Posted on 08/04/2015 10:46:30 AM PDT by C19fan
Todays discerning beer drinkers might be convinced that Americas watery, bland lagers are a recent corporate invention. But the existence of American beers that are, as one industry executive once put it, less challenging, has a much longer history. In fact, Thomas Jefferson, himself an accomplished homebrewer, complained that some of his countrys beers were meagre and often vapid nearly 200 years ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
Bland?
My go to is Classic Light. < $15 for 30 cans here in PA.
Reconstituted buffalo urine is ANYTHING but bland!
Trust me.
Wtf is this guy talking about. There has been a nationwide explosion of micro brews and home brews and craft brews for quite a while. I have been to 35 countries world wide, including europe and nowhere has the variety that the US now offers
American beers are brewed for the masses. The bad taste has to be covered up by serving them ice cold.
European beers are served at a much warmer level because they have a great taste that doesn’t need to be disguised.
I one gave a NCO of mine a large bottle of Chimay. I told him when he was ready to drink it to:
1. Put it in the fridge for no more than 45 minutes.
2. Plan on staying at home.
The next Monday he told me had drank the bottle on Saturday evening. He cooled it as instructed, drank the first glass and thought I was crazy for #2. He poured the second glass. His wife found him on the couch, holding the empty glass. He loved the stuff.
It is what the market demands. If you want something which emphasizes flavor, you need to find a good local microbrewery and/or switch to an ale.
There are a couple of fairly decent regional brands. Samuel Adams is one of them. Rolling Rock used to be one in our region before the brand was sold to New Jersey which uses the same recycled urine as every national brand.
If you are ever in the San Diego area, I highly recommend a visit to Stone Brewing.
Newcastle Brown (England), Urquel Pils (Czech Republic)
are two from Europe which historically placed very well in contests. No doubt there were others.
Frankly, my favorite ever was Schlitz......ABSOLUTELY!!! Since 1964.
Someone is going to be paying you a little visit:
Cold brewing.
next?
“Do the still make Pabst Blue Ribbon? Imagine my confusion when I move out west and found out PBR means a whole different thing out here!!”
Oh, they most definitely do. For some reason it has become the super chic beer of the hipster. You can actually go to upscale hipster bars and see people ordering PBR for $12 bucks a pint (not kidding)
It seems everywhere likes American beer. We were on a small island in the Bahamas where one gal at the resort was the greeter, bartender, showed you to your room, etc.
We were going into town to the liquor store to stock up on rum and asked if she wanted/needed anything. She said...yeah, bring me back some imported beer! We said which one? Her answer was Bud. We laughed! We brought her back a 6.
Bud/Coors Lite are only good on a very hot day, when you are outside and you need something to go down like water.
A friend here is the president of the local Home Brewing Society. I get to try out some very good beers from time to time. If some of the things his club come up with were in the stores, I might well become a beer drinker.
Originally, the water was the critical component. Hard water, and light-colored lagers come out the best, soft water, brown ales. Add to that fermentation temps (climate) and how the grain grows in your region, and you get regional beers.
Today we can engineer the water and select components, but if you are an established brewery you’ll continue to brew what your customers want. So if you start making light lagers without much flavor that must be cold to be enjoyable, that’s what you brew today.
Brewing something like Bud or Miller is not easy to do. You can’t hide a mistake behind a dark color or strong flavor (so batch-to-batch consistency is tough as input materials change), and chill haze is always a problem.
From friends of mine who have traveled to Europe, they will say it’s because American beer is pasteurized. The Euro beer (and cheese) is not and is out of this world delicious.
Budweiser, Miller, and Coors all brew for the lowest common denominator.
Then this Bud is for you!....lol
Then drink water.
If your goal is to drink large quantities, and I know people that do. Then really high quality beer is just too heavy. An ice cold coors light on a hot day is in no way bad beer.
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LOL.
You’re right, it’s not bad beer, it’s good water.
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