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The "Coors Light is the best" thread got me to thinking. This is a question my buddy and I have mused over whilst slaking our thirst (with microbrews, of course). How did the big domestics become so crappy? I have to imagine that when the original Germans came over (Coors, Anheuser, Pabst, et al) they brought some pretty good recipes with them. Full flavored and bodied. How did we get here? Was the Depression responsible? Lack of good barley lead to corn and rice subs? Or was it the ever popular profit margin? I can see how so many got started drinking this crap when they were teens and now have come to equate beer with "that taste", but I just find it hard to swallow  that the modern taste is at all true to the original. Has anyone read a history of beer that addressed this? To further my point, I've had some modern German beers and they are GOOD so I'm guessin' it aint a style thang. Thoughts? Chris
It ain't what you don't know that makes you an idiot...it's what you know for certain, that just ain't so...
Most people don't want to believe the truth~they want the truth to be what they believe.
Stupidity has no average...
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Garrett Oliver sees it as the fallout of Prohibition followed by the Great Depression.
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Good question, but the sheer fact that so much vile swill Budweiser is sold shows how far beer was dumbed down, and how far out of calibration Bubba's taste buds are.
My good friend is starting a brewery. I get to be an R&D-stage taster (seriously!). Mmmmmmm....
The CENTER will hold.
Reality, Patriotism,Trump: you can only pick two
FÜCK PUTIN!
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Campfire Ranger
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Was the Depression responsible? Lack of good barley lead to corn and rice subs? Or was it the ever popular profit margin? Prohibition was responsible. By the time it ended and breweries were getting back on track WW II was looming on the horizon. When the thirsty GIs returned from the war, they had to play catch-up so the major breweries that survived prohibition had to figure out how to take some shortcuts to get their product out faster. That's how American national brand beers became industrial swill. [bleep] Carrie Nation. [bleep] the temperance movement. [bleep] everyone who was in favor of prohibition.
![[Linked Image from i.pinimg.com]](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/98/b6/d8/98b6d863a5f722b551cd8e1440bd2bd4.jpg) Z
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Campfire Regular
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It's often misquoted but H.L. Mencken once said, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." I think he was referring specifically to beer.
It might have been the result of Prohibition but Americans only seem to be able to relate to beer as a cheap alcohol transport device, not as a quality beverage to be savored, like a good wine.
Alle Fähigkeit ist vergeblich, wenn ein Engel in Ihrem Notenloch uriniert
-- old German proverb
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Campfire Outfitter
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It's often misquoted but H.L. Mencken once said, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." I think he was referring specifically to beer.
It might have been the result of Prohibition but Americans only seem to be able to relate to beer as a cheap alcohol transport device, not as a quality beverage to be savored, like a good wine. XLS, I believe the demotion of beer's quality from Prohibition through the Eighties is probably what led to its ugly sister status vis a vis wine. Beer slowly seems to be recovering its image (in some parts) as an equal to wine and every bit the appropiate pairing with delicious cuisine. Course those Coors Light lovers are doing their damndest to reverse that trend and keep beer forever in the redneck genre!  I just find it hard to believe that with all the quality out there today people still choose swill. I guess if it's just an 'alcohol transport' then you go with what's cheapest, but if drunk is what you're after 'liquor works quicker'!
It ain't what you don't know that makes you an idiot...it's what you know for certain, that just ain't so...
Most people don't want to believe the truth~they want the truth to be what they believe.
Stupidity has no average...
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Campfire Ranger
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The dollar, greed and heirs killed off many small breweries in the midwest. Schlitz was the largest one, but the "other" St. Louis brewery died off by selling cheaply made beer really cheap.
Beer has a pretty short life when light comes into play.
I think real beer from the early brewers began to die with the advent of the brown bottle after the turn of the century, when getting more beer product farther away meant turning it into something else, to avoid time and light.
Still true today.
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Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
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How did the big domestics become so crappy? There is a correlation to the popularity of the NFL.
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time.
--Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice.
--ironbender
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Campfire 'Bwana
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You are into your 3rd MGD, Mike? That said, if I'm gonna piss my money away, it might as well be the better stuff. Unless someone else is buying... Currently, I'm into Weinhart Blue Boar and Private Reserve, Killian's Red, and that Amber Polar bear stuff.. My tastes change over time, so don't hold me to it. For Draft, Dos Equis, Amber, and a couple others, depending on what's on the menu card.
The only true cost of having a dog is its death.
