This is in response to Ben Johnson’s Article, “Under the Influence: How Social Media is Changing Craft Beer Culture,” originally published in The Growler on October 23, 2019. Please give the article a read before you dive into my response below.
A response to Ben Johnson
I feel inclined to jump into the discussion that Ben Johnson began a few weeks ago in the article mentioned above. I consider myself one of those beer influencers he may be referring to in his article about craft beer social media, and I feel a sense of duty to stand up here, for myself and the many beer friends I have met because of social media platforms like Instagram.
My take on “Under the Influence”
It seems clear in this article that Ben Johnson has two things to say about craft beer social media:
(1) He is critical of social media posts about craft beer because they flood the sources from which craft beer drinkers can be informed. It degrades proper criticism, promotes mediocrity, and muddles the industry itself.
(2) He is annoyed that his beer mail has dramatically decreased now that craft breweries are shipping samples to all these beer influencer folks.
It is annoying
Firstly then, I would be annoyed if I was him too. No longer am I getting such special treatment – I now am forced to share that with so many others that, because of this sharing, it, to a certain degree, ceases to be so “special” for me. Moreover, the majority of those who I am now sharing my “special” status with are hardly (I can easily assume) as educated, experienced, and familiar with craft beer and the industry as I am, so why should they be treated as “special” as me?
There’s no reason to hate the constantly changing landscape in this digital world. That is going to happen. What was hot AF yesterday, looks like Vanilla Ice in no time these days… Accept your fate, Vanilla Ice, accept your fate.
Of course, Ben Johnson is not really concerned with his beer mail – not really. His concern here is more about holding onto his position as an authority in the craft beer industry. He fears losing it – no, maybe not losing it, but rather having it dramatically diluted. You see, Ben Johnson was definitely paid to write that article (he explicitly states that), whereas I, sitting here in this cafe, wishing I could actually pay for a second cup of coffee, am writing this because, well, I am passionate about craft beer and my own position in Ben Johnson’s argument.
Am I targeted?
I’ve spent a lot of time this year, travelling to breweries and interviewing brewers (so perhaps this fact excludes me from the group Ben Johnson is taking aim at). I’ve spent a lot of time taking pictures with beers that the breweries did give me for free (so perhaps I am a part of that group after all). When I publish a brewery article, these typically take about 40 hours to produce. If I am paid at all, it’s with 3 to 6 beers.
3 to 6 beers, which I am often not able to enjoy! No, each one of my craft beer social media posts takes at least 6, and upwards of 12 hours to produce. With my concept often taking me out into public, illegally consuming alcoholic beverages in the open, I cannot afford the time to drink the entire beer (let alone properly enjoy it). It must be dumped.
No reviews
My project isn’t about reviewing beer, Ben Johnson. There’s enough of you out there doing that already, nor can I really trust that your palette is as strong as mine (although that should really be said in reverse, I know). Why trust someone else’s experience with a beer anyways? I guess if something is really good or really bad according to someone else, then maybe one gravitates towards or away from it, but otherwise one should be searching out that experience themselves, not relying on others. A beer being good doesn’t actually mean it will necessarily be enjoyed by the drinker, in other words.
My job, for one, is to simply let you know such a product exists: go find it and try it yourself.
Beer is meant to be fun, not snobby, stuck up, and exclusive. I avoid all of that (I hope!) by focusing on the fun. I pair beers in very silly ways, but the pairing is supposed to (and I say “supposed to” because, with zero funding, I really do not have the resources nor time to execute things as properly as I would like…) – supposed to connect the craft brewery to their local community, either by pairing with a local artisan or small business, or by pairing with a nearby landmark. I think this adds to the fun of craft beer, while also making an explicit connection between the brewery and their surrounding community, which is ultimately the main source of any craft brewery’s clientele.
It’s about communities
Craft breweries are really all about their communities. They are often named after something in their community. Beer names typically allude to their community in some way. Craft breweries collaborate with local businesses, charities, and social clubs. They provide a place for all of them to get together. Craft beer is about community.
Social media, in my experience, builds communities. I cannot tell you how many people I have met that share a love of what I love because of social media. I would never have been connected to them otherwise. Or, at the very least, I would have only been connected in the luckiest of circumstances.
What’s missing
This is really what Ben Johnson misses in this article. He fails to take note of the value of community in craft beer, and how social media has been a massive force behind its growth. He avoids this consideration, focusing on the information being disseminated through these new channels rather than what these channels achieve otherwise.
He fails to recognize, it seems, that the information wouldn’t be getting out there as easily without social media. I’m willing to bet in fact that if social media wasn’t around, and that the only sources for exposure to craft beer knowledge was publications like The Growler, then rather than the approximate 1000 breweries across Canada today, we’d only have something like 300…
In other words, without all these beer influencers out there, Ben Johnson wouldn’t have as much of an audience to write for. He might be sitting across the table from me now, in fact, typing away on his laptop – for free. (“Mind grabbing me a cappuccino, Benny?”)
No, the community that is craft beer is very much what it is because of beer influencers, because of social media and the community it fosters. For the love of craft beer, without these channels of mediocrity, we would probably all still be sitting around drinking Labatt Blue! So what’s more mediocre, Ben Johnson?
In the end, I must say that the whole “beer influencer” thing is really nothing less than a great thing for craft beer, despite what Ben Johnson thinks (we can ignore ill-informed reviews, can’t we?). What sadly comes across in this article is that Ben Johnson appears to want to keep all the craft beer to himself.
Grow with it
What’s quite silly to me in all of this is that if Ben Johnson took a few more minutes to consider things, he’d realize that his expertise and experience is something that “beer influencers” have great respect for. None of us intend on taking anything away from him, and if he took the time to embrace the culture rather than try to sweep it under the carpet, then he would become a bigger influence himself. He’s already in a great position (for influencing beer culture), but he actually jeopardizes it when he makes arguments like these. Rather than fear losing his position of authority, he should be recognizing how social media can in fact strengthen his position if he engages it (and us) properly.
Embrace change, Ben Johnson, and you will grow along with it.
I don’t review beers. I market them. If you’d like me to market your craft beer, then please send free beer to…
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