The King of Beers Is Now Only America's 4th Most Popular Beer

Discussion in 'Beer News' started by SammyJaxxxx, Jan 23, 2018.

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  1. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
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  2. Bitterbill

    Bitterbill Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,772) Sep 14, 2002 Wyoming
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  3. Milktoast75

    Milktoast75 Initiate (0) Oct 27, 2012 Wisconsin

    I remember my Dad letting me taste PBR from a 12oz returnable in the late 60’s. Ice cold and the most bitter thing I’d ever tasted.
    Cool memory.
    As for light beer taking over the top three slots, go for it America!
    While you’re at it, chew some 2 day old gum, enjoy the scent of a week old bouquet of flowers, watch a sunset with sunglasses on.
    No thanks. Life is far too short.
     
  4. FatBoyGotSwagger

    FatBoyGotSwagger Grand Pooh-Bah (3,728) Apr 4, 2009 Pennsylvania
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    Not surprising to me, I see hundreds if not thousands of people every day and it amazes me how damn fat everyone is.
     
  5. Oktoberfiesta

    Oktoberfiesta Initiate (0) Nov 16, 2013 New Mexico

    Never seen a light beer drinker drink just one. So the calorie difference is always made up in binge manners.

    But Americans do love the thought prospects of drinking a light beer, being on a diet, and a lighter beer being better for you ( even though most go a six pack deep each session). It's really all mental.

    I'm surprised that bud lasted this long near the top. They already have a mirror product in Bud light. I've done blind tastings and it's almost too difficult picking between a bud and a bud light

    In the same scope, I look and laugh at those who drink Heineken light and Corona light. I thought the core beers were already light to begin with? People in their mind think they can drink two of a light beer vs a regular and get the same caloric effects. It doesn't work like that.

    The breweries are laughing to the bank as they spend just a little less per batch and csnnchrage the same price as their regular products.

    Abw inbev had been very lucky having two in the top ten all these years. I think people are just finally catching on and have chosen to just drink the lighter variety.


    I want to say it's mostly about catching a buzz for so many of these drinkers without really tasting their product. I tell many, you can actually get a bigger bang for your buck with high ABV craft options that are priced the same. But I guess they truly want no flavor coming through. They also bring up calories but by your 10th beer, you are already nearing that of a couple craft beer. ABV and calories usually all balances out. But they don't want to hear logic.
     
  6. John_M

    John_M Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,275) Oct 25, 2003 Washington
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    Coming from you Jack, of course I'll give it a spin. You really think it may have changed that much from the times I'm referring to (back in the mid to late 60's)?

    I'm certainly willing to keep an open mind about this, but... If anything, my tastes are much more "jaded" these days. I want and expect a LOT of flavor in my beer, which is why increasingly I drink BA stouts and IPA/DIPA's. I still love a good pils, don't get me wrong, but I have think that Hamm's has about as much in common with Stoudt's, Victory Braumeister or Victory fresh hop pils, as it does with the dark side of the moon. I'll try to be as objective as I can, but it's really hard for me to imagine that I'm going to be greatly impressed by Hamm's (but like I said, I'm willing to give it a whirl).
     
  7. John_M

    John_M Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,275) Oct 25, 2003 Washington
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    Amen. Hey, if you love a good AAL (light or otherwise), go for it.

    At age 62, I realize my days of drinking multiple pitchers of beer are long since over. While I miss being able to do that some days, I'll take quality over quantity any day, and am more than happy with the current state of affairs. For me that means I still drink whatever I want, but always order half glasses and tasters. As I get older and older, I envision drinking less and less (as my alcohol tolerance drops more and more), but never sacrificing quality for that decision.

    I'll take a glass an 8 ounce glass of Coconut Bbomb every day of the week over a 6 pack of bud light. Hell, make it a case...
     
