Behold the Wine Snob

A few months back I met with someone from the wine camp and over a few beers we had an excellent discussion about issues common to both the BC wine and craft beer industries, successes the wine lobby have realized as a result of advocating and how the craft beer consumers could better organize to help them realize similar successes.

During this discussion it was pointed out to me the craft beer consumer advocates and the craft beer industry as a whole have a major problem that has nothing to do with the quality of beers being brewed or the lack of organization of the industry and this problem is one that is playing a major role in the lack of support given to craft beer by the government and the hospitality industry.

"You (craft beer consumers/industry) have an image problem," I was told.

This was not news to me, and should not be for the majority involved with the craft beer scene here in BC. It is a reality and a hangover from the Dark Ages of Beer when with a few exceptions, from Coast-to-Coast in Canada, the majority of beers available were basically generic, mass-produced lagers meant to be swilled for the effect, not the taste.

During this Dark Age, beer had no place in the finer restaurants about town, did nothing to enhance or compliment food and was considered a beverage almost exclusively downed by down-and-outs and by middle-class, working men, but thankfully, due to the explosion of the BC craft beer scene and the amazing beers being brewed locally, those days are long gone.

Or are they?

A few weeks back my family and I walked into one of our favourite Commercial Drive eateries and I noticed what looked to be a fairly casual wine tasting in progress. I went over to introduce myself  hoping to score a sample or two of primo vino and strike up a conversation with others who have a passion for good alcohol and food. Quickly the conversation shifted to the recent Bring Your Own Wine legislation and I mentioned my desire, as a consumer advocate of local craft beer, that the laws be further changed to include beer.

That's when I came face-to-face with the reality of the "image problem" facing beer drinkers, whether they be craft beer aficionados or not.

I was told, in no uncertain terms, by one of the people at the tasting, that no restaurant owners would be interested in beer being included in BYOB legislation. This fellow, who told me several times he was the owner of five restaurants, therefore knew what he was talking about, went even further and asked who, in general, would be interested in such a ridiculous idea?

He dismissed the fact that craft beer consumers would be very interested in this concept. He scoffed at the idea that a beer of any style or quality could compliment, never mind elevate, food if paired properly and told me he had no interest in enticing the craft beer crowds to his restaurants because beer drinkers "only order yam fries".

Wow, behold the wine snob.

He wanted to hear nothing about the fact he was actually sitting in a restaurant that supported including beer in BYOB legislation. He pooh-poohed  that, like with wine, people cellar and age certain beers. He simply ignored when I pointed out that there were a multitude of fine dining, beer-pairing dinner events that sell out on a regular basis around the city or that craft beer lovers are often also equally into their fine wines, single malt scotches and gourmet food.

Quite simply, he could not fathom that those who enjoy good craft beer come from diverse backgrounds and have varied tastes and interests just like those who enjoy wine.

He offered no solid arguments other than the ideas that wine is more refined than beer, wine drinkers more sophisticated than those who prefer a fine ale, lambic or stout and that selling craft beer was not profitable.

It was quite obvious to me Mr Wine Snob was actually quite ignorant of what great beers were all about especially when he ordered a macro-lager to enjoy with his food instead of the craft beer option that paired very well with the style of food being served.

Luckily my wife was there to drag me out of the conversation as the condescending and patronizing tone of Mr Wine Snob triggered my inner-Surrey.

There will always be restaurants and bars that cater to wine-lovers, just as there are now places like the Alibi Room, St Augustine's and Biercraft who cater to the craft beer crowd, and places that serve only mainstream lagers and European import "premium" beers and that is fine. There are also fine-dining establishments like  Vij's and Chambar, who have great wine menus, that offer great beer with their food...for a reason.

Because they understand flavours and taste without prejudice. And they give consumers choices.

But Mr Wine Snob is not alone. This is part of the response I received from Rich Coleman, minister in charge of all things alcohol in BC when I wrote him about Bring Your Own Beer to restaurants.

"While we appreciate the evolving nature and uniqueness of craft beer, it is not in the same category as wine."

Behold the wine snob.

More on Mr Coleman at a later date...

As a side note, I don't have time for the beer snob either. .If someone gets pleasure from sipping a sleeve of Molson 67, good for them. You won't find it in my glass and what is in your glass does not impact my drinking experience. I do not assume that those who drink these types of beer are inferior to me, or have no clue about good food because this quite simply is not true.

And if you want to know, Mr Wine Snob, otherwise known as Chris Stewart, is co-owner of the very successful restaurants La buca, Pied-a-Terre, Cafeteria, Commissary and The Sardine Can here in Vancouver. I introduced myself as the president of CAMRA Vancouver and presented my card on the table, therefore he should have known I was on the side of the craft beer consumer, yet he felt it necessary to insult beer drinkers and make it clear to me they were not good for his restaurants. And after he did so, he gave me his card, without his name but listing his establishments, at which time he once again warned me that they were fine-dining, wine-oriented restaurants - places yam fry eating beer lovers like myself may find lacking even though I had told him several times I  had a great love for wine after living in South France for close to three years.

I am not telling you to boycott or avoid his restaurants, as I have said, I have heard they are excellent but if you want a great plate of yam fries or a good beer, please take the above into consideration.

Why Grapes are Being Freed While Hops Remained Shackled

Over the past month BC wine consumers and the BC wine industry have had several reasons to pop champagne corks in celebration of changes to both federal and provincial laws which have benefited both groups.

