Beer Theater the drama behind the drama…

Why call it the Beer Theater? Originally, we planned on having an amphitheater like beer diplay where we could have different beers fight to the death in the center ring of the “Beeriseum.” However, the recent dip in the economy didn’t call for more of an expansion in our malty real estate, so we shelved the idea for the time being.

Enter the spring and our winemaker videos (two of which aren’t even up because of my novice video mistake of shooting sideways) and our burgeoning interest in mulitmedia. As with the winemaker videos I expected to shoot discussions on style, flavor, and quirky stories; perhaps, even include the occasional beer brawl.

I’m sure many people would enjoy us talking about the nuances of lagering versus ales and the specifics of style, but wouldn’t it be better to hear it from the brewers themselves?

This is not a particularly challenging question. Instead, let’s ask what never get’s asked – within the craft world, where is the deeper discussion of beer’s place and purpose?

Consider the legions of beer drinkers who also homebrew, and understand the process intrinsically. Given the opportunity people who are even modestly educated in wine will graduate from taste and flavor profile to food pairing, regional significance, cellaring, stylistic comparisons to other available examples. One has to wonder what’s next?

Certainly there’s a host of culturally significant topics to discuss when we move past beer tastes good… so where’s the discussion? More importantly, how do we find out what’s on the minds of the people who make it?

Now we have an interesting situation. Here, we get to speak to people who make what we love – leaders in the field, in fact. So what will you ask?

While I enjoy the flavor of the “Beeriseum,” pitting ale on ale in a flavor grudge match for supremacy, I think it would be at the cost of a more intriguing and impactful debate – both of which, would make good theater.

~ by mrl37 on June 12, 2009.