LOUIE CHIN FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE
By Beth Teitell, Boston Globe
At this point in the beer snob’s ascendancy, it’s almost hard to remember, but there was a time when a beer was just . . . a beer.
In the movies, a guy would walk into a bar and say “gimme a beer” — any kind would do. There was no discussion of “mouth feel.” He did not take notes on what he was drinking. The tab didn’t hit 15 bucks.
Beer was a symbol of just-folks-ness. Pollsters used it as a measure of likability. “Who would you rather have a beer with?” George W. Bush or John Kerry? Barack Obama or Mitt Romney?
