Ashamed of British Beer
The sad, toady breweries who bowed and scraped and made a special beer to celebrate the marriage of William Windsor and Kate Middleton got a slap in the face as thanks for their pathetic grovelling this week, if this story in the Daily Mirror is to be believed. Supposedly no beer of any kind will be served at the wedding reception at Buckingham Palace.
“There won't be any beer. Let’s face it, it isn't really an appropriate drink to be serving in the Queen’s presence at such an occasion.” a source from the palace is alleged to have told the Mirror.
While beer is deemed far too proletarian to be allowed, I notice in the article that sausage rolls aren’t too declassé for the Windsors, nor are the Hello!-class celebrities they appear to be pals with. Not that I have anything against the parvenu in principle, but personally I wouldn’t have the Beckhams in my house, never mind invite them to my wedding.
I may be naïve; I did think that we were making some progress in getting beer the social status it deserves as one of the great native drinks of this country. Apparently I was wrong.
One would have thought that in this day and age such pathetic snobbery would be unacceptable, but it seems the cultural cringe goes right to the top of our society.
Just one more reason why the only commemorative beer worthy of anyone’s money is Brodie’s Republic Revolution Red.
“There won't be any beer. Let’s face it, it isn't really an appropriate drink to be serving in the Queen’s presence at such an occasion.” a source from the palace is alleged to have told the Mirror.
While beer is deemed far too proletarian to be allowed, I notice in the article that sausage rolls aren’t too declassé for the Windsors, nor are the Hello!-class celebrities they appear to be pals with. Not that I have anything against the parvenu in principle, but personally I wouldn’t have the Beckhams in my house, never mind invite them to my wedding.
I may be naïve; I did think that we were making some progress in getting beer the social status it deserves as one of the great native drinks of this country. Apparently I was wrong.
One would have thought that in this day and age such pathetic snobbery would be unacceptable, but it seems the cultural cringe goes right to the top of our society.
Just one more reason why the only commemorative beer worthy of anyone’s money is Brodie’s Republic Revolution Red.
That is disgraceful. I am not much of monarchist or republican, but the next time a monarchist starts banging on about how the Royal Family represent the British people, I will laugh all the harder.
ReplyDeleteIf the comment had been something along the lines of "William and Kate just don't like beer so why have it?" I wouldn't have minded so much, but "not appropriate for this kind of occassion" - they may as well say that the Briitsh people are not good enough for them.
Ive heard from this same article in the daily mail and although they arnt always on the dot with their reporting i can believe this. What really gets me going is that although bride and groom are not going to be drinking i can assure there will be wine or champagne for everyone else. The only other major event of this year or arguably the next few years will be the Olympics and their sponcer is Heineken, a completely foreign beer.
ReplyDeleteWho cares?
ReplyDeletei'm sure the breweries wont care, a bit more publicity for them, and all they will be interested in is their balance sheet over that weekend.
ReplyDeleteI find this interesting. At my cousin Ed's wedding, the one done by the internet minister at the fire hall, there was a ton of beer.
ReplyDeleteSorry 'fellas, that was a distinctly American joke.
The Windsors didn't always turn their noses up when it came to beer:
ReplyDelete"In the last war King George V. signed the pledge, at the instigation of Lord Kitchener. When the present King, on August 17th, stood in a cornfield in Dorset, surrounded by schoolboys from Harrow and many other public schools, who were helping with the harvest while on holiday, glasses were filled, and his toast was " To a speedy victory." Says the Daily Mail of that date : " The boys had ginger beer and
lemonade. The King preferred a glass of beer."
"The Brewers' Journal 1940" Page 716 (Published September 1940.)