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If the last cathartic rant wasn’t enough for ya, how about another but this time rather than the technical, lets venture into the spiritual. The human soul. Morality. What we think of as right and wrong. A world where beer is always right.


For a while I have been observing a form of language, an expression within beer geek circles that uses morality to explain or justify a commercial transaction like a purchase of craft beer from a retailer. To paraphrase rather than quote and thus not to shame any one brewer / beer writer / blogger / evangelist / curator. Is it immoral to buy Microbrew DIPA vX from a large retailer like Tesco for 2 loose coat buttons but moral to buy the same product from Mr Bogwaters Craft Emporium for several nuggets of gold? Assuming of course that both products are identical. There is no qualitative difference to the product that arises from passing through 2 different supply chains. I did some googling as I was sure I’ve read blogs espousing this drivel. Maybe it is more a twitter turn of phrase. Maybe you just know what I am talking about. You’ve encountered just this sort of twitter drivel.


Now this is easy to dismiss as drivel but is it? As price is what you pay, but value what you get, you could make a coherent case that value was more than the attributes of the product. That you gained value by supporting a particular supply chain as by doing so you increased its chances of survival and thus existing to serve you in the supply of future products. That Tesco may be cheaper for a one-off transaction, but they don’t love beer. Mr Bogwater does, and you want him to survive. Well, until he sells out, then you can be annoyed, but before he sells out, he’s in it for the same love and passion that you are.



some may question the morality of selling beer with bikini girls.
something to ponder




But this isn’t morality. This is enlightened self-interest. It is a philosophical concept I usually argue the toss about with socialists when they say capitalism is about evil greedy selfishness and socialism is about selfless generous altruism. If you want to meet socialists go to a CAMRA meeting. They have enough to spare. I like to argue that human nature as it evolved developed neither a tendency towards pure selfishness nor altruism, but that of enlightened self-interest. For any system to succeed it needs to accept human nature as it is, not as you would wish it to be, and use that to create the best outcome. Partly concerned with one’s selfish interest but enlightened enough to be aware that is not best served by selfishness. Concern for the welfare of others and a wider community is a form of self interest once you realise your prosperity does not come at a cost to your neighbour nor his to yours but each enhance the prosperity of the other. You want others to prosper to create the conditions for your own prosperity. A rich country of rich people is full of rich customers wanting to spend. A better place to prosper than setting up shop in a poor country of people flat on their arses. Enlightened self-interest is how the world turns.


I could infer a moral dimension to a consumer transaction. A product is made of materials and involves labour to produce. The environmental impact of creating those materials or the conditions fellow human beings find themselves in must surely count as a moral concern? It affects our empathy towards others and concern for the future we leave to our heirs. This is where beer fails to raise any concerns. The materials are by and large domestic agriculture grown to established standards. That which is imported is imported from close neighbouring countries chosen for different varieties of hop and also following standards or it wouldn’t be allowed in. There are no environmental or human concerns here. Unlike a pair of trainers made by sterilized slaves in China and sold by a large corporation with a contemporary woke washed right on slogan that appeals to contemporary political fashion. Or a burger company damaging the environment and increasing the suffering of animals by their treatment of them as an industrial input to produce cheaper meat but dishing out free kids toys. Or a coffee brand buying beans for prices which reduce the farmers to destitution. I cannot see much of a problem with how beer is made, or its ingredients grown. Not at an agricultural level not at the processing of those inputs into a product stage. A mega brewery with significant automation may be producing a bland product you dislike but all the employees are legally employed, all laws and regulations followed, all taxes paid. The same for a large mega retailer such as Tesco. You may not like the product but that does not make it immoral. If there is something to dispute about the practices of these companies, you may accept that requires a change to regulations if for instance working practices and safety need to improve.



still pondering it


So, forgive me, I’m not getting why it is moral or immoral. I’m only getting what amounts to enlightened self-interest differs depending on where your own interests lie. I don’t care what Mr Bogwater sells; you do. Therefore, it is up to you to shop in his shop. Morality has nothing to do with it.


Unless of course and let’s go off piste here. It's about how we actually as people develop a sense of morality? Is it given to us by a god or gods? Is it programmed into us by way of being products of a long evolution? Is it just taught to us by our parents and teachers, so we know what is right and wrong?


I’m going to suggest it is entirely flexible and changes according to whatever we think is in our own interest. How else can you explain different attitudes across generations to anything from racism to sexual practices or even the differing roles of the sexes? How can someone be sincerely convinced other races are inferior, particular sexual practices are against god and nature and women should not have access to education, opportunities, jobs and independence and consider all those a moral position supported by God? Less than a century later a descendent of that very same person thinks the exact opposite with equal sincerity and conviction and denounces their ancestor despite whatever achievement they have made to the progress of mankind when they weren’t being a twat? If they were wrong a hundred years ago about so much but believed themselves right, what are we wrong about today?


It is only if morality is a flexible, malleable concept that such things are possible. So, is it possible to prefer small production and distribution and turn that belief into a moral conviction? I would say so for no other reason than the opposite conviction is possible.


When you look at the pile it high sell it cheap retail model pioneered by Jack Cohen of Tesco, many turn to prior American retailers like Woolworth for earlier examples. Few turn to the Quakers of early industrial Britain. These Quaker families were fiercely moralistic and refused to be involved in many trades they considered immoral. Alcohol would be one such prohibition. Names you will now recognise entered the cocoa business and their family names live on as much-loved brands of chocolate. They built factories with the best working conditions of their day. They built houses for their workers that were decent places to live and raise families and not cheap damp slums. They built schools and hospitals. They did so from a strong moral conviction and no small measure of a deeply and sincerely held belief in God. One of which was not to sell their products for more than they had to. The concept of selling their chocolate for as much as they could get was an immoral greedy idea. They sold it for the least they could afford to. Their high-quality excellent value chocolate sold by the cart load, what with being better and cheaper, expanding the market from a luxury to an everyday item. They discovered by chance that low margin meant high volume. Their business expanded. Out of a moral conviction not to rip people off they discovered low margin, high volume or pile it high and sell it cheap before anyone else. They discovered this through a strong moral conviction. So, tell me again this is morally wrong?



i don't know. moral, immoral, sexist, empowering
you decide for yourself




Could it be that some simply want high margin, low volume producers and retailers to be around because that’s what they like and being humans with a flexible idea of morality they’ve just decided that is moral. They’ve been backed up by others with similar ideas and now they all agree with each other, its not just one persons crazy idea, it what is moral. A moral brewery is a small brewery. Them big ones are immoral.


Maybe. Maybe all this is bollocks. I have likely thought too much about whatever bollocks some middle-class wanker has been saying about craft beer on twitter. Maybe it requires less thinking about and more ignoring. But without overthought bollocks there would be no beer bloggery. But maybe that’s also part of the human condition. To think about things. To think about beer.


I leave you with this, A moral system valid for all is basically immoral ― Friedrich Nietzsche





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