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Campfire Tracker
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Pasteurization, cooler rail cars and a nation wide market. Only pasteurized dishwater would travel well thus piss poor lager beer.
Go tell the Spartans,Travelers passing by,That here,Obedient to their laws we lie.
I'm older now but I'm still runnin' against the wind
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Prohibition was responsible. By the time it ended and breweries were getting back on track WW II was looming on the horizon. When the thirsty GIs returned from the war, they had to play catch-up so the major breweries that survived prohibition had to figure out how to take some shortcuts to get their product out faster. That's how American national brand beers became industrial swill.
[bleep] Carrie Nation. [bleep] the temperance movement. [bleep] everyone who was in favor of prohibition. Makes some sense but I have also read that since prohibition was driven by the woman and that the brewery's post-prohibition intentionally went light as those styles were seen as less likely to raise the ire of the woman and more likely to appeal to their taste buds. Just glad that since Bert Grant (re)started the micro revolution in the early 80's we now have an amazing variety of great stuff.
If something on the internet makes you angry the odds are you're being manipulated
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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The "Coors Light is the best" thread got me to thinking. This is a question my buddy and I have mused over whilst slaking our thirst (with microbrews, of course). How did the big domestics become so crappy? I have to imagine that when the original Germans came over (Coors, Anheuser, Pabst, et al) they brought some pretty good recipes with them. Full flavored and bodied. How did we get here? Was the Depression responsible? Lack of good barley lead to corn and rice subs? Or was it the ever popular profit margin? I can see how so many got started drinking this crap when they were teens and now have come to equate beer with "that taste", but I just find it hard to swallow that the modern taste is at all true to the original. Has anyone read a history of beer that addressed this? To further my point, I've had some modern German beers and they are GOOD so I'm guessin' it aint a style thang. Thoughts? Chris Read "Ambitious Brew" by Maureen Ogle. It traces the history of American brewing to the present. I was surprised to find that it was not Prohibition or WWII shortages that shaped the trend to lighter beers, but American buyers habits. Americans started buying and drinking lighter colored brews. That trend was especially pronounced in the 1950's. The Lite Beer introduction in the 1970's was first targeted to women, but became a staple for men with the iconic commercials of ex- Sports stars. We have lighter beer because that's what we buy.
"The Democrat Party looks like Titanic survivors. Partying and celebrating one moment, and huddled in lifeboats freezing the next". Hatari 2017
"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid." Han Solo
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Campfire Outfitter
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It's often misquoted but H.L. Mencken once said, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." I think he was referring specifically to beer.
It might have been the result of Prohibition but Americans only seem to be able to relate to beer as a cheap alcohol transport device, not as a quality beverage to be savored, like a good wine. Truth.
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Campfire Sage
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Campfire Sage
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As America's vagina has swelled, our beer became worse.
Miller 64? Seriously?
Travis
Trump being classless,tasteless and clueless as usual. Sorry, trump is a no tax payin pile of shiit. My young wife decided to play the field and had moved several dudes into my house
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Campfire Outfitter
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Americans like beer ice-cold, Europeans not.
--- CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE --- A Magic Time To Be An Illegal In America---
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Campfire Outfitter
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Europe has come a long way. When I lived there 25 years ago, beer was served warm. When I was there this past summer, they now serve it cold in most restaurants.
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Pasteurization, cooler rail cars and a nation wide market. Only pasteurized dishwater would travel well thus piss poor lager beer. Look up the history of the original India Pale Ale. It had to travel a bit.
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Europe has come a long way. When I lived there 25 years ago, beer was served warm. When I was there this past summer, they now serve it cold in most restaurants. Where in Europe, and what precisely does warm mean? Americans accustomed to mass market dreck think anything above 32 degrees F is warm. They want their taste buds anesthetized by the cold, it protects them from the flavor.
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Europe has come a long way. When I lived there 25 years ago, beer was served warm. When I was there this past summer, they now serve it cold in most restaurants. Where in Europe, and what precisely does warm mean? Americans accustomed to mass market dreck think anything above 32 degrees F is warm. They want their taste buds anesthetized by the cold, it protects them from the flavor. Correct - I prefer to think of honest ales served "cellar cool" as a better reference.
If something on the internet makes you angry the odds are you're being manipulated
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Correct - I prefer to think of honest ales served "cellar cool" as a better reference. I'm a fan of the Young's real cask ales served that way at The Lamb in Bloomsbury, London.
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