The sad state of beer drinking in the US

[anon_xdc8rmuek44eq]

NOT BEER?

Sadly, you're not drinking the right beer then, man.

I have become a total beer snob since my 19yr old frat boy days. I used to live with a bunch of Germans and they refused to drink any US beer. At first, I wrote their attitude off as typical Prussian BS but I get it. (I'm a devoted Belgian and Bavarian style beer drinker)

There are a lot of incredible craft beers out there. Colorado and So Cal have some super beers out there. (Not New Belgium Brewery) I love the fact that we are rediscovering what real beer is here in the US. I haven't drank frat boy beer in 20 years, the same way as I haven't drank Maxwell House coffee in that time either.

I lived in Germany for five years. Drank beer all over Europe - Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, England, Italy, Czech Republic, Bosnia (yes, they have beer, and it's awesome). I'm not a giant beer drinker by any means, but I don't get this whole 'craft' beer thing. Are German beers 'craft' beers? What does that even mean? I've also been to a few breweries in Virginia who claim to make 'kolsch' style beers - and they're garbage. Are those 'craft' beers? Is Guinness a craft beer? Is this like saying something is 'small batch'? Thanks.

 

[jjsocrates]

Troegs is $4.50/pint in dive bars I go to.
ML is $2.50.
I prefer Troegs, but I ain't dropping $50.

You're drinking 10 pints a trip? I hope you have a designated driver.

Also, here's what you should do. Order a pint of Troeg's for $4.50. Ask for two pint glasses and a pitcher of water. Fill each pint glass half way with Troeg's and fill it the rest of the way with water. BAM...now you've got TWO pints of Miller Lite. For $2.25 each. I just saved you a quarter. You're welcome.

BTW...McDonald's hamburgers are $0.79 and Five Guys Burgers are $3.99. Why would people ever go someplace other than McDonalds.

 

[jjsocrates]

I lived in Germany for five years. Drank beer all over Europe - Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, England, Italy, Czech Republic, Bosnia (yes, they have beer, and it's awesome). I'm not a giant beer drinker by any means, but I don't get this whole 'craft' beer thing. Are German beers 'craft' beers? What does that even mean? I've also been to a few breweries in Virginia who claim to make 'kolsch' style beers - and they're garbage. Are those 'craft' beers? Is Guinness a craft beer? Is this like saying something is 'small batch'? Thanks.

Hard to define. And I've had a handful of "craft beers" that weren't that good. They use the label for marketing purposes, because they can due to their size, but I can taste the crappy ingredients - it gets to the point where I can taste the added corn syrup adjunts.

It all comes down to quality and taste. Mass produced beers tend to skimp on the amount of ingredients. Some of those awesome European beers would be classified as "craft" if they were made in the US. A lot of the mass produced European beers aren't much better than their US counterparts.

Kolsch is also a preference. I had a Kolsch last night - it was well made, but I'm just not a fan of the style. Same for pilseners. I really like 3 or 4 brands, but its still not my favorite style.

You drink enough beers, enough styles, enough brands - you start to discover what you like and what you don't. Its why I scoff at "pale lager" style American beers but don't always make fun of those who drink them. But I can scoff at the advertising. However, I have had my share of tough guys drinking watered down light beers making fun of me for drinking strong dark ales - as if "real men" drank light beers.

Also - in response to a thread elsewhere - this is all in fun. My liquor cabinet is stocked with bourbon, whisky, rum, tequila...even absinthe. (Although my beer fridge does't have anything worse than Yuengling in it.) Everybody has their own tastes - as long as they acknowledge what it is they are tasting.

 

[anon_xdc8rmuek44eq]

Hard to define. And I've had a handful of "craft beers" that weren't that good. They use the label for marketing purposes, because they can due to their size, but I can taste the crappy ingredients - it gets to the point where I can taste the added corn syrup adjunts.

It all comes down to quality and taste. Mass produced beers tend to skimp on the amount of ingredients. Some of those awesome European beers would be classified as "craft" if they were made in the US. A lot of the mass produced European beers aren't much better than their US counterparts.

Kolsch is also a preference. I had a Kolsch last night - it was well made, but I'm just not a fan of the style. Same for pilseners. I really like 3 or 4 brands, but its still not my favorite style.

You drink enough beers, enough styles, enough brands - you start to discover what you like and what you don't. Its why I scoff at "pale lager" style American beers but don't always make fun of those who drink them. But I can scoff at the advertising. However, I have had my share of tough guys drinking watered down light beers making fun of me for drinking strong dark ales - as if "real men" drank light beers.

