Archive for July, 2008

People who know me know that I love to talk about how we, as a species, have managed to remove ourselves completely from the natural order of things in the wild. Traveling through remote parts of India, Africa and Central America, guides have told me time and again of witless vacationers who have jumped out of jeeps to snap a pride of lions, stuffed a poison dart frog in their pockets, or taken a stick to a deadly pit viper.  Where is their natural alarm? It makes you wonder if that thing called Darwinism is really such a bad idea after all.

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As an avid but earthy lover of premium wine and beer, I’ve thought about the difference between discernment and snobbery, and I understand why Managing Editor Tim Moriarty felt persecuted for standby favorites as mentioned in his recent entry Budweiser and Beaujolais. But red flags go off for me when I hear that standard call of retreat of “leave me alone and let me drink what I like.” I’m under 30, and represent a generation of drinkers who like to experiment–to familiarize themselves with current offerings in the vast and ever-expanding beverage world. All too often, I see people of an older generation pulling reverse snobbery and steeling themselves against trying something new—maybe a little more expensive. It makes you wonder if it’s true that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

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