The Pub section of Untappd

*a mass is the German definition of a 1-liter glass mug.

My friend is a true believer that the world would be a better place if Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were still alive – and in charge. He also considers Über a great idea because “it is free from the State regulations and thus, if you want to work 16 hours a day, it’s only up to you”. His future plans include moving to a libertarian community in New Hampshire. From my point of view, his ideas range from highly disagreeable to ridiculous. Our soccer teams, political parties and cities are considered rivals in the Brazilian common sense. Even though, we are friends. I’m risking to say there is only one reason for that: beer. As a journalist, I write about the fermented beverage; as a bar owner, my friend sells it. Most of the time we leave our private concerns off the conversation to exchange visions and opinions about beer via an app called Untappd.

I must admit that one of the first things I researched about Jürgen Habermas was if he was a beer fan or not. If he is, certainly discretion is his motto, as there is not a single reference on a common Google search. Something I consider personally frustrating coming from a Dusseldorf native, the land of Altbier. Not because he may not be a big beer fan, but mostly due to the fact he could not perceive that beer places may be the concrete version of his public sphere concept, or an alcohol fueled model of the coffee houses. Even more with Internet. Germany had a bad moment with beer reunions. But that has not taken away its power as a social gatherer and debate creator.

Beer has gone from the drink of nobility to beverage of the people and through its history, and then back to the upper class in the last years with craft beer. Internet has helped to create spaces to debate the beer itself, and indirectly has worked also as a common place where people with the same interest can meet and debate. Perhaps the best example of it is Untappd, an app that, at first sight, consists only in rating beers from 1 to 5 stars. However, one can see, after some time, Habermas’ concepts applied on it in a new shape.

The first one: the coffee house gives room for The Pub section. This is the place to meet both friends and strangers to discuss the same theme. Social, gender and geographical differences are put aside, and a language common to the users is adopted. Colors, foam types, aromas, tastes, mouthfeel and bitterness have their own words and terms – SRMs, IBUs, ABVs, hoppy, malty, sour, Brett. As the coffee house had the purpose of creating a sort of debate space, a think tank, to make itself be heard by the State, Untappd allows beer fans to create their own image of each beer and show the breweries – in this case representing the State – if they approved or not their actions. Technically the pub space is free from the brewers’ interventions, at least directly.

It is hard to believe, however, that it would be free from outside pressures, specially from the economy or mass communication. At the same time apps like Untappd create a free space for debate and ideas (ratings) exchange, they have a big influential power, that can make newcomers lean toward the most experienced users’ opinions. Economy – represented by producers with a good marketing budget – may also have some strength in this medium, in some cases. The unwritten rule, however, is that Untappd users have a certain despise for big breweries, usually the ones with the biggest marketing budgets.

Nancy Fraser’s critique to Habermas’ theory can also be seen applied to beer. As I have mentioned, Untappd and the craft beer community in general is formed by middle to upper class fans, a select part of a society that, in its vast majority, recognizes beer as that golden, cold and somehow tasteless liquid that should be drunk, not “fussed over”. Female participation is also minimal when it comes to craft beer, what brought me to mind the gender issues Fraser pointed out. Curiously, women that are fond of craft beer also created what she would consider a subaltern counter public: The Pink Boots Society, a group that reunites brewsters, sommelières and fans in general, to create an isolated environment where women can have their beers apart from the male context.

If the coffee can be considered a symbol of sobriety, history and technology have helped beer to get a place in the table when serious discussions are involved. From the early days, as a field workers’ beverage, beer had low alcohol percentages; its use was mainly as a safe substitute for water, but without letting anyone incapable of working countless hours with the crops. Today, session beers and even low alcohol ones are coming back to fashion. If that is not enough, creative brewers were also able to blend malt, hops, yeast and coffee on the same glass. Would the recipe make the coffee house a little more open minded?