Defender of Beer Drinkers Rejects the Redneck Image

It would be hard to find a more distinguished pedigree for the executive director of Beer Drinkers of America than the one Bill Schreiber brings to the table.

He’s a former newspaperman, former public relations man and former congressional staffer. Indeed, with that background there’s little else that Schreiber could be.

You might think, however, that these aren’t the best of times to be the head of any beer-drinking organization. With the recent publicity following the alcohol-related traffic accidents that paralyzed former jockey Bill Shoemaker and seriously injured baseball player Len Dykstra, this might be the time to lay low.

So, I asked Schreiber whether he has felt the need to apologize for his involvement in the group, which has its national headquarters in an office on Paularino Avenue in Costa Mesa. “I never apologize for it,” he said. “In fact, I’m proud of it. Ninety-five percent or more of the people who drink are moderate, responsible consumers of the product. So I have nothing to apologize for.”

Despite its party-hearty name, the association also has a serious agenda. It claims 565,000 members and uses some of that clout to lobby state and federal lawmakers whenever such things as raising the beer tax rear their ugly heads. The group has also weighed in against such proposals as warning labels on beer and bans on beer advertising.

Sort of the NRA of Brewskis.

“The organization was literally created by a couple guys in New Mexico,” Schreiber, a 43-year-old Cal State Fullerton graduate, said. “They founded it five years ago as Beer Drinkers of New Mexico. They were beer drinkers and concerned about the rising tide of what they saw to be neo-Prohibitionism, with special interest groups on the other side, anti-alcohol groups who were attempting to impose their moral values through the legislative process and excess taxes. They realized there was no organization in existence that represented the 80 million people who drink beer.”

While the organization sometimes butts heads with groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Schreiber said such conflict is unnecessary. He said Beer Drinkers of America “agrees with MADD 100% about drunken driving” and that his group has a national consumer awareness and education program called “Party Smart,” which has been adopted by the U.S. Jaycees and officials at the three major spring-break locales for college students.

The program, Schreiber said, “is positive and upbeat, rather than ‘Don’t do it.’ It says it’s OK that you’ve made the decision to consume beer, but if you do be aware that you have certain major responsibilities that go along with that.”

To bolster its image, the group has used athletes to serve as honorary national chairmen. Current chairman Jay Johnstone, a former Dodger and Angel baseball player, follows such luminaries as race car driver Bobby Unser Jr. and baseball Hall of Famer Stan Musial, Schreiber said.

“There’s this general stereotype of beer drinkers as a redneck who drinks beer in the back of a pickup truck and throws his beer cans on people’s lawns,” Schreiber said. “That’s absolutely contrary to reality. Yeah, there are some like that but the vast majority are just like me or you. They’re just folks, from mostly middle-class, middle-income backgrounds who drink moderately.”

Hasn’t publicity about Shoemaker and Dykstra hurt the group?

Schreiber said it’s ridiculous to think Shoemaker and Dykstra drank and drove because of the existence of beer ads and commercials or beer company sponsorship of sporting events. “The one good thing that evolved is that young people see that their heroes, particularly in the sports world, have feet of clay and that they’re capable of making tragic mistakes with tragic consequences. That has some value. What doesn’t have value is engaging in meaningless rhetoric. . . . The problem is that some people are abusive by nature, and they need to be helped, educated, and in some cases, incarcerated.”

The organization is fighting what it considers anti-beer legislation in at least 30 states, Schreiber said. And the group also sees a specter haunting it: “Many of the trends and cycles we’re seeing today are identical to those trends and cycles that led to Prohibition 70 years ago.”

So the fight to keep the world safe for beer continues.

In the midst of all the heavy talk about beer, Schreiber mentioned the organization’s quarterly magazine, “Heads Up,” which includes “interesting information about beer.”

Interesting things like what, I challenged.

“Things such as the fact that when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, one of the main reasons listed in their log was that they had run out of beer.”

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by writing to him at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626, or calling (714) 966-7821.