On Sunday Brunch, the magazine programme he co-presents with chef Simon Rimmer, Lovejoy has promoted interesting beers from Britain and the rest of Europe so you might expect the website to do likewise. You'd be wrong.
Its main theme is matching beer and food. I'm not really into all that but some of its suggestions are just bizarre. San Miguel or Kronenbourg is the perfect accompaniment to asparagus apparently. Cooking fish? Budweiser, Fosters or Tuborg are what you want. World beers it recommends include Heineken and Sol.
I detect a heavy corporate hand here, especially in the taste descriptions. Has anyone really drunk Coors Light and thought "Hmm, soft fruit notes (pear drops, banana)"?
Who has paid for the campaign? There you will discover why the products promoted are the products promoted.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's being paid for by something called the Global Brewers' Initiative which according to this includes Anheuser-Busch Inbev, Molson Coors and Budweiser Budvar UK.
DeleteJust more of the same from the big brewers. Their incredibly badly thought out marketing has done beer nothing but harm over the past 20 years, I'm not sure why I expected this to be any different.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that amuses me is that Let There Be Beer expects people to take guidance from Tim Lovejoy. I've never met him, but all indications seem to be that he's a complete knob.
ReplyDeleteYou can read an excoriating review of his autobiography here :
http://www.wsc.co.uk/the-archive/42-Media/145-no-love-no-joy
Well that's just nonsense isn't it? I watched the two "episodes" and my brain started to turn to mush.
ReplyDeleteWonderful book review too.