Beer and youth culture
I also couldn’t stop wondering why he would want me of all
people to come and speak at a beer conference. I’m only a lawyer and media
personality. None of these have anything to do with brewing or nutrition. Was
he insinuating that I had a drunken reputation? Does he think I drink quite a
lot; enough to be able to be an authority on the subject? Why me? I said to
myself that it must be because I was such a great speaker and smart young man
with versatile interests and knowledge. Has to be.
I’m not an expert or research professor on a subject like
this so I don’t have any fancy slides or presentations with graphs. I’ll simply
be sharing a lot more personal experiences and will try not to bore you with
them. I’ll also leave most of the facts and figures to the experts here. I’ll
try and speak on what I know for sure based on my rime spent with beer over the
years.
When I walked into Mr. Modupe’s office for our first meeting
on this conference, I remember him asking me; “Do you drink beer?” I was caught
between amused and surprised. How can he ask me that? Me of all people who went
on that little show called Big Brother and became famous for my love of the
brew? Me that has become the new face of Gulder, the most beer of all beers if
there ever was a term like that. I mean, I started drinking when I was…
Actually let’s not go into my age at the time and just assume I was legal at
the time.
So I was born and bred in Benin City and my dad was a
serious banker at the time that only wore suits and came home with a briefcase
only to continue working at home before going to bed. But I had an uncle wholived with us at the time who was
slightly my hero growing up; uncle Basil. Uncle Basil was about 5’ 8” tall,
dark, and extremely fit with probably an 8 pack on his belly and the largest
calves (or yams like we say) I’ve ever seen till date. Uncle Basil made me fall
in love with Enugu Rangers by making me trek with him to Ogbe Stadium back then
with him whenever the flying antelopes were in town. Whenever the game was
done, I remember he would make us stop at a local bar to buy a few bottles of
beer for himself while he bought me a soft drink or simply made me watch when
he wasn’t too buoyant. In the midst of all that, I also remember a song we
would sing as kids at the time for someone who had a pot belly; “Bigi belle
nwayo, afo beer”. Hearing that song and knowing how fit my uncle looked, it
never really made sense to me. How did he have a six-pack as a beer drinker
when beer drinkers were supposed to have their tummies overlapping their belt
holds?
One day, I
finally managed to ask him why his tummy was not big when he drank beer. And he
looked at me and laughed then said; “O n’agu gi?” I can neither confirm nor
deny that he poured me a glass that day but what I can confirm for sure is that
he never answered that question, which naturally left me with even more
questions. But being a kid and since most kids are visual, the one beer drinker
I knew had a six-pack and that was what stuck with me. It even stuck more with
me because the two uncles I had with the largest tummies in the family, didn’t
drink. Akpu is the local delicacy in Okija so as an adult now I can understand
where their tummy came from. But for me at the time, they simply needed to
drink beer to reduce their bellies.
University
was a very interesting time for me, as it usually is for everyone. Suddenly,
you’re free from your parents’ constant watchful eyes, you start getting
spending money and then there’s the added pressure of trying to prove how much
of a man you have become amongst your peers. Pressure brings a lot of things. One
of which is that it makes you drift towards certain groups of friends. I
drifted overtime towards the beer drinkers as I had fallen in love with the
brew at that time. Drinking together usually involved arguments about whose
beer brand was the better one. Or whether Okocha was a better dribbler than
Ronaldo de Lima. Or interestingly, who would graduate with an A in what course
that semester.
A good
friend of mine, Chinedu, usually led the latter conversation. Chinedu was that
friend your parents always warned you about. He enjoyed his beer a little too
much. Chinedu sometimes had to have a bottle of beer in the morning before
going into class if we had an early lecture. Chinedu never understood why
people complained about people who drank to start their day. For him, you drank
in the evenings to relax from the stressful day as much as you should drink in
the morning to start the day. And he made this argument in the clearest diction
you could ever hear. In our 5th year, on the day of our
Jurisprudence exam, I still remember running to school because I only had a
10-minute window to get into the hall and get ready for the exam. I saw Chinedu
run past me and I wondered why he was going in the opposite direction. He told
me he had to go clear his head quickly and would be right back. Of course you
know what that meant. My friend went to “rush” one bottle sharply before a
proper final exam.