    #27 John_M, Jan 24, 2018
    Last edited: Jan 25, 2018
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  8. bbtkd

    bbtkd Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,326) Sep 20, 2015 South Dakota
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    Dilly Dilly? :wink:
     
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  9. JackRWatkins

    JackRWatkins Maven (1,448) Nov 3, 2014 Georgia
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    Anybody who thinks this news worthy of celebrating is missing the point, all of these are shit and the first one on the list is a bud product, and arguably a worse product than original bud, I know this is like comparing the piss of a dehydrated man to regular piss, but still. This is not news, and the only possible good news here (and it's really reaching) is that the bud brand might have lost some equity in a general sense and once again, that's something of a negligible positive.
     
  10. TrojanRB

    TrojanRB Grand Pooh-Bah (3,185) Jul 27, 2013 Texas
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    Love this comment....even funnier coming from @FatBoyGotSwagger
     
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  11. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
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    "Two" ? They've currently got six beers in the US Top Ten (Bud Light, Bud, Natural Light, Busch Light, Michelob Ultra and Busch).

    That's more than AB had in 1998 (5), 1992 (4) or 1982 (2).

    I don't know - the "Light" version of Heineken strikes me as having a larger difference in alcohol and slightly fewer calories compared to their standard flagship than the 2 largest US lights.(all figures from official brewery sources).

    Heineken - 5% abv, 142 cal.
    Heineken Light - 3.3% abv, 99 cal.

    Budweiser - 5% abv, 145 cal.
    Bud Light - 4.2% abv, 110 cal.
    Coors Banquet - 5% abv, 147 cal.
    Coors Light - 4.2% abv, 102 cal.

    HL's 3.3% has got to be one of the lowest alcohol beers commonly available in most regions of the US.

    While Corona/Corona Light stats are pretty similar to those of Miller High Life-MGD/Miller Lite.

    Corona - 4.6% abv, 149 cal
    Corona Light - 4.1%, 99 cal.

    MGD/High Life - 4.6% abv, 140/1 cal
    Miller Lite - 4.2% abv, 96 cal.
     
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  12. ZebulonXZogg

    ZebulonXZogg Pooh-Bah (2,766) May 5, 2015 Illinois
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    Probably from those 500 calorie Russian Imperial Stouts that I can't seem to get enough of!
     
  13. Crusader

    Crusader Pooh-Bah (1,651) Feb 4, 2011 Sweden
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    In Sweden and Finland Heineken is 149 calories per 12oz (42 calories per 100ml). It is brewed under licence in Sweden and was at least in the past also in Finland, I don't know what has happened in Finland since Hartwall was sold to a Danish company. I wonder if the recipe is slightly altered for the American market to make it more similar to domestic adjunct brands despite the all-malt recipe (a slightly lower final gravity and slightly higher degree of attenuation with a slightly lower original gravity?)?
     
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  14. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
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    Apparently there are different recipes for Heineken depending on the market (pretty sure there's even an "not more than 3.2 abw" version for those remaining 3.2 US states and, in the recent past, a lower abv version in the UK, maybe?).

    The US, post-Repeal has always gotten Dutch-brewed Heineken (except for WWII when we briefly got Java, Netherlands East Indies-brewed Heineken after Germany invaded Holland, but the Japanese soon ended the Asian Heineken exports to the US.)

    Post-war in the late 1940s, US Heineken importer Leo Van Munching said Heineken used "a little rice" as an adjunct (and also claimed they were the first brewer to do so :thinking_face:) while in the 1990s in his Beer Blast book his grandson noted that Heineken dropped corn as a adjunct (in part in response to BBC's Jim Koch's advertising attacks on imports) but was never clear if that was a US-only adjunct version or not.

    There also used to be beer urban legend that Heineken operated a separate brewery just for the US export market (although, a separate facility obviously wouldn't be necessary for differing recipes) but, now, I can't remember if that was truly the case - seems unlikely, although they did reach 1m bbl in the US by the 1980s IIRC.