Also - in response to a thread elsewhere - this is all in fun. My liquor cabinet is stocked with bourbon, whisky, rum, tequila...even absinthe. (Although my beer fridge does't have anything worse than Yuengling in it.) Everybody has their own tastes - as long as they acknowledge what it is they are tasting.

I see. I'm all about drinking what I like (and that varies depending on several circumstances). I'd much rather see a guy quaff down a Bud Light he's enjoying than choke down a hefeweizen he's only drinking to be cool (and with an orange slice?? not in Germany...). Anyway, this is a pretty funny GQ article from David Chang (Momofuku) about why he like crappy light beers. Makes sense....

I have a tenuous relationship with the epicurean snob sets. Cheese snobs are okay, except for the delusional ones who proclaim America's artisanal cheeses are as good as Europe's. Wine snobs are pretty great, because they give me delicious wine. Sometimes they get worried when I want ice in my white wine, but what are you gonna do? I tell them I am a large man and I overheat. Coffee snobbery is just foreign to me; I don't drink much coffee, because there is this great stuff called Diet Coke that has plenty of caffeine. It's really refreshing, and I don't need any tattoos to make it or fake Italian words to order it.

Beer snobs are the worst of the bunch. You know the old joke about cheap beer being like having sex in a canoe? I will take a beer that's "****ing near water" every night of the week over combing out my neck beard while arguing about hop varieties.

See, when a waiter asks me what I want to drink, I respond, "What is your lightest, crappiest beer?" I'm very direct about my preference. But sometimes they think I'm being a jokey frat guy and don't take me seriously. Or the sommelier worries that I'm turning up my nose at his wine list. The worst is when some dude starts to suggest a handcrafted lambic and I have to clarify my position.

I'm not saying that those beers don't taste good. They do! And there's a time and place for imperial stouts and barrel-aged saisons. (I have seen the sunrise from the bar at Mikkeller, okay, guys?) But 95 percent of the time, I don't want something that tastes delicious. I want a Bud Light. I am not being falsely contrarian or ironic in a hipsterish way. This is something that I genuinely feel: I do not want a tasty beer.

Maybe it goes back to my childhood. I remember watching my grandfather mow the lawn on a ninety-degree day in Virginia, and as soon as he finished, he'd ask me to fetch him a can of ice-cold beer. He'd tell me, "One day, you'll understand what it's like to drink a really cold beer when you've earned it." I was like, "What the **** does that mean?"

In high school, we drank cheap beer because we could afford it—we'd buy it by the case. But when I became a cook, I learned what that beer meant to my grandpa. Working alongside the Hispanic guys who really work in a restaurant kitchen, I learned that the world south of Texas makes amazing bad beer: Imperial from Costa Rica, Presidente from the Dominican Republic, Tecate from Mexico—all excellent bad beers.

For all the debatability of my rant here, let me make one ironclad argument for shitty beer: It pairs really well with food. All food. Think about how well champagne pairs with almost anything. Champagne is not a flavor bomb! It's bubbly and has a little hint of acid and tannin and is cool and crisp and refreshing. Cheap beer is, no joke, the champagne of beers. And cheap beer and spicy food go together like nothing else. Think about Natty Boh and Old Bay-smothered crabs. Or Asian lagers like Orion and Singha and Tiger, which are all perfect ways to wash down your mapo tofu.

But there's no beverage that I've drunk more of in my life than Bud Light. (Except water, but what's the difference?) And there's no drink I love more. I love it more than any great white wine, more than any white Burgundy, which I love very, very much. In my fridge, the only beer—practically the only foodstuff I've ever purchased for home—is Bud Light bottles. And since I live in New York City, I don't even have to mow a lawn to earn one.

 

[Blueblood4eva]

Well, Red Bull and similar beverage sales are up. Young folks know how to not get bloated or sleepy either. They make use of pharmaceuticals and Red Bull cocktails. The Aderol generation.

 

[NittanyPirate]

Can't believe more people aren't drinking the banquet beer. Best American beer.

 

[lein]

I lived in Germany for five years. Drank beer all over Europe - Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, England, Italy, Czech Republic, Bosnia (yes, they have beer, and it's awesome). I'm not a giant beer drinker by any means, but I don't get this whole 'craft' beer thing. Are German beers 'craft' beers? What does that even mean? I've also been to a few breweries in Virginia who claim to make 'kolsch' style beers - and they're garbage. Are those 'craft' beers? Is Guinness a craft beer? Is this like saying something is 'small batch'? Thanks.

Interesting, when I was in the UK I never found a local beer, rather Lager.

But you raise a point, if a 'craft' beer was in the top 6 or so in sales, would it still be a craft beer? What about the 'craft' beer breweries bought by Anheuser-Busch?

My rule is to simply drink what you like and not what someone else tells you to drink.