Total Beer Stupidity,,,

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Druncan

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I am constantly shocked by peoples lack of understanding how beer is made. These are not daft folk, but the lack of understanding in the general awareness of the basic processes never ceases to surprise me,,, or is it me? Is it a local thing?

Or, reflect on the fact that a chickens can live for months without their heads? (LOVE IT!!!)
 
On the one hand, I completely agree that there does seem to be a real lack of understanding out there.

On the other hand there are probably car/art/cookery/gardening forums full of people bemoaning the fact people don't know anything about wheel alignment/modality in contemporary ceramics/over wintering sub tropical plants/preparing a decent soufflé.
 
Most of my male friends (presumably because my female friends don't drink beer) can name the basic ingredients- malt, hops, yeast, and water. Beyond that, no clue.
 
Just because an individual doesn't understand how beer is basically brewed doesn't mean they are a numpty. There are many everyday things that most of us just accept, and in most cases it makes no difference at all to us whether we have a detailed knowledge about them or not. Many people drive a car every day, yet what is underneath the bonnet is a complete mystery to them. Even as homebrewers we only have a basic knowledge of beer brewing. Go round any brewery and you will find there are differences of approach and facts which otherwise you would not have been aware of e.g how many homebrewers have heard of the Burton Union system or how it works, but does it really matter? And yes I know about the Burton Union system, but there are lots of things about brewing of which I have no knowledge whatsoever.
 
All said and done there IS a lot of general thickness about...
I have been asked if you have to get a boat to Devon.
A person i knew didn't know potatoes grew under ground.
 
I'm not sure not knowing how beer is made makes you thick, though. Being thick and being ignorant are not the same thing. And ignorance is fine as long as you recognise your ignorance and don't hold forth on subjects you know nothing about.

Still... As Clint says, there are some instances of ignorance so astounding that it's just funny. Just last week, a colleague tried to tell me that plate tectonics cause storms. As a man with a geology degree, I found that one particularly hilarious.
 
I've heard that there are plenty of kids around these days, who don't know where potatoes / eggs / milk etc come from. And there's some clowns at our works who haven't got a clue how beer is made and from what, yet they insist that Stella Artois is the proper stuff and mine is no doubt rubbish cos it's home-made. As an experienced brewer, I think they have no right to say that.
 
I've heard that there are plenty of kids around these days, who don't know where potatoes / eggs / milk etc come from. And there's some clowns at our works who haven't got a clue how beer is made and from what, yet they insist that Stella Artois is the proper stuff and mine is no doubt rubbish cos it's home-made. As an experienced brewer, I think they have no right to say that.

Very true

Your work colleauges have to be told what to think by advertising
 
A very well paid manager in a factory I used to work in said the robotic lens edging machine was not working because it was so cold outside the hydraulic oil in them was frozen. The robotic things were all driven by electric motors;had no hydraulic oil in them and were inside in a heated room. When the engineer pointed this out to him he was told to be quiet...and the rest of the retard managers all agreed with the first idiot!
 
The technical officer from a pretty large housing association that I do work for asked after we had just fitted a strobe and vibrating pillow for a deaf person so they would be aware if there was a fire during the night asked " does that mean she will now hear the alarm!!":doh:
 
A friend in Mountain Rescue was completely disgusted when we told him we grew our tatties in well rotted horse manure and cooked and ate them. But it's not safe he said,,, I asked him where he thought his McD's chips came from? He didn't know, but told us it wouldn't be anywhere dirty,,,,,
I think there is still a perception that food products from big producers are better than small businesses. Sadly, that's how we get undeclared Genetically Modified grain/fruit/vege and chickens washed in paracetic acid/peroxide to extend shelf life and GM salmon that is sexless or ham/bacon injected with polyphosphate to 'make it more juicy' - Why sell meat when you can sell water as well,,,,
I agree 'stupidity' was to hard a word.. Uncaring would be closer,,
 
There's a difference between ignorance and stupidity,ignorance can be solved by teaching people giving them the information they have not acquired.
You can't cure stupid!
 
The amusing ones my wife got from a previous boss were "what colour are butterflies?" which I guess could be excusable but the other was "what colours do you mix to get red?" then a blank expression when primary colours were explained to her.
 
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