Brewer bashes Beeb over anti-beer bias
Wine whiners want trad telly tipple
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A Cumbria brewer has levelled serious charges against the BBC that it is deliberately ignoring beer in favour of imported plonk.
Dave Bailey, of the Hardknott brewery in Millom, reckons the Corporation's foodie output is heavily biased towards wine, and is therefore "deliberately and recklessly damaging the UK economy by its unreasonable and deliberate rejection of beer as a beverage to drink with food".
He said: "I know of many well respected beer writers who have approached the BBC to try and raise awareness of this country’s great hand-crafted beers, brewed not just in Cumbria but nationally. However, time and time again it is only wine that gets given airtime."
To show he means business, Bailey has raised the matter with telly watchdog Ofcom. In his complaint, he describes beer as "the indigenous drink of Great Britain", which is "deliberately omitted from Saturday Kitchen".
He adds: "Drinking alcohol when eating is a much more responsible activity than heavy drinking sessions when no food is consumed. The BBC, in omitting beer from one of its prime time food programs is alienating beer drinkers from the healthy activity of moderate drinking whilst eating; therefore the BBC is being reckless with the nation's health."
Just to make sure Auntie knows where its alcoholic responsibilities lie, Bailey describes it as "our national broadcasting authority, which is paid for by a tax on television ownership", and that its promotion of "wine in named supermarkets without also giving air time to quality British beer brands is unacceptable bias for a public funded organisation". ®
COMMENTS
Agreed!
There is a huge bias against Real Ale drinkers in this country! Whenever there is a story about binge drinking on the BBC (and other media) it is invariably accompanied by a picture of a pint by a hand pump.
It is the cheap wine, alcopops and vodka from supermarkets that fuels the binge drinking culture in this country, not the more expensive quality Real Ale sold in pubs!
The craft breweries producing unique quality beers in this country deserve far more support than the BBC and the government supplies.
Interesting point, actually
Any time I've seen Saturday Kitchen it's that rosy-cheeked public schoolboy goit going mental in the Wine section choosing something that costs less than a tenner. Frankly, at that kind of money I'd rather a decent ale or beer.
If they *really* need someone to explain to them how beer works well with food and won't trust any of their local lot, I'm sure there are folks in Belgium and Germany who'll be happy to have a word...
I, er, think you've missed the point.
You, er, seem to have missed the point being made, though - which is that beer is not just something Glugged At The Pub By Those Seeking A State Of Arsed-Rattedness. It's perfectly possible to enjoy a beer or two with a meal, or even to use it when cooking food (and if you think otherwise, I challenge you to sample food from the likes of Belgos - http://www.belgo-restaurants.co.uk/world - and then repeat the claim).
I'm not particularly keen on red wine and would much rather have a beer with food than wine. However, there's a marked tendency on cookery shows to play this down and bang on about throwing cheapy wines around instead, which doesn't really do anyone any favours. I'd much rather hear about interesting dessert ideas using Young's Chocolate Stout or Banana Bread Beer than I am about things I can do with a £7 bottle of red wine that I'd have to be paid to drink.
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