The beer culture is very very weird to me, and something I just don't get.
I don't understand why companies don't promote an ice cream culture. Have custom flavors available throughout the day, a stocked freezer, etc. Sit back and have a sundae while discussing code problems. Try new toppings/sauces now and then, etc.
I don't drink beer. When I was younger, it was mostly a financial issue. As I'm older, I just don't like the taste. "Oh! But try this one - it's got a bold whatever with a hint of foo aftertaste". I don't care. It's beer. If it tasted so radically different from beer, it would be called something else. It's still beer.
Tech conferences often revolve around a subcontext of beer. "Let's go grab a beer!" Beers provided at open bars. Etc. I get it - it's a social lubricant. But... it's so ingrained in many cultures and subcultures (much like sports) that not participating is an odd signal. With more pushy types, ordering a non-beer gets a weird look and I have to explain myself multiple times. I shouldn't have to.
Ordering food, there's generally no such pushback - even vegans at the table generally don't say anything when I order a chicken sandwich. But order a water or coke when the rest of the table's ordering specialty beers, and 7 times out of 10 there's someone who questions you.
Again... I don't get the beer culture, and would love to see it replaced with nothing, or something else like ice cream.
EDIT: Sometimes people ask me if my non-beer attitude is a religious thing. It's not. I occasionally drink alcohol (wine/spirits) because I like the taste.
EDIT 2: What I was trying to get at above was that promoting a beer culture will necessarily be somewhat exclusionary, and some people may be on the defensive or feel like 'outsiders' at the outset. If you know you're doing that - you only want to hire people with a shared love of beer - that's great. But... that's probably not the point of your business. For pintlabs.com, for example, that is the point of their business (local startup focusing on beer - gentle plug for them)
My office had an ice cream freezer during the summer and it was a huge hit. Someone even set up a Twitter account that people could follow to know when it was restocked.
I'm struggling enough with my weight. Give me a free ice cream culture and I'll be 150 kilos in no time! But seriously, I think this is a good idea as long as there are healthy alternatives.
Agreed, it wasn't so much a real suggestion - health issues are a concern with too much of anything.
I do wonder if there's an extra insurance companies would have to pay if the insurers were aware that alcohol was provided for free on their premises. I tried to have an alcohol at an event and had to get extra insurance, provide security, had hard limits on amounts, and a strict 1 hour time limit.
The moment some SV-tech hipster beer fan gets killed driving home, there's going to be a big public about face. Or maybe not, we seem to be able to sustain a female-hostile culture in the face of plenty of bad events continually cropping up. Maybe alcohol related deaths would be ignored too... ?
I also don't like the taste of beer and have never had a glass of beer I've really enjoyed. If I'm not careful, the aftertaste can actually gag me a little bit.
I've had one or two unpleasant encounters with people who truly can't accept that all beer tastes bad to me. One person went so far as to tell me that you can't dislike beer if you like bread because, you know, beer is just liquid bread. I've since learned to just never bring up my distaste for beer except possibly on forums like this. I'm sure there are more of us out there who just keep quiet about it.
but we shouldn't. we need to be more vocal - fighting the 20-something fratboy beer drinking image of 'web developer' is something that needs to be done. I strongly suspect that perhaps outside a few square blocks of san francisco, non-beer-obsessed 30-something+ non fratboys (and girls) are actually the norm for web/software development, but we don't fit the techporn myth.
Don't worry, I'm in a similar boat. I have disliked most beers that I've tried (exceptions: Guinness), and the alcohol that I do enjoy (e.g. scotch) I can really only enjoy about a sip. Or half a sip. Sometimes just the smell.
I learned early on that ingredients alone don't matter so much. My dad doesn't like tomato ketchup, but eats tomatoes - I had to reconcile that quandry when I was about 5 and it's stuck with me ever since.
Why must these things be mutually exclusive. I enjoy good coffee, good beer (I brew as well and own a good coffee tools) good wine too. I love food and checking out new places around town. I can enjoy all of these things with colleagues and co-workers too, a number of whom don't drink, which is perfectly fine with me. Oddly enough I'm not into sweets so ice cream doesn't interest me (though a good gelato is pretty awesome).
I dunno is the "I don't drink" stigma a US thing? The people I know who don't drink in Canada don't seem to have a hard time of it.
Either way I don't see why we can't say to each their own _and_ help those with alcohol issues to get help without judging. Oh and especially call out harassment no matter the reason or cause because no. Too much to ask?
If that is too hard for an organization well then it has some serious room for improvement.
That said, not having beer at work would never be a deal breaker for me.
It's not something I face every day or all the time, but by comparison to regular every day life, around tech people and at tech events, it's more pronounced. And it may be a US thing, although I've got a German friend that constantly extols the virtue of fine German beers.
I'm fine with "to each his own", except... I'm not sure having kegs or company-provided beers in the office is an equal-footing sort of thing. Company-supplied alcohol is a tacit endorsement of that, and seems to foster a strange atmosphere at some companies.
I've seen posts on /r/coffee where people's workplaces have half a dozen or more brewing methods available to them, including grinders, espresso machines, and steam wands. If my work had that, you can guarantee I'd have a spreadsheet to track what tastes best to me.
If people harass you or treat you differently for not [drinking/eating/smoking/whatever personal choice] then you know who the assholes of the group are. Call them out.
I don't understand why companies don't promote an ice cream culture. Have custom flavors available throughout the day, a stocked freezer, etc. Sit back and have a sundae while discussing code problems. Try new toppings/sauces now and then, etc.
I don't drink beer. When I was younger, it was mostly a financial issue. As I'm older, I just don't like the taste. "Oh! But try this one - it's got a bold whatever with a hint of foo aftertaste". I don't care. It's beer. If it tasted so radically different from beer, it would be called something else. It's still beer.
Tech conferences often revolve around a subcontext of beer. "Let's go grab a beer!" Beers provided at open bars. Etc. I get it - it's a social lubricant. But... it's so ingrained in many cultures and subcultures (much like sports) that not participating is an odd signal. With more pushy types, ordering a non-beer gets a weird look and I have to explain myself multiple times. I shouldn't have to.
Ordering food, there's generally no such pushback - even vegans at the table generally don't say anything when I order a chicken sandwich. But order a water or coke when the rest of the table's ordering specialty beers, and 7 times out of 10 there's someone who questions you.
Again... I don't get the beer culture, and would love to see it replaced with nothing, or something else like ice cream.
EDIT: Sometimes people ask me if my non-beer attitude is a religious thing. It's not. I occasionally drink alcohol (wine/spirits) because I like the taste.
EDIT 2: What I was trying to get at above was that promoting a beer culture will necessarily be somewhat exclusionary, and some people may be on the defensive or feel like 'outsiders' at the outset. If you know you're doing that - you only want to hire people with a shared love of beer - that's great. But... that's probably not the point of your business. For pintlabs.com, for example, that is the point of their business (local startup focusing on beer - gentle plug for them)