Legend holds that in 1962 manager Casey Stengel assembled his New York Mets, to this very day still baseball’s worst-ever team, and asked them a question: “Can’t anybody here play this game?”
It’s the way I often feel when handed a beer list or pointed in the direction of the generic untappd-sponsored video board: “Can’t anybody here do beer?”
40-odd years since the American swillocracy awoke to face the only real challenge to its hegemony since Prohibition ended, I sometimes have little choice but to conclude that we’ve lost considerable ground in terms of basic better-beer education.
Beer with a Stoic is an industry exile’s effort to make sense of an uncomprehending world. After all, it’s not whether you win or lose, but that you still know how to play this game.
—
A customer is approaching. They appear a tad uncertain. You greet them with a smile.
“Hi, it’s my first time here.”
“Thanks for coming by. What can I do for you?”
“I know this is a ‘beer place,’ except I don’t like beer at all. What else do you have to drink?”
“We have wine and spirits, even alcohol-free seltzer, but if you don’t mind my asking, which beers have you tasted and didn’t care for?”
“Oh,...
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