First Bill C-311, a Private Member's Bill  introduced into the House of Commons by Okanagan-Coquihalla MP Dan Albas, prompted an amendment to the Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act (IILA) of 1928 which now allows, under federal law, that wine, and wine only, may transported or shipped across provincial borders by consumers.

Spirits and beer are still illegal to ship or transport across provincial boundaries as they have been since the introduction of the IILA.

Next the Provincial Liberals got in on the act by allowing consumers to buy direct from Canadian wineries and as an added bonus, they did not have to pay the BC Liquor Distribution Branch's (LDB) 123% mark-up! Even though the feds had allowed for cross-border shipments of wine, it is the provincial governments that ultimately have control of what alcohol gets imported into their jurisdictions so this move was critical to give Bill C-311 some meaning.

Again, these allowances were made for wine only, leaving laws unchanged in regards to spirits and beer.

If that weren't enough,  Rich Coleman, the minister responsible for all thing liquor in BC, next announced that BC wine lovers could now take their favourite bottle of wine to participating restaurants, pay a corkage fee and enjoy it with their meal. The allowance for Bring Your Own Wine (BYOW) was immediate and restaurants have been taking advantage of the freedom to allow BYOW since the announcement was made mid-July.

All of these great freedoms and allowances for wine lovers have craft beer drinkers crying into their sleeves. The moves definitely give the appearance that the BC wine consumers and  wine industry get favoured treatment from the BC Liberals, the LDB and the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch (LCLB), and in many cases this is true, but in these cases I would argue that these wine-centric changes have been well-earned by the consumers of wine in this province who have organized, lobbied and gained the support from the industry to back their fight to change laws.

Groups like #freemygrapes, who Albas thanks on his website for their essential support, and Modernize Wine have been working hard to bring wine consumers together on issues and form loud, strong voices that the government and the wine industry have not been able to ignore. They have a small core of very dedicated people who are adept at creating a buzz, educating other consumers about the importance of supporting their movements and catching the attention of politicians. They are good at defining, ahead of time, exactly what it is that they want, creating an action plan and then going out and getting the results they want..

And contrary to popular belief, these movements are not heavily funded by deep-pocketed vineyard owners, at least not in the beginning.

#Freemygrapes and Modernize Wine are consumer-driven, grassroots movements. They use social media  to the maximum to create a buzz and focus attention on themselves. They often organize on-line chats, to discuss the issues at hand and keep people focused. They have email write-in and Twitter campaigns which target politicians and bureaucrats who are in positions to influence the changes they seek and put pressure on the various private sector groups to support them. More importantly than organizing these awareness-raising events is that they get participation in large numbers which is essential. They are determined and have been organizing for years now, which is one of the major reasons they are now seeing successes.

These movements being consumer-driven makes sense because many, if not all manufacturers, vendors and importers of alcohol in BC are afraid to stick their heads up and speak out about problems and demand changes due to the atmosphere of fear and the widely-held belief that voicing complaints and concerns will result in reprisals from the LCLB and LDB. I don't know how many times I have heard from licensees they feel both government agencies are "vindictive" when challenged either privately or publicly. You only have to look at the RIO Theatre saga, where RIO ownership publicly challenged the Liberal Government and LCLB in the media and paid the price with the process dragging on much longer that it needed to, almost costing RIO ownership their business, before Mr Coleman finally did what he should have done straight off, which is make changes to a decades-old liquor policy that had no place being enforced in the 21st Century.

It is a widely-held belief by many that the process involving the RIO's licensing issues was purposely delayed to make the RIO ownership pay for their direct public challenges. These are, of course, just rumours....

So it is up to us, the consumers, to lead the charge as we have less to lose in regards to what the LCLB and/or LDB can do to us. They cannot suspend our liquor license or hit us with some arbitrary fine for "contravening" liquor laws. They cannot lose our liquor order of products that fill our shelves. They cannot lose our paperwork, delaying payment for products sold weeks before.

They can ignore us, but in the end, if consumers make enough noise, with enough people, politicians, who ultimately call the shots for the LCLB and LDB, will listen because consumers are voters and in the end, politicians are all about getting votes so they can stay in power.

The craft beer consumer is not without options and does have CAMRA BC, and their branches in Vancouver, Victoria and the Fraser Valley, to rally around but CAMRA BC does have numbers, with close to 1,100 individual members and over 80 corporate supporters, but those numbers mean nothing if the majority of members are silent and/or unwilling to get involved. I made recent calls to individual members to write emails to LCLB General Karen Ayers and minister Rich Coleman in support of CAMRA Vancouver's Bring Your Own Craft Beer Campaign and out of the 250 or so who had signed our petition and our 700+ members, about 20 people responded (and my thanks to all who did respond).

A group like CAMRA and movements/campaigns are only as effective as those supporting it and until craft beer consumers learn to get as organized, vocal and supportive as wine consumers are, they are going to be like poor kids standing outside the candy shop with their noses pressed up against the window, jealously watching the rich kids inside the store sampling and buying their sweets.

So, craft beer consumers, if you want to #freemyhops, Bring Your Own Craft Beer or are against the LDB privatization of distribution, get active, get involved and support those groups out there, like CAMRA BC/CAMRA Vancouver, who are actively trying to make a difference. Write letters to the editor, get involved in tweet and email campaigns, sign petitions, get friends and family interested in supporting the cause.

And if you are waiting for the person next to you to fight your battle, don't because I have news for you, they are probably waiting for you to fight their's.