Or the absurdity of the Bud Light flap

I like beer. Always have. Liked it since I was a teenager and drink a lot less these days but with just as much – and maybe more – enjoyment. I grew up in England, so my tastes were formed by bitter-type beers and I’ve never had a strong liking for the lighter lager-style beers that make up the bulk of the mass consumption types in the U.S. But I will drink them from time to time and some can be considered very delicious. I would not extend that appreciation to the AB family of beers. Nor to Miller. Nor Coors. When I first moved to the U.S. decades ago there was very little brewing activity outside of the major producers and even imported beers were limited to a small number of big brewers outside the United States. So I drank Bud largely because it was available and not because I really liked it. Bud, that it. I never liked Bud Light at all, it lacked body compared even to Budweiser let alone any other beer. But all of this is a matter of personal taste. To associate beer consumption with a political viewpoint never crossed my mind. But here we are, with boycotts of Bud Light because it has been construed to be the sort of beer that trans folk like simply because a trans person likes it and that association is a big threat. Threat to what I might ask? Some weird sense of sexual rightousness? As if that has anything to do with a beer. But what it does speak to, rather depressingly, is that Bud Light (along with many other major label beers) is marketed as a lifestyle choice and not simply on its merits as a beer. The danger of such positioning of course, as we’ve seen, is that the product itself becomes secondary. Its associations become the ascendant quality.

These days I don’t have to drink Budweiser or any other major label beer. The rise of craft beers of real quality and with flavours to delight has occurred throughout the country and wherever you are you can find some local brewery to savour. And I do.