Fighting back against the temperance tide

I get all sorts of interesting links sent to my Smart Phone.  I’m obviously not alone in this, as anyone who regularly uses Google to search for anything will indeed testify. Look for something once, and for the next few days Google will ensure you are bombarded with all sorts of allied links, some of them tenuous in the extreme or even bordering on nebulous.

Being interested in pubs, beer and all things brewing means Google knows pretty much what to send me, and of course I don’t mind, especially as from time to time, some really interesting, or thought-provoking, beer-related story or news item pops up in my feed.

One such item is this article by journalist and beer sommelier Sophie Atherton, which appeared on Monday, in the online edition of the Morning Advertiser. Labouring under the lengthy title of  “The pub is primarily about alcoholic beverages. I’d like it to stay that way,” the piece has a similar message to that put forward by other beer writers and bloggers, especially coming, as it does, at the end of Dry January.

It particularly reminded me of a recent post by Pub Curmudgeon, called “Drinking with the enemy.” Appropriately enough, the article appeared in mid-January, and whilst it is quite lengthy, Curmudgeon, or Mudgie as he is sometimes known, puts forward the notion, that given the greatly improved choice and quality of alcohol-free beers available now, doing without alcohol doesn’t require as much of a sacrifice as it once did.

He then goes on to say that increased availability of no and low-alcohol beers (NALAB’s), misses the point, as the fundamental reason people drink beer is because it contains alcohol. While people may have entirely valid reasons for choosing an alcohol-free beer, it is always to some extent a “distress purchase.” NALAB’s are intended to mimic, as far as possible, the experience of drinking a standard beer, but with that crucial, mild-intoxicating element missing.

Sophie kicks off her article with the surprising news that 25% of pub visits are now alcohol free, but then breathes a sigh of relief, because this means that 75% of pub visits are still about going for a drink. She throws in another statistic which shows that 45% of people are already satisfied with the NALAB offer available in pubs.

With this in mind, she raises her concern that the push to promote and prominently fill fridges and bar space with alcohol-free drinks, is just another way of furthering the anti-alcohol agenda, rather than a response to genuine consumer demand.

A similar analogy can be found in Veganuary, the campaign that encourages non-vegans to adopt a vegan diet during the month of January, and which now seems to have become an annual event. On recent shopping trips, Mrs PBT’s and I have noticed supermarket shelves and fridges, over-flowing with "ersatz meat dishes", and wondered is this down to genuine demand or, more likely, is it a way for food producers and retailers to line their pockets.

Now I’ve had the pleasure of meeting both Sophie Atherton and Pub Curmudgeon, and enjoying a few beers with them; albeit not at the same time.  Despite them probably coming from slightly different ends of the beer appreciation spectrum, they are both putting out the same message, and it is one that is being raised by an increasing number of people.

The combined message from both authors is that without alcoholic drinks, and the people who consume them, there would be no pubs, so watch out for attempts to replace joyful, social pub-going with soulless, booze-free café culture.

The final words should go a pub landlady who runs two pubs on the edge of the Cotswolds. Sophie’s article quotes her at length her piece which starts with the words, “I am so sick of people demonising alcohol,” but her main focus is on promoting the benefits of getting out to the pub in order to meet, talk and interact face to face with other human beings, rather than attempting to do this on a screen, in a virtual and ultimately disconnected world. 

I’m sure these sentiments are something we can all empathise over and totally agree with, and for me, even though I don’t get out to pubs as much as I used to, or indeed would like to, there is still nothing finer than, “A pint amongst friends.”