So, this is a day late and a few dollars short, but this morning CBC posted my most recent column online. In honour of Super Bowl weekend, I humbly offered an alternative to the oceans of Bud and Bud Light that flood north American bars in early February every year. Of course the game is over now with nothing but the clean up left, but the lesson remains important.

I start the column by talking about how we got to the sorry state where only one beer can be promoted around the Super Bowl. AB-Inbev paid a whopping $1.2 billion for the exclusive rights to the NFL and the Super Bowl. That is a lot of dough to flog boring beer. I then toss in a teaser of possible food and beer pairings and then shift to my main point – that you can enjoy the game AND drink good beer at the same time.

I suggested putting Samuel Adams and Brooklyn Brewing head-to-head. Not a terribly original idea (and one I actually picked up from the Tomato’s Peter Bailey), but it served its purpose well. I wanted to demonstrate that quality craft beer need not be wild and intense, and that there is a craft beer for every occasion, including watching a football game. Both of these longstanding breweries make a solid pale lager – something even Bud drinkers might appreciate.

The response from the guest host to a sampling of Boston Lager demonstrated the veracity of my claim (listen to the column here, if you wish). Now, this comes as no surprise to any regular readers of this site, I realize, but I still think the lesson is worth repeating. Gateway beer like Boston Lager are important elements of the craft beer revolution. We need beer that a lager drinker can recognize and appreciate. That is how we move people – step by step. Besides, I quite enjoy the odd glass of Sam Adams myself from time to time.

I  had some other Sam Adams/Brooklyn head-to-head suggestions lined up, but we didn’t get to them. Hopefully a few people took me up on the idea and had a much more enjoyable Super Bowl party than they would have with boring Bud Light.