Posted on 06/12/2021 6:40:29 AM PDT by mylife
Countless new beer releases flood the United States each year, from craft IPAs to macro lagers. But small-batch to mass-produced brews alike owe a debt of gratitude to the establishments that paved the way long ago — or, in some cases, less than two decades ago.
With nearly 9,000 breweries operating in the U.S. today, we ventured to independently verify each state’s longest-operating brewery. Exploring this data reveals Prohibition’s wide-ranging and inconsistent impact on American beer.
Pennsylvania’s Yuengling, established in 1829, takes the crown for the oldest brewery in the U.S., while North Dakota’s Fargo Brewing Co., founded in 2010, is the youngest state representative on the list. A craft beer renaissance in the 1990s is evident, with 21 of the states’ oldest breweries originating in the decade.
(Excerpt) Read more at vinepair.com ...
And for all of these years, I didn’t think Carter did anything worthwhile.
“You can find good basic beers and ales everywhere made from the four basics: malted barley, hops, yeast, and water.”
I’ve tried plenty - I play in a band and we play at lots of craft breweries in PA. I require a few beers to play, so I always try a few of whatever their least extreme brews are. They are always too hoppy - always too sweet - always too something. The familiar beer taste that I love is totally masked.
I know there are plenty that stick to the basic ingredients - but that does not mean they taste like just beer - they are always too something.
There is another factor I failed to mention: people’s taste buds vary - what is very subtle to one person can be extremely unpleasant to another.
Licorice, for example: to some people (like me) it is an awful experience that takes hours of brushing my teeth to get rid of - I can’t imagine why anyone would put it in their mouth on purpose. Other people literally eat it like candy - and it’s not just a preference - it is the degree to which your taste buds can sense it. When there is enough to ruin a desert for me, other people are saying they can’t even taste any. They think I’m crazy.
A similar thing with vanilla and cinnamon, except I like those flavors - just not too much - and when I think there’s way too much, other people can hardly taste it,
Maybe that’s what is going on with craft beers - maybe my taste buds experience things more extremely…I don’t know.
I do know that when sounds of our third floor renters playing music (mostly the drumming and bass) drives me nuts and keeps me awake - my wife can’t even hear it!
Maybe it’s the same with my taste buds.
Yep, you’re right about that!
True....
You’re right on. As they say, “There’s no accounting for taste.”
I was thrown off a little by the recent dates for some of these because I could think of older brands. For example, Goose Island in Illinois. I thought of Stag, which is a old regional brew in St.Louis and southern Illinois and used to be made in Belleville, Illinois. Then I remembered that Stag was bought by Pabst some years ago and is now made in Milwaukee or somesuch place.
The Mayflower was bound for Virginia, but they ran short on beer and came ashore at Plymouth Rock to brew some more. Drinking water instead of beer could be deadly in those days.
Wife and I have an R.V. and for 15 years have traveled around America for 3 or 4 months a year.
I will NOT go to Chili”s or Ruby Tuesday or such.
We go to Microbreweries.
1st one was Firehouse in Rapid City S.D. and were Hooked.
A former horse drawn fire house barn turned in to a museum of old fire house equipment with good Beer.
Loads of Great places where Beer crafters do their best instead of a corporation.
Hey MottTheHoople,
Go around America and check out Micro breweries.
They are making a comeback and lots of great beer is being made by some really good folks.
If you go to different areas various local fruit or berries are being used to make unique beers.
Also folks put their heart and soul in to making a product better than Freaking BUD.
Heck, In Texas if you get an APP. telling you where micro breweries are you would be amazed.
America’s back-in-the-day beer landscape
As my father tells it, the US beer industry was basically a fiefdom for those intervening decades between Prohibition’s blessed repeal and the industrial improvements in bottling, shipping, and mass-batch brewing that arrived post-WWII. Provincial breweries dominated their respective regions, but rarely expanded beyond the invisible boundaries of cost-effective distribution.
By the Seventies, he says, these insular realms were entrenched in crippling competition with Big Beer, and when the Nineties dawned, there were only a handful of indie brewers still successfully defending their local shelf-space from the constant threat of homogenous, homogenized brew.
What follows is a primer on 23 American beers of yesteryear: formerly glorious brews that are either dead & gone, drastically enfeebled or — in a few improbable cases — still thriving today. These brave brands fought the good fight, in their failures paving the way for an entire second act in local American beer-brewing. Cheers to that.
https://www.thrillist.com/drink/nation/old-american-beers
Yes, sir :-)
The best beers I had in my long, long life were when I was living in the good old US of A - all of them in microbrews.
Anybody who appreciates good beer will definitely love American microbrews. You can take my honest word for it :-)
Yet, even the products of mid-size breweries (somewhat bigger than the average microbrew) like Sierra Nevada and Anchor Steam of California, or the Boston Beer Co. from “the other side of the country” ;-) can easily hold a candle to most European brews.
If you try the local beers, wherever you are, you mostly won’t be disappointed - beer, after all, tends to decline in quality when it is being transported for too long a distance.
This is especially the case when the cooling-chain is interrupted for a significant amount of time. Poor beer...
So it’s always better to drink it while it’s still fresh. To your health! :-)
Boulevard Brewing.co in Kansas city is also a great mid sized brewery with several different brews is the one I drink.
Have 220 growlers on the walls and another 200 stickers cause we ran out of room to collect growlers.
A picture of memories.
The Sam Adams - MA oversight is just bad; also Oldenburg Brewery - KY beat BBC - KY by 6 years.
Like, where is Olympia, and Rainier?
Out of production I guess, but older than I.
see post #50
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.