Posted on 11/24/2014 8:20:22 PM PST by wetphoenix
Milos Zeman, president of the Czech Republic, has branded American beer as filthy water during a business summit in Kazakhstan but US brewers neednt pay too much attention.
During the trip, Kazakhstans long-running president, Nursultan Nazarbaev (who has run the country since 1989), asked Zeman (pictured above) which beer he thought was the best in the world.
According to Reuters Zeman replied that, Czech beer is the best in the world. No American company that offers filthy water instead of beer can compete with us.
Zeman is used to controversial and often profane statements, the 70-year-old even calling Russian protest band Pussy Riot, c***s live on Czech radio.
Meanwhile, earlier this month on the 25th anniversary of the fall of Communism in Czechoslovakia he was pelted with eggs after claiming the police did not use violence to suppress the Velvet Revolution of 1989 (Zeman himself was a member of the Czechoslovak Communist Party from 1968-1970).
His approval ratings have fallen from 58% to 37% in little over a month and last week some 71% of Czechs polled said they thought his public statements were harming the countrys image.
The Czechs are indeed Europes biggest beer drinkers with a per capita consumption of 148.6 litres.
The comments may cause some offence to Americans but they also come as other headlines from the US claim that Americans are drinking more craft beer than Budweiser (a US brand that had an extremely long legal wrangle with Czech brand Budweiser Budvar).
The Wall Street Journal reported that even Budweisers brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev even admits that around 44% of 21-27-year-olds in the US today have never tasted the brew.
Budweisers market dominance has been on the wane since it peaked in 1988 at 50 million barrels. It had declined to 16m last year with Bud Light and Coors Light displacing it to the top two spots in 2001 and 2011 respectively.
However, craft beer has also been on the rise and, all-together, now produces 16.1m barrels and holds a 7% share of the overall market in the US, with volumes growing 18% in the first seven months of this year compared to last and commanding an export market worth US$73m.
I agree.
Most American beer is like having sex in a canoe.
F’n near water.
I’m sure he hasn’t tried some of our excellent microbrews.
Can’t say I can critize him for calling the pussy riots c***s. They want to shock by being vulgar, fine we can return the favor.
The craft beer selection in the USA is second to none. Maybe 10 - 20 top notch beers in CR compared to thousands here.
I use to like Sam Adams but it is queer beer so much for that NE liberal shi*.
Not to mention “Blue Ribbon “...
Than try this next time.
I hate beer snobs.
Especially commie beer snobs.
“Nothing like a beer thread to bring out the ol beer snobs, waxing poetic about their oh-so-sophisticated palates. “
—
I thought I was the only one that felt that way. :-)
The “craft” beer crowd,
.
Heineken!?!?!?! F that S! PABST BLUE RIBBON!
Ya, but we don’t have to wait for the horse race to end to get ours....
~Staropramen (from Prague) is great.~
Yep. But my favorite Czech is Pilsner Urquel.
IMO, Bavarian beer is still better. Nothing beats Hacker-Pschorr Munich Gold but I have never seen it outside Germany.
Out of cheap mass-produced international brands I think Stella Artua is quite good too.
He never tried ice cold PBR while in Vietnam.
My fav is Odell 90 Shilling Ale.
Iron City uber alles!
No American company that offers filthy water instead of beer can compete with usInBev sure is not an American company. Neither is SABMiller (Miller and Coors), who also owns Pilsner Urquell (on record as the first Pilsner, right there in beautiful downtown Plzen too).
Make mine a Billy Beer!
Yes that was it. The scariest character I remember ever seeing in a movie.
You betcha. Cut my teeth on Ribbon when I was in Junior High.
I remember one time when I was in High
School a bunch of us went up to the US 30 dragstrip in Merrillville one Sunday. The restroom was one of those cinder block affairs that had a rain gutter attached to the wall for a urinal. There was an old boy there whizzing away and he turned to me and asked if knew where all of that was going. I said, “No” And he replied, “It goes straight to Detroit and they put it in Strohs bottles. A million, uh, Amish, can’t be wrong”
I miss Dennis.
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