The embourgeoisement of beer: Changing practices of ‘Real Ale’ consumption

Abstract

Recent years have seen changes in the practice of beer consumption, which appear to indicate raised standards of cultural prestige. This article focuses on the practice of Real Ale consumption, which has been promoted by the UK consumer pressure group, the Campaign for Real Ale, since 1971, and analyses how beer consumption has achieved an increased cultural position relative to understandings of taste and cultural capital. The article also draws on qualitative research, including interviews, archival material analysis and participant observation. Following recent advances in practice theories of consumption, the article identifies important changes in the materials, meanings and competencies of Real Ale consumption, which mean that a more complex 'intellectualised' form of beer appreciation has emerged over recent years. The article argues that by tracking these changes, it is possible to illustrate how cultural tastes and practices have undergone a process of 'embourgeoisement'. Specifically, exponents of Real Ale appreciation practices have borrowed from proximate practices, such as wine and food consumption, in seeking increased value. Beer consumption has become subjected to upward social mobility in becoming more complex and refined, meaning that it now functions more readily as a marker of social status. However, there is some suggestion that such a process of embourgeoisement has also generated antagonisms, with some consumers being excluded by discourses of taste and status.

A thirst for the authentic: craft drinks producers and the narration of authenticity

“…Further research might explore how ideas of craft and authenticity diffuse through popular culture over time and might seek to better understand the role of intermediaries such as bar and pub owners, drinks writers and trade organizations in sustaining, developing or contesting the narratives of producers (see Thurnell‐Read ). Likewise, ongoing research will need to trace the wider biographical trajectories of workers in this and other craft‐related occupations to better understand how socioeconomic background, education and training, and other sites of relative privilege or disadvantage influence the outcomes of such activities as setting up a craft brewery or distillery.…”

Gendered Expectations, Gatekeeping, and Consumption in Craft Beer Spaces

“…Craft beer culture has risen from low-brow working class masculinity to a serious leisure activity through the process of “embourgeoisement” (Thurnell-Read 2016, 2018). Applying Stebbins’s (2007) six qualities of serious leisure, Thurnell-Read (2018) contends that craft beer culture has gained cultural legitimacy in becoming the domain of middle-class consumers.…”

“…Craft beer culture has risen from low-brow working class masculinity to a serious leisure activity through the process of “embourgeoisement” (Thurnell-Read 2016, 2018). Applying Stebbins’s (2007) six qualities of serious leisure, Thurnell-Read (2018) contends that craft beer culture has gained cultural legitimacy in becoming the domain of middle-class consumers. This higher class, or elite, version of craft beer is distinguished from domestic and casual craft drinkers through perseverance in pursuit of the activity, a career of learning and developing skills, effort that leads to durable benefits, a unique ethos of specialized language and values demarcate members of the community, and centrality of the activity to one’s identity.…”

“…Cultural theory has suggested that cultural capital has moved away from acquiring solely high-brow status to a more “cultural omnivorousness” (Peterson and Kern 1996). Because consumption is said to be a marker of cultural distinction, individuals who exclusively pursue one cultural taste or leisure activity may accrue less social status (Thurnell-Read 2018). For instance, in examining the serious leisure activities of “Real Ale” enthusiasts, Thurnell-Read (2018) finds that participants were appreciative of a wide variety of “Real Ales” yet distanced themselves from the “Beer Ticker”—someone who drinks beers only once to accumulate unique beer counts—archetype.…”

“…Because consumption is said to be a marker of cultural distinction, individuals who exclusively pursue one cultural taste or leisure activity may accrue less social status (Thurnell-Read 2018). For instance, in examining the serious leisure activities of “Real Ale” enthusiasts, Thurnell-Read (2018) finds that participants were appreciative of a wide variety of “Real Ales” yet distanced themselves from the “Beer Ticker”—someone who drinks beers only once to accumulate unique beer counts—archetype. Similarly, in examining beer “aficionados,” Maciel (2017) argues that aficionados enact a cultural omnivorousness in the sense that they valorize breadth of beer knowledge and consumption and appreciate a wider range of beers.…”