16 February 2008: The Bar

The average grocery decision is made in 3 seconds. That holds true for me in every category except beer, wine, and candy. Tonight, I had to make a decision between beers. Why does it take me 5 minutes to decide between Killians and Harp? First, it must be said that I am on a very tight budget in preparation for a trip to Prague. Second, I normally do not care for domestic beers. My first memory of domestic beers is of my mom drinking a cold Bud Light after a hot summer day of weeding. She looked at me and said, sometimes there is nothing better than a cold beer on a hot day. American beer is typically very light. It resembles water and people often drink it as if it was. I did not really drink that much in college, but my freshman roommates did. What type of beer did they drink? They drank American beer. In bulkloads. They would wake me up in the middle of the night, drunk. American beer resulted in bad behavior and exhaustion. However, when I moved to Dublin, my perception of beer changed. No longer was it Rapaille's gun. Instead, beer was something to be consumed as an accessory while speaking with a person. The beer was darker and heavier. The dark color connoted richness. Its thick texture made one feel as if one was eating a meal. It was not meant to be consumed quickly. Rather, European beer was like having a dinner party. It was meant to be enjoyed with others. Killians is a domestic beer. However, I did not realize this until this past year when Monday's is $2.00 domestic night at Legends. Its dark color and Irish name, combined with the horse on the label, implied that it was Irish. Ireland's cultural metaphor is conversation. However, Harp is a lager. Light beers contain for me that slight feeling of apprehension. However, Harp is also an Irish beer. I value its Irishness over its light color. I did not drink it as much in Ireland however. I only started drinking it in the U.S. As I compared prices, I ultimately selected Killians because I sought the dark richness of a meal that Harp could not provide me. It was fitting for a Saturday night. Marketers could easily take this sense of "Irishness" and apply it to multiple beers. While the Irish have fun, an Irish beer is a conversational one. It is meant to be enjoyed and should be positioned as such. Harp would be interpreted as more of a blonde beer: full of ambition without the contemplation. Harp is the fun beer of Ireland. Killians inserts the meaning of Irish conversation to create its own brand meaning.