{"id":16838,"date":"2022-01-28T08:38:12","date_gmt":"2022-01-28T14:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/?p=16838"},"modified":"2022-01-28T11:02:43","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T17:02:43","slug":"drinkability-is-no-longer-a-dirty-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/drinkability-is-no-longer-a-dirty-word\/","title":{"rendered":"Drinkability is no longer a dirty word"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At the outset of this week\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beeredge.com\/dbtb-episode-121-jenny-pfafflin-of-dovetail-brewery\/\">Drink Beer, Think Beer podcast, guest Jenny Pf\u00e4fflin<\/a> talks about drinkability and how that is one of the qualities that make Dovetail Brewery beers special.<\/p>\n<p>She might not have used the words <a href=\"https:\/\/worldofbeer.wordpress.com\/2012\/02\/10\/10-words-not-to-use-when-writing-or-talking-about-beer-pt-i\/\">\u201cdrinkable\u201d<\/a> and \u201cdrinkability\u201d a decade ago, because they belonged to the largest of breweries. Anheuser-Busch built a campaign for Bud Light around \u201cdrinkability\u201d in the aughts. <\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2JuFKLK5FhA\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/center><\/p>\n<p>The company reportedly spent $50 million on its \u201cDrinkability is Difference\u201d campaign.<\/p>\n<p>The brewers who at the time presented themselves as Davids taking on Goliath weren\u2019t about to go anywhere near the word \u201cdrinkability.\u201d And quite honestly, in 2011 when Dr. Michael Lewis, founder of the professional brewing programs at UC-Davis, wrote \u201cDrinkability: Countering a Dash to the Extreme\u201d <sup>1<\/sup> in the MBAA Technical Quarterly many brewers I talked to were offended.<\/p>\n<p>He offered his definition: \u201cDrinkability is the brewer\u2019s mantra and holy grail: a beer should not be satiating or filling, it should be more-ish, crisp not heavy, tasty but not fatiguing and should leave the consumer satisfied but willing and able to have another.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, craft brewers \u201cmay equate drinkability with preference or liking or distinction or even with inventiveness, rarity, and cutting edge uniqueness. There is therefore a trend within the domestic and craft segments to move to the extremes, one in the lighter direction and the other heavier. While heavier beers are fascinating avenues of brewing arts and science to explore, there is some danger of leaving the consumer far behind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Put another way, \u201cAs the success of light beers has caused the macro-domestic industry to make ever-lighter beers, so the success of many highly characteristic beers leads the craft industry to the opposite extreme and ultimately, to a different definition of drinkability that drives this trend.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Remember, this was 2011; so long ago that IPAs were clear, and also bitter. He didn\u2019t stroke many egos when he wrote, \u201cif one looks rationally at the craft segment, what is surprising is not its success but rather the lack of it.\u201d He was, and is, a proponent of craft brewers\u2019 skill set, but not necessarily a fan of their choices.<\/p>\n<p>It sure appears that his words have stood up well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmerican craft brewers have not merely imitated Old World ales but have reinvented them to create something that is uniquely American. I see no reason why the same talent and inventiveness should not do the same for lagers. The old idea of full flavor, flavor balance, distinction, character and deliciousness might provide a clue to the future. The craft industry has already made a start on this journey and there are a number of splendid lagers appearing in the market place and I don\u2019t doubt more to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And it\u2019s OK to talk about their drinkability.<\/p>\n<p>*****<\/p>\n<p><sup>1<\/sup> Michael Lewis, \u201cDrinkability: Countering a Dash to the Extreme,\u201d <em>Master Brewers Association of the Americas Technical Quarterly<\/em> 48, no. 1 (2011), 25-26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the outset of this week\u2019s Drink Beer, Think Beer podcast, guest Jenny Pf\u00e4fflin talks about drinkability and how that is one of the qualities that make Dovetail Brewery beers special. She might not have used the words \u201cdrinkable\u201d and \u201cdrinkability\u201d a decade ago, because they belonged to the largest of breweries. Anheuser-Busch built a &#8230; <a title=\"Drinkability is no longer a dirty word\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/drinkability-is-no-longer-a-dirty-word\/\" aria-label=\"More on Drinkability is no longer a dirty word\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beers-of-conviction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4wTn-4nA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16838"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16844,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16838\/revisions\/16844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}