"I'm a Self-Made Millionaire!" Says Man Born Into Billions

"King Charles: 'I'm a self-made millionaire'" was the title of an article I saw today on CNN.com (published 16 Sep 2022). Riiiiight. A man born into billions, the heir to the British throne since age 6, is "a self-made millionaire".

The king's obtuse boast, which dates back to 2004 when he was merely Prince Charles, is sadly not limited to those born into royal families worth tens of billions of dollars. The myth of self-made success is common to all sorts of people who grew up unaware of their privilege.

Perhaps you've seen the quip, "Born on third base and thinks he hit a triple." It's comforting to assure yourself that everything you enjoy in life, everything you achieved, is not because it was given to you but because you earned it.

Baseball metaphors aside, what forms does this privilege take? Here's a great meme I saw elsenet years ago. The original seems to have been taken down but I do have a text copy:

Behind every "self made" millionaire is generational wealth, family investments, nepotism pulling strings, secret capital exchanging hands behind closed doors, someone moving you to the top of a pile, deals made at country clubs, and elite education, and/or some type of access.

Is this literally true? No, because not every millionaire is a result of extreme privilege. Some of us get there from modest roots through intelligence and hard work. Also, being a millionaire isn't the exclusive status it was years ago. Nowadays many educated professionals in lucrative fields (law, medicine, science, engineering) who manage their money wisely can expect to reach millionaire level after a few decades of work. But replace "millionaire" with, say, $20-millionaire ($20M being size of portfolio needed to provide an independently wealthy life of ease today) and "every" with almost every, and it's true.

BTW, in the article it's explained how King Charles considered himself a self-made success because a company he started had earned him millions. Look to every single thing in the quote above, though, to understand the help he enjoyed getting there. Oh, and when his company failed 5 years later and he was facing millions of dollars of losses... a major retail chain made a sweetheart deal to rescue him. Normal folks don't have angels pick us up when we fall.

Beer Tasting: Oktoberfest Round

It's September, which in the beer world means it's Oktober... as in Oktoberfest! When I dropped in to a liquor store last weekend to grab a four-pack of a beer I've been enjoying lately I saw numerous seasonal Oktoberfest beers on the shelf. Several were from credible breweries and at pretty good prices. I ended up walking out with 3 six-packs and 1 four-pack.

What is Oktoberfest? The fest part is a traditional annual festival in Munich that grew from the 1810 wedding celebration of Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig. 200+ years later we're still toasting the royal newlyweds. But Oktoberfest is also a style of beer... the style of beer served at Oktoberfest! 😅🍺

There's some disagreement about what type of beer Oktoberfest actually is. In the US it's usually a Märzen, a rich, higher alcohol lager with reddish color and sweet malt flavor. In Munich, where the official Oktoberfest occurs, it's a lighter colored and flavored lager, more in the style of a standard German lager or even a Pilsener.

The difference is because the style of beer served at Oktoberfest has actually changed over the past 200+ years. Apparently it was originally a dunkel, similar perhaps to the Hofbräu Dunkel I taste-tested a few months ago, then it evolved to a Märzen (which literally means March style, go figure), then to the lighter hued lager served at the festival in Munich today.

Why the history lesson? Well, for one, drinking's just drinking... but drinking while studying history is education! And two, it explains the differences I found in my first comparison of two Oktoberfest beers.



Now that I've provided that little history lesson it shouldn't be surprising that the two beers I poured, Leinenkugel's Oktoberfest and Warsteiner Oktoberfest, look different straight out of the bottle. Leinenkugel's is an American brewery in Wisconsin— perhaps best known for their Summer Shandy brew— and Warsteiner is German. Leinenkugel';s looks like what you'd expect of a Märzen beer; Warsteiner looks right for a standard German lager.

My surprised extended to the difference in flavor. Of course, if I'd researched this little history lesson before opening the bottles, the taste differences might've been more predictable. But alas I had assumed Oktoberfest means Märzen— a reasonable bias from American experience. The Warsteiner Oktoberfest indeed is not a Märzen. Which is disappointing to me because I actually enjoy the richer, slightly sweet flavor of that style.

In tasting the beers before dinner, Leinenkugel's won, hands-down. Its rich and slightly sweet flavor is thoroughly enjoyable as a standalone drink. Warsteiner had a lighter flavor with too much of a sour tone to be enjoyable solo.

When I started eating dinner, a meat pizza in this case, the two beers drew closer in suitability. Warsteiner's sour flavor was countered by the salty, umami flavor flavor of the pizza toppings. Leinenkugel's edged it out, though. Its richer flavor remained nicely balanced against the savoriness of the food, neither overpowering it nor getting lost underneath it.

Leinenkugel's moves forward to the next round of Oktoberfest beer tasting... because like I said above, I bought four Oktoberfest beers last weekend! Plus maybe I'll buy one or two more before the seasonal style disappears from store shelves. 🤣🛒🍻