    The 1988 Connecticut Ag. Dept. survey of US-sold beers put Heineken at 5.41% abv and the calories at 45-47 per 100 ml. vs Heineken USA's "42 kcal/100 ml" today (and at a time when Budweiser still tested at 4.5-4.8 abv and was the tail end of the "imported beer is (sometimes) stronger" era in the US)

    So, like most large macro brands, it does seem the recipe varies by market and era.
     
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  15. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
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    John, Hamm's is an AAL and my local Retail Beer Distributor sells 30-packs of this beer for less than 15 bucks. I think you are wise enough to recognize the difference here.

    Maybe trying Hamm's again is not worth a "spin" for you?

    Cheers!

    Jack
     
  16. John_M

    John_M Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,275) Oct 25, 2003 Washington
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    They're all lagers (Stoudt's, Victory, etc.), which is why I made the comment (lagers that IMHO, have a great deal of flavor, unlike Hamm's.).

    I understand that it's very inexpensive, but in my mind, that by itself does not justify my patronage. It could be 60 cans for $5 for all I care, if it's a beer I don't really enjoy drinking.

    I was thinking about where I last had Hamm's here in PDX, and then it struck me. A couple of places in town were keeping it on tap as a throw back beer, but also to have something cheap/inexpensive as an alternative to the craft/import line-up. One place in town provided brief tasting notes and/or brewery origins for all the beers on their taplist, and for Hamm's the description was "cold, cheap." The other place in town that used to have it on tap all the time was a place called Saraveza, a tavern that is also justly famous in town for their (huge and delicious) pasties. I think they used to run some sort of lunch or happy hour special where you could get a tankard of Hamm's with your pasty for just a buck. I think that was the last place I had a glass of Hamm's (my recollection is that it was very light, with very little flavor).

    I just looked over both places taplist, and was a bit surprised to see that neither place is selling Hamm's any more. Have no idea why. I assume Hamm's is still available in our market.
     
  17. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
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    I was trying to make a point of the price as in: don't expect Hamm's to taste like the other lagers you listed (which cost something like 3X more).
    In other words it tastes like an AAL. I provided you a link to my discussion of this beer in a New Beer Sunday thread to provide my perspective here. Did you read that information.

    In that post in the NBS thread I stated:

    "Overall

    A very cleanly brewed AAL beer with a light, pleasant grainy flavor."

    As you and I further discuss the AAL beer style (we have discussed Yuengling Lord Chesterfield in the past) I am becoming convinced that no AAL beer is a worthy choice for you to drink. Frankly, I am not a regular drinker of AAL beers but I can appreciate some of them. I think you are different in that regard.

    Cheers!
     
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  18. Crusader

    Crusader Pooh-Bah (1,651) Feb 4, 2011 Sweden
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    Yeah. Without some sort of legislative requirement (akin to Germany's reinheitsgebot and similar legislation in Norway and Finland at the time) in the Netherlands or its Export markets I would be surprised to learn that Heineken was brewed as all-malt pre-90s for the European markets (in the modern post-war era at least). My money would be on a corn adjunct for the domestic and exported product back then (akin to pre-00s Carlsberg and Tuborg).

    Hmm. It seems Heineken USA isn't in agreement with their own Heineken brand website (42 times 3.55 comes out to 149.1). So I guess I'll scap that hypothesis for the time being.
     
  19. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
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    Patrik, were the European Pale Lagers of a few decades ago (pre-00s) commonly adjunct lagers? Do you have any articles you can cite (link) on this topic?

    I was not aware that it was common for European Lager breweries to utilize adjuncts.

    Cheers!
     
  20. Crusader

    Crusader Pooh-Bah (1,651) Feb 4, 2011 Sweden
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    Well concerning Carlsberg here's a 1999 article about them dropping the use of corn. "After more than 100 years Carlsberg stops using corn in both Hof and Tuborg. This is done to protect themselves against genetically manipulated raw materials. Instead the two famous brands will be brewed entirely from malt".

    Still today there are plenty of Danish brands which use corn. Below is an excerpt from American brewer's review.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
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