Taken from http://www.beeradvocate.com - I did not write this: JaKe

Todd English: Restaurateur, Chef and Huge Beer Slut

A slap in the face for quality beer and food.

You know, it's not easy to try to spread the word about better beer.
Take for example a fluffy Herald piece on Todd English's recent
endorsement of Anheuser-Busch's new Michelob brand, "The Gourmet Lager"
- English of course being the highly egotistical restaurateur, chef and
TV personality from Boston who brought us Olives, Figs and the like.
According to the Herald, a campaign will be launched to celebrate the
partnership, including print ads in major food magazines, retail
point-of-sale marketing collateral, a website with suggested recipes
and pairings and, of course, English waving the A-B flag at food and
drink fests.

Todd English: Restaurateur, Chef and Huge Beer Slut for Anheuser-Busch
/ MichelobNo doubt English was blinded by all the Franklins that A-B
threw his way, because there's no way in hell that someone at his level
would toss his integrity and passion for quality out of the kitchen by
endorsing something so mediocre, unless he's an absolute tool. No
really. Why doesn't he send a memo to all of his restaurants and have
them make the following replacements:

* Rustic breads with Wonder Bread
* Fine wines with Mad Dog 20/20 (Grape)
* Select cuts of beef with McDonald's burgers
* Classic sauces with condensed Campbell soups
* Fresh vegetables with Green Giant canned vegetables
* Chicken with pre-cooked and sliced Perdue Short Cuts
* Artisan cheeses with Velveeta
* Fresh herbs and spices with McCormick and Mrs. Dash

You get the point. He's essentially endorsing the Wonder Bread of beer.
On BeerAdvocate.com, Michelob has a current overall score of 71 (or Not
Recommended), and it's just points shy of an Avoid score. That's where
the misleading part comes to play. Michelob is not a gourmet lager.
It's not a good beer, even if you think it is because you don't know
any better. So what is it then? It's a mass-produced, fizzy, yellow,
lackluster, wuss beer designed to be bland for mass consumption, profit
and exposure. And that's a fact. Even its name has a faux-import sound
(it's German, "lob" meaning "praise"), making it even more misleading.
Even the blandest imports would kick its ass.

Great food deserves great beer

We wish more upscale restaurants would get this concept. How so? Take
any upscale. It'll no doubt have fantastic food, kiss-ass service and a
wonderfully extensive selection of wines, ap=E9ritifs, digestives, etc.
Then try to find the beer selection, or ask your waiter what they have.
We guarantee that 9.9 out of 10 times it'll be a boring, cookie-cutter
selection of mass-produced offerings, with the odd over-exposed
mega-import or large regional.

We simply don't understand how the vast majority of chefs can slap
their food in the face by pairing it with mediocrity. Why go through
the incredible attention to detail to make everything top-notch, only
to embarrass yourself with a lame beer selection? We're consistently
disappointed by this, and have yet to find a fine dining establishment
that takes beer as seriously as they do their wine and spirits.

What we need is a wake-up call to both brewers and restaurateurs. We
need brewers and their distributors to put some real focus and actual
effort on selling quality craft beer to fine dining establishments, and
restaurateurs to simply just wake the hell up.

This should be an easy task. It's a fact that because beer is so
versatile, it pairs better with food than wine. There's more complexity
in the range of a single beer style than there is for wine. Beer is
also perfect for infusing with food, and, like wine, many beers can be
cellared and sold as vintage. Pair this with proper presentation and
glassware, and restaurateurs could have a lot of fun integrating the
No. 1 alcoholic beverage in America into their menus.

The challenge!

Beer lovers: Next time you're fine-dining, ask the waiter or manager
why they lack a better beer selection. And contact us if you've
discovered an exception.

Restaurateurs/chefs: The glove has smacked your face. We challenge you
to revamp your beer selection.

Need help? Drop us a note.

Respect Beer.