Beer writer Will Gordon’s story on the death of day drinking is, I think, a near miss. I work in a resort, and write about beer for my job so I understand I’ve got a skewed view of the issue myself. But in case you didn’t follow the link, here’s a quick and fair summary of his argument.
People don’t day drink anymore because it’s culturally less-acceptable than (say) in the ’70s. People don’t have enough time at lunch. Craft beer is too high in alcohol and too expensive to have with lunch. All these things are nearly true, but none of them are locked in stone. Gordon points this out himself when he admits this is more a feeling than a data-driven fact.
For my own part, if I am buying lunch, I am drinking a beer with it. Generally, I’ll pack and not include a bottle or can of beer in my lunch box as much for practicality as for anything else. That is, I don’t have a point to prove about lunch beers.
What does concern me is that still today we have this frat boy mentality when it comes to beer that is off-key and counter productive. Try considering beer as part of your meal rather than an alcoholic beverage that will help you forget how much you hate your job (or whatever). Craft beer is precisely what you should have with lunch. It’s filling and even a high alcohol beer isn’t going to knock you down if you have one with your meal.
I’ll have lunch out 3-5 times a month (it’s still a luxury pretty incompatible with a writer’s salary) and nothing feels more right than having a beer with it. It feels grownup, which I know is a little off, but savoring the notion that you can have a beer makes lunch taste all the better. The fact that the beer enhances your meal’s flavor is just gravy. We can let day drinking die or not, but we are the culture, so we make the cultural rules.
Drink what you like and be happy.