Now, why
would your parents have warned you about Chinedu? Well, Chinedu was not just a
beer drinker. He was also extremely hardworking and intelligent. He never
missed class and was most likely studying whenever he wasn’t in sight, which
was often. For all his love for beer, he was the second best graduating student
in my class and the next year, he was the best graduating student in Civil Law
in all of Nigeria from law school. Of course I’m not saying he was smart
because he drank beer. But it was clear to me and everyone who knew him that
overtime, he had broken one of the longest standing myths about beer being for
good-for-nothings.
Speaking of
law school, any lawyers here will know that that’s one year you never forget
for how intense classes are and all the talk of people fainting in exam halls.
Going through with law school is every law student’s nightmare and passing the
bar exams is the only mission and it must be achieved at all cost. For some
reason, I came across a report online one day which gave me the license to drop
my bags of coffee which I hated at the time and pick up my beer. The report
gave 3 reasons why it’s good to drink beer and study and I’ve never forgotten
them. It stated that it improved creativity, made you smarter, and actually
fought slight infections that could be on coming. Of course it clearly said
that it must be had in moderation just so the reverse isn’t the case. I know
I’m sort of smart and I worked hard to pass my bar exams so I’ll take credit
for it. But maybe, just maybe the beer had something to do with it.
The talk
about beer making you more creative and smarter, also brought Chinedu back to
mind. There had to be a reason why a beer to start his day, was sometimes very
important to him. He may not even have known that there was a scientific side
to why he did it. As with many young people, he probably just did it because he
liked it and knew it helped him in some way. To find that there was actually an
official reason was pretty revealing for me.
I remember
visiting Ireland some years ago and wondering why there were so many old men
sitting in pubs at 9am, having pints of beer. It was even more startling to
hear that they had done that for many decades un-end. Interestingly, I also got
the opportunity to take a tour of a brewery on that same trip and it was my
formal introduction to how healthy beer could be. I still remember how shocked
I was to find out that beer was about 90% water. That shouldn’t be surprising
but something about hearing and seeing it, made me have and ‘aha’ moment. I’d
been told all my life to drink at least 3 liters of water a day. Maybe beer
would be the answer.
Besides
water, some other ingredients stood out for me one of which was silicon
(essential for bone strength). I remember the brew master saying that the
average 33cl of beer contains about 22% of the silicon we need daily. That is
compared to the almighty red wine, which has about 6 times less silicon
content. The silicon in beer is essential for the prevention of diseases like
osteoporosis amongst many others bone related conditions.
That point
in particular stayed with me because I come from a family with a history of
serious cases of arthritis. I don’t know for sure that beer is the answer to
arthritis but anything that could help my bones be a little less brittle, is
definitely welcome.
Then the
brew master talked about hops, another ingredient used in the brewing process.
He mentioned that when beer is taken in moderation, hops could help fight
obesity. That sounded untrue to me even coming from a brewing expert. As far as
I was concerned, he was only saying this to “sell his market” like we say in
Nigeria. I had to do some more research about that one before believing him. In
a 2005 study published by the US National Library of Medicine and National
Institutes of Health, it was found that “supplementation of high-fat-containing
chow with isomerized hop extract (IHE), reduced body weight gain and improved
glucose tolerance.”
I had to
refresh my memory on this topic again as I prepared to come here today and I
found that more recent studies still support that finding. In fact, just last
month researchers in the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregun State University,
received a $2.64 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to help
further their research in the area hops extracts and its effects on obesity.
Of course
at that point, my uncle Basil instantly came back to mind. It made a lot of
sense to me as an adult looking back at how he took his beer. He wasn’t a heavy
drinker even though he was consistent. To the best of my knowledge, he rarely
drank more than two bottles at a time and on the average he did that about 3
times a week. He definitely enjoyed his beer but never abused it. It was hard a
s a child to see this then but it makes a lot more sense now, especially added
to the fact that he was an active young man. His six pack isn’t such a mystery
anymore.
