Are We Killing Beer?

Too true!

Now- if we could get some importers to manage their inventory on the shelves a little better....(silver lining - some breweries are now date- coding and/or showing a decipherable date code- baby steps)

 

That's a valid point, but the gimmick beers (and those that have similar appeal in the market) that prompted this thread are a more recent phenomenon in most markets, at least in their ubiquity. I wholeheartedly agree that more good American craft beer is readily available in 2018 than in 2013, but I'm not sure I can say the same for 2018 relative to 2017, at least in my area, as the sweet beers crowd many superior beers out of production and stifle innovation and growth outside of their narrow categories by dominating R&D resources (i.e., brewers waste their talent and energy making beer ever sweeter, juicier, fruitier, hazier, pinker, and less bitter). That also bodes poorly for 2019 and beyond as brewers progress further down what hopefully will prove a dead end.

 

It really helps to have a circuit of 3 or 4 shops that you're loyal to, and to even make yourself known. For me, there's a store that's great at single bottle specialty imports/sours; another for regular and case purchases, and another for great variety sixers and new releases. The beer guys all know me, know what I enjoy and shop there for, and know that they are serving a needs of customers like me.

I may have to travel 20 minutes in either direction to hit these places, but it's worth it knowing I'll be able to get that cold case of Jever, or something like that, whenever the mood strikes.

 

Pretty much the same here. Plus one guy where they sell lots of their beers by the case has assured me that if the beer comes into PA in can or bottle he can arrange to get me a case (the only limitation being that neither he nor I want me to leave the store with a case of beer older than about a month after bottling/canning.)

 

I feel like I was born a generation or two too late. If I were given the option of having (affordable!) access to all the beer available in Europe, fresh, versus a lot of what's hot in California, I'd go with the former, easily. An exception might be the early wave of craft/micro brews, which seem to be getting harder to find and definitely neglected.

But you have to understand about Europe is that their cultures are quite different from ours, and it took centuries for their styles to get where they are today. You can't ignore things like quality of life, or how they view drinking, either. Different time, place, motivation(s)... I'm not shocked faux machismo and the almighty dollar have won out here in 'murica.

 

Well AS someone who has traveled and lived Europe during military stays, I really did not find that much culture differences. Once you learn a local language enough to talk without worrying about a guide book, you learn that people are people. we all eat food and drink stuff, many drink beer..etc. I don't really buy into this culture, as I said before USA being the great mix, has no culture as collective country IMHO. LOCALLY yes America has lots of pocket type culture, but I guess that is what some means is culture? not sure this debate over culture really has no Bering on beer. or is that bearing? not sure.

I like how the belgian do beer period. really no 1 can touch them. The Germans do lager as do the chez's and polish etc. the English have real ale, or did...hard to find as it once was..but I not been to England since 2008, so I am sure its changed a ton.

My pet peeve on America beer is the hop overload period...just way to much of that.

 

nailed it.

 

As mentioned by someone else (yesterday?), nice to see you back and have your perspective on some of these things.

I would say that while people are pretty much people where ever you go, the environment/society they grow up in does create some differences in attitudes and perspective.

For example, the historical origins that led to the creation of the first Bavarian Reinheitsgebot created something that has had a long lasting effect on the beer brewed in Bavaria and in Germany in general.

Whereas, the post World War I Belgian equivalent of Prohibition had a strong shaping effect on what beers got brewed and how they got brewed.

And, as you point out, the US is not a single monculture but is a collection of "pocket" cultures, each shaped by regional and/or historical differences.

 

yes well you know you make a general statement and it will always bite you in the butt.
thanks, I not really been totally gone, but I not be actively posting as I felt, it had been said, and so few think like me, that it was not a good mix. Its probably still not. time will tell. kind of like the old session beer fight....

problem is history wise I am sure your dead on. But I am old but I am not that old lol. I can only relate to my experience in Bavaria. Beer fairly unchanged for a long time. As for belgian prohibition, I never knew about that 1, tbh.

 

Well some topics are bound to show up frequently with all the new folks coming on board and no entrance exam required for participation.

No bite intended since I was mostly agreeing with you but adding in a bit of a nuance to your observations. At the individual level most people are indeed very similar. But sometimes their life shapes the way they think about certain things (e.g., IIRC, as an ex Navy guy you know some things about, say, Tor that most folks will never know or every even realize happened).

BTW, a bit more information about the Belgian beers and their Prohibition. It wasn't all alcohol that was included, just spirits. But that didn't change popular tastes and so the Brewers starting providing the public with what they wanted, i.e., lots of ABV and flavors.

 

np. I got thick skin.
oh I enjoy all the gueuze and saisons so much. oh I feel for the new folks. when BA was created, I think I typed this before, I seen their web site, and I frankly laughed...we can go into that on another topic. still it was original, but I felt then, I drink beer etc...did not need to chat about it. was not into arguing about it, then

yea the Navy shaped me, I never liked beer until that first dark stout etc on cask etc etc.

You drink the gin? lol

 

are we talking beer experiences? or what because we got to be so far off topic if we go down that road...we might need a new thread.

I do not think beer and the navy changed me. I mean I tried German beer and English beer before I joined navy, was St pauly girl dark, et al. I loved those. English beer wise it was always old in Houston Texas where I bought beer, that's to say i did not drive all over town you know, You got local and buy what they got.

I had been in the navy awhile due to school, nuke program all that jazz before my first cruise to Europe. My immediate boss (my chief) was old salt and took me up the hill in Portsmouth England to this pub he knew, the rest is history...

when I was in the NAVY I really only though about getting out lol...

I read and reread your question....are you asking if I think about people that have not served?

 

Not about them, think the same way they do. But I'm getting us way off topic so we'll save this for another time as you suggest.