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Sunday Beer Blogging
In which I quote Frank Zappa, piss on American beers and explain why they’re intentionally watered down, discuss the disconnect between the American love of Mexican beer but not Mexicans, and other staff having nothing to do with George Bush, Iraq, bridge collapses or Yearly Kos.
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10 Responses to “Sunday Beer Blogging”
Interestingly, this is different from the way that I’ve read about it (oh gosh, what magazine was that in? po sci? I forget, honestly). Basically, the beer companies have been drifting toward more watery tastes because they sell best to the largest market (I thought it was cool that they had a preserved collection of their own and competitor’s beers over the past thirty years, so they could taste test and monitor the drift). Least common denominator, and all.
Currently, there is a drift back to stronger brews, although still less than times long past. The big companies keep up with each other, so if one of the majors saw a branding opportunity, they’d all probably move.
The problem is that the people who talk the most about beer seem to prefer the stronger tasting stuff (and the status conscious prefer specialty brews for other reasons too), but the average joe across the country prefers something cold and watery, anything stronger, and they don;t enjoy it so much… palate fatigue, I think they called it.
bellisaurius:
Everything you say is correct and point to two things:
First, the lowest-common-denominator aspect that Mr. Sixpack and I talk about.
Second, while it would seem to be a contradiction of the first thing, an aspect of that is that there does indeed to be some demand for stronger brews which the major U.S. brewers are addressing by attempting to make knock-offs of their primary products that have a tastier edge in order to address defections to tastier imported and craft brews.
For what it’s worth, and taste is most definitely in the mouth of the beholder, Mr. Sixpack has found these attempts to be less than satisfactory. He asserts, for example, that Bud’s new premium brew — Budweiser Select — isn’t even as pleasant to drink as its traditional brews.
Yeah, I don’t think the major brews are going to be able to successfully create a “macro-microbrew” without really spinning it as being something completely different (for example –not calling it Bud X…), with it’s own separate cred (like Saturn from GM)
I did like the bigger discussion of the blander taste in everything in your comments, but I also look at it from the other end, which is “inoffensiveness”, that sad byword of our mediocre times (sorry for the rhetoric, I just like to call up that meme every so often), which I understand and accept as needed for something nationwide, even if I feel a little sadder for it. Tabasco may sell up north, for example, but I doubt the average northerner wants food as hot as someone from Lafayette.
I should point out that personally, until earlier this year, I couldn;t drink beer at all -I couldn’t abide the tatse- Now, I can have one or two before I go back to Jack or Ron.
I guess it’s possible to develope one’s palate and to learn to apprecaite things, but why, when other stuff is more easily available (and who’d want to get rid of natural lite, or old style? I mean, how else could the drinkers of tommorrow learn to appreciate exactly how ‘not bad’ the Budweiser o Miller they’ll soon be drinking is?)
Obviously this is the fault of Bushitlers invasion of Iraq. If we were not in Iraq we would be in the streets protesting weak beer and not listening to Cindy Sheehan blast Pelosi.
Shaun – At your site you also mention Corona, well LOL it’s also piss water and Mexicans laugh at our consumption. It’s marketed as a premium Mexican beer here in the US, well in Mexico it doesn’t even stand up to Sol, another piss water beer. Mexicos bottled beer is even comparable to our micro-beers. My personal favorite is Negra Modelo. Corona and El Toro are trash, yet marketing makes it lip stick on a pig.
Rudi:
Agreed. Why do you think people have to stick lime wedges in Corona?
Shaun – The lime is traditional in Mexico with beer and food. I found the lime used more with the “negra” beers. Not as much limes with Sol or Corona.Switching the name “Negra Modelo” to “Modelo Negra” is another story for another day…
But all isn’t good, pork rinds are like crackers in soup. More on Mexican beer can be found at Wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_beer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelada
I watched a fascinating interview with a European beer expert, who did a live tasting on TV of Coors beer. He praised its qualities of “drinkability” and “lightness” and commented that both Americans and American beer companies like a lightly flavored beer that one can drink a lot of. Then as his final comment, he noted “but really; it’s so insipid, isn’t it?”
On the other hand, in response to the “mediocre times” meme, let me note with some pride and considerable pleasure, that salsa and hot sauce overtook ketchup as the leading American condiment back in the 1980s, about the same time we started eating more food from Thailand, Vietnam, Mexico, Cajun food, Szechuan Chinese and other spicy fare. Simultaneously, the rise of Starbucks and Peet’s signaled the maturing of the American taste for better, more highly roasted coffee. Gourmet dark chocolate bars have seen dramatic growth and powerful market penetration, and we have seen a rapid proliferation of very high end liquors, including single malt Scotch, single barrel bourbon, high-end vodkas, gins, tequila and rum. Our consumption of white zinfandel declined, while our consumption of red zinfandel increased. There are more gourmet restaurants per capita now than ever, and specialty gourmet groceries have far outpaced conventional, price driven grocery chains.
It’s been years since I drank any of the beers from the major breweries. My favorite is a local brand, Boulevard Beer. My favorite beer right now outside of Boulevard’s brands is Fat Tire Ale from New Belgium Brewery. Actually I just enjoy trying almost anything in terms of craft beers or imports. It’s why I like the stores that have a good selection and a mix and match option.
GD:
All that and more! I do not believe that the microbrewery revolution would be so sustained (while noting that the shakeout has been vicious) if that more sophisticated American palate was ready for fresh brewed beers and ales with that all important edge.
I do most of my blogging from tiny Delaware and post-shakeout we still have two microbrewery/restaurant options — Dogfish Head and Iron Hill — that make good, if not great, microbrews and serve inventive and good, if not great, pub food.
Good is just fine with me; great is a bit more elusive.
A thought about Chinese restaurants: I lived and traveled in the Far East with Tokyo as my base. When the Japanese want to go out for a special meal, it often is Chinese. I came home with a sophisticated taste for Chinese food — Hunan and other forms of country cooking — years before you could get that cuisine in the U.S. outside of San Francisco, New York and a few other places. Now Hunan cooking is widely available (altho generally not so great) and other kinds of Chinese cooking beyond sweet and sour pork finally are on menus — again a reflection of that more sophisticated palate.
A final thought: While reading your comment, I realized that we haven’t had ketchup in our fridge for several years. There are four kinds of salsa, three kinds of mustard and mango chutney. Yum.