With all of
this in mind, it does break my heart to see what direction my generation has
taken with alcohol consumption. I was at a nightclub recently and the waiter
expectedly came to the table where I was sitting with my friends and asked to
take our order. She got to m and I asked for a Gulder. She gave me this
startled look as if I had to be crazy to be asking for beer in a place like
that. Then she replied; “We don’t sell beer here. Only brandy, vodka and
champagne.” It wasn’t the first time it had happened to me but it still
surprises me every time I hear it. Why can’t I have what I want or can afford?
The answer is simple; beer isn’t cool anymore.
We are a
generation of alcoholics, plain and simple. I doubt that the consumption of
hard liquor has ever been higher in history than it is right now. It is cool to
be able to afford bottles of expensive booze. It is even cooler to be able to
finish endless bottles of them at a go. Then on top of that, the real heroes
are the ones who mix brandy and champagne and vodka and everything else in
between, and are still able to stand. That is where we are these days.
Sadly, I
also don’t know think we have had more young people suffer and die of heart,
liver and kidney related conditions than we have right now. More and more
people are having cardiac arrests before 30. Livers are getting damaged more
often these days. Everyone here without a doubt, knows someone who has either
had a kidney transplant or is going to have one soon. Why have these diseases
become so clear and present amongst young people these days? Isn’t there a link
between our newfound alcohol culture and the rise of internal organ damage?
Interestingly,
one of the health benefits of drinking beer in moderation is a healthier heart.
According to researchers from the TNO Nutrition and Food Research Institute in
Utrecht, Holland, “beer has overtaken red wine as the best daily habit to best
avoid having a heart attack.” The researchers studied 11 men aged 44 to 59 over
a 12-week period. Each drank beer, red wine, gin and water at 3-week intervals
every evening. Homocysteine levels (which causes heart failure when elevated)
rose by 8% after three weeks of consuming red wine. It increased by 9% after
taking the spirits but did not increase at all after consuming beer.
It is
pretty clear that a beer a day is probably better than having to go on blogs or
social media to beg for N7 million to help finance your trip to India for a
kidney transplant. Young people have a lot of role models their age that they
have better access to these days because of technology. It’s easy to go on
Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, and see your favorite artiste or actor showing
off his table at the club and there are endless bottles of hard liquor. Fans
and followers then want to emulate that lifestyle which simply reinforces star
power and what it brings. Unfortunately, some of our celebrities have also been
the first to ask for funds when internal organs fail but their fans and
followers never seem to learn a lesson from that side of things.
I have
always been an advocate for healthy living. Okay maybe not always, but at least
for the last 6 years, anyone around me has probably been irritated more than a
few times because of how I go on and on about maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
The one thing I always tell people is simply to “move more”. Moving more and
eating right could even work better than any gym membership you’ll ever take
up. But in all of my eating right and working out, my beer never left me. And
it honestly wasn’t because I thought it was healthy. I just liked to enjoy a
cold bottle whenever I could and it is interesting how over time, I’ve become
the uncle Basil amongst my friends. I always get asked how I manage to maintain
a flat tummy and still look good in a suit when my beer and I are inseparable.
Maybe it’s because I work out often. Maybe it’s because I try to eat healthy;
try being the keyword. But also maybe just maybe it’s because of the hops in
the beer I enjoy drinking.
Before I
take my leave I need to point out that the common thread linking every single
experience I’ve shared here today as well as every single research report I’ve
come across is the word ‘moderation’. As
with anything in life, it is impossible to consume beer excessively and expect
the same results. Even water can lead to many complications when consumed a
little too much. Food is important to our existence but too much food comes
with its own health issues. Medication heals us. But going above a doctor’s
prescription is a license to death. Thus, excessive consumption of beer is what
leads to all the stereotypes associated with it. Like we say in Igbo; “ihe
n’ato uto, n’egbu egbu.” The things you enjoy a little too much can kill. Beer
can be you friend if you treat it with respect and manage it like you should. A
beer a day instead of an apple, may just keep the doctor away.
So, for
every time that you try to go overboard or even drink in moderation and someone
tells you you’re doing the wrong thing, think about the Basils and Chinedus of
this world and remember that your mental and physical fitness may just depend
on that bottle in front of you. Cheers!
Ebuka Obi-Uchendu
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