Ron Pattinson writes today about perspective and change. He makes two really important points back-to-back.
The horizon of personal experience influences our view of both the past and the future. We extrapolate the present back into the past. I used to think Bitter and Mild, as I experienced them in the 1970’s, had been around for centuries. It’s a fault repeated in many books about beer. Even brewers have little concept of what went on before they started brewing themselves.
And before you even pause to consider that he gives us more to think about.
The future we expect to be a continuation of the present, with just the odd tweak. Who could have imagined in 1900 that Porter would have disappeared within 50 years? Or in the 1940’s that Mild would have disappeared from swathes of Britain by 1980? Will pale lager continue its domination for another 100 years? History tells us no. Its decline will be unexpected and surprisingly swift.
It is hard to imagine isn’t it? Harder still to think about what might take its place.
Whisk(e)y will take its place…what a world that would be.
Perry! I want to live in the century when perry is king.
Yee — careful there, my last boss was named Perry! :O
Yikes – OK, let’s make that “most popular fluid beverage”! 😉