The beer as a sign

According to Ferdinand De Saussure´s theory of what a sign is, we can think about it as a structure and not an object, that is, the sign is divided in two perceivable phases (meaning and signifier) and the third one is the result of the relation between the another two.

The signifier is the "physical" or noticeable part, and it can be perceived in a lot of different forms; colors, sounds, smell, movement, etc. and the other part is way too related what the sign tries to communicate, that is, ALL signs can communicate something, according to Umberto Eco´s ideas, a sign is "something being there for someone" highlighting the sign as an specialized way for transfering a concept.

So, i have a good beer at mi left hand, served in a relatively short glass, it smells good, tough is not a very robust beer, its amber coloured and has not too much bubble, just the necessary to feel it refreshing. So, we can start by telling that a beer is not precisely an efficient way to communicate, besides, it works as a way of communication, but ¿what kind of concepts a good tasting cold beer cand transfer? The first one can be how your fridge is working, but a fridge is not a "natural" part of the beer, it is an object on its perimeter and a situation the beer-makers have settled as a fact (this happens very often in communications systems)so, only what the brewer had decided his noble and tasty beer will have between the ingredients is what we can consider as a part of the sign, and to be more precise, the signifier part because is what we perceibe with our senses.

Taste, smell and body in a beer depends of the type of oat used, how toasted can it be, the brewery time it takes and the species. So, a clear beer is made of mild toasted malt and the dark one is made of hard toasted malt/oat/barley, the fermentation is what provides alcohol content and body, and behind the carbonic gas (thus, smell) is the yeast. So, i can tell by the way this lovely beer behaves in my mouth, the brewer decided to make it with low toasted barley and the yeast is not of a high level of fermentation because the color is clear and the bubble level is not as high as in a cola. The body and taste tells me the cereals aren´t that good, but still gives a good experience. I imagine the brewer thinking in its public as a receptive mass who likes a fluent beer very vold for those hot days of work (Corona´s fame is very known through various social levels in Mexico) or as a good dessert when you have had a nice dish of meat (i like fish mostly) or a good order of fries.

¿But, what is the sign in a beer anyway? "My beer is the best" if we live in a free market world it will be normal to find some different species of the same product. So, the signifier part (the taste, smell and goodness of a Corona beer)is made for being perceibed. The other part ("my corona beer rules") is a not so evident, so we can call it "deductible" and it is not as clear as the glass containing my pint, it is not embedded, tough is "buildable". We can mix the part of the experience with the part of deduction, we can remember the smell, body and taste of a Corona going along with a criteria of quality and "appropriateness" we can say at the last drink of our cold Beer "Ah! This one is the queen of beers" which is, curiously, what the brewer want us to think.

And i agree with him.

Cheers.