem solving capacity, ability to communicate with others regardless of differences, and, most importantly, the ability to lead others and manage multiple tasks. Coming home, they check any effort at the door and become another faceless and nameless individual among that abstraction "the public." Not to say there isn't anything wrong with that because of the American socioeconomic arrangement, but the public doesn't strive to keep a high standard of education (just look at American schools,) of health (look at our health care system, our life expectancy, our food choices - while healthier foods are emerging all the time, we still have a society flooded with outrageously unhealthy food,) and of intellectual activity. This American doesn't want to read better books, watch better TV, eat better food, chase intellectual pursuits, and, most of all, be told what to think by someone who is equally as good. After all, one man's money is just as good as another's in the market. In essence, these individuals are worn down and used by their employers day after day. When they return home, they find their family, who they love, to be nothing short of a burden. Secretly, everyone who has a stressful job wishes for that peace and quiet at the end of each day which cannot be reconciled, even by the arms of the person that loves them the most. This same person sits down after work, turns on Larry the Cable Guy, cracks open a can of Bud, eats a greasy burger and fries that they picked up on the way home from some fast food behemoth and zones out with processed media and processed food, tired, stressed, depressed, but worst of all, apathetic.
Craft brewing is really reflective of hope. It's not "progress" per se, but hope - the hope of an American future that is able to embrace a public and a private, an America that is able to embrace economics not as a means to keep themselves afloat, but to make this wonderful country even better, an America this is as concerned with the state of their children's welfare, the state of the healthcare of those they've never even met, and the state of their government. A man or woman that can walk into a beer store and choose the beer they'd most like to drink, not the beer that's easiest to identify or the easiest to follow the person in front of them, is also a person that is more likely to make an educated choice in the next Presidential election, that rejects the processed media of our age in favor of research and truth, that understands economics enough to understand the selfish nature of our mega corporations that cry out for help, not for the American public like the Auto industry - one of the backbones of American industrialism and the American identity, but like those financial executives who just long for more lining to their pockets while so many worn down Americans buckle under their weight.
So, with all due respect to Mr. Oliver, I disagree. I think there is just as strong a future for industrial brewing as there's ever been because, to choose industrial beer is precisely not "to choose" anything, but to let tradition, comfort, or popular culture choose for us. It's easier to see the impact of the craft brewing revolution of the mid-eighties to the mid-nineties with many local stores that used to carry just Coors, Miller, and Bud carrying local favorites such as Bell's Oberon, Founders' Centennial IPA, and seven varieties of Sam Adams, but that could just be the "lowest common denominator" ideology telling us to shut up and be happy so they can go back to their recliner-and-Bud lifestyle. In order for craft brewing to have some hope, my generation and the future generations need to start making it clear that we should ask more of our country, our people, and ourselves.
We're a creative people that has always embraced our individuality and freedom, just look at our craft brewing offerings: almost every craft brewery offers a range of beers that covers a spectrum from light pilseners and amber ales to porters and stouts. Some of these are outrageous - Founders Devil Dancer Triple IPA with over 200 IBUs, Various breweries that have toyed around with Peanut Butter Porters, and those breweries like Russian River, Ommegang, and Allagash that have used wine and/or wild yeasts and bourbon barrel secondary fermentation delving into the world of sour ales. America is at the cutting edge of craft beer as a result of our unwillingness to settle for those antiquated categories of "ales" and "lagers" as defining our beers, we want crossovers, we love our Southern Tier Raspberry Porters and our Peak Organic Espresso Bean Aged Amber Ales, and our Dogfish Head ales that're brewed with equal parts historical anthropology, scientific knowledge of the brewing process, and insanity.
So, Mr. Oliver, after so ardently attempting to disagree with you, I guess we end up going in the same direction - while there is just as reasonable a future for industrial brewing as ever, our future generations are going to be the ones to make this change. My generation, in this past Presidential election, has stood up and told everyone that we're not going to take it anymore. We don't want to bear the burden of the baby boomers who took over the world and are now too old, bored and apathetic to worry about cleaning up their mess. We're making their mess our rallying cry. In our future, you're right, there is no future in industrial brewing but, there is always the chance that this mess will weigh too heavy on our hearts and minds, and we'll become worn down, and our resistance to the lowest common denominator will dissolve, and we'll slump down into the pit of cultural stagnation and wait for our next generation's desire for change will burn white hot, and see whether they'll succeed where we've faltered. The future is in our hands.
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