Drinking less European beers?

only because of price, not because American's are brewing better pils and lagers. Though some are very good. I like the dark beer, alts, bocks, etc. Still I find Porter fairly easy as hell to HB. Still more of a balanced to malty beer person myself.

the only one I spring for now are when its a special event. Orval is rare any more, Dupont I get still, as long as it stay under $9 for 750ml, once it crosses that line. It was 6.50 to 7 bucks less than 3 years ago....seems most top shelf Belgian are $4 to 5 bucks for 12 to 16 oz on average.

pricing me out slowly.

 

I will take one of anything I have not had before no matter where it's from.

 

I love fresh local American craft beers as much as anyone, but I still find many European beers (UK, Belgium, Germany) better tasting than many of the American copy attempts still I selected a German beer last night (Schwaben Brau Volksfestbeir / Oktoberfest Marzen to celebrate and take me over the hurdle of my 1,000 beer rating milestone.

 

This. I'm a Brit and usually cant find reasonably fresh Fullers and the like in my small town part of PA. and there are so many great US crafts to be had. Besides, I drank a ton of ESB & Pride when I lived there, and when I visit, so I guess it evens out.

Cheers!

 

Those are quite bad exemples. It is pretty same thing, if I would say, that I don't drink American beers anymore, because Bud is not good compare to European craft.

Try Oersoep, Cantillon, De Molen, Kernel etc.

 

That's a great point. There is a huge emphasis on how fresh a beer is. When the Wetsty bricks were sold here in the US last year, many said it wasn't as good as they expected. But if you sit on them for 18 months to 3 year, it is still one of my favorite beers. I was huge into Belgian beers, especially Trappists, but now there are so many awesome beers here in the US I have switched and drink 75% US and 25% rest of the world with about half of that 25% being Belgian.

 

Can't remember when I last had a serious Euro beer, I had a few Tecates a bit ago with some Mexican when went out. I know I get fresh Oktoberfest and Pils from Olde Mecklenburg, why risk buying old stuff? The seasonal will obviously be fresh, but OMB is so damn good I don't bother.

 

I just moved to London...so I'd have to say no.

 

Years ago, Lowenbrau, Wurzburger, Heineken, Ringnes, Bass Ale, Watney's Red Barrel, and maybe Guiness were the best beers that we could find. Sometimes we would buy- when near Baltimore- National Premium, a really great beer at the time. We would also pick up Red Cap Ale, Ballantine IPA, and we quaffed Rheingold Chugga-Mugs like water. After travelling across Europe several times as a young man, my beer horizons were forever altered. I only sought out great beer wherever I could find it and tried everything new that I could find anywhere. This all led to a lifelong vocation in the beverage business, bringing better beer to people to the best of my ability. Though now I dearly love all aspects of the current American beer explosion, I constantly revisit old Euro standards- and beyond- to stay balanced in knowing that great brewing is happening everywhere and getting better by the day. I am a beer advocate not just an American beer advocate. Cheers!

 

Brew Dog, Emelisse, Mikkeller, nøgne ø, Brouwerij De Molen, Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg, to name a few, are all great Craft breweries. There are a lot of great beers from Europe, but being in the US I feel Americans are much more aware of what is right in front of them, they want to know what is local and/or easily accessible. Most people who are not even into craft beer have at least heard of dogfishead, Stone, etc and other American craft breweries because they are all over the place. You just need to open your horizons. If you like Avery - Samael, you will most likely enjoy Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg - samichlaus. If you like rauchbiers try the one from Emelisse, or try the creme brulee stout if you enjoy sweet stouts. Mikeller has tons of experimental beers, some better than others but many of them worth a try. I love their milk stout and Black (18% Imperial Stout). Brewdog has some great Barrel aged beers and there normal line of beers are pretty good as well. You just really have to explore the beer world to appreciate it. While the US has a lot of craft breweries, Europe has no shortage of amazing beers as well.

 

@rgordon posted: “…great brewing is happening everywhere and getting better by the day…”

It is indeed true that great brewing is happening in lots of places. As his posts markedly points out, the US beer scene has truly improved in the past 20+ years.

In some European countries the beer scene has also changed in the past 20-30 years; from a beer market perspective maybe not exactly as we BeerAdvocates would always desire. The number 1 selling beer in Great Britain is a lager: Carling. This beer was labeled in the US (when I was very young) as Carling Black Label. I remember that my childhood friend Oscar’s father always had a case of Carling Black Label around (and no, we didn’t sneakily drink any of these beers). The top selling beer in Belgium is Jupiler (a Euro Lager) but that may have been a long term thing. I have noted that Italy is developing a vibrant beer scene; I have had a number of tasty craft beers that were brewed in Italy.

But the overall good news is that great beers are available in lots of places and we are lucky that the craft beer movement in the US over the last few decades has made plenty of great beer available to us.

Cheers to great beer no matter where it is made!

 

There are a lot of great European beers out there that, I assume, are not imported into the US. From what I understand there are numerous craft beer establishments in Europe that one would have to travel there and try. Euro beers are just as good as American beers, IMO. I have tried some obscure and great tasting German imports in China that I have never heard of in the US. Each market has a unique demand for imported beers; not all imports are the same (unless they are macros, of course).

 

Pretty much the opposite for relatively obvious reasons. I mean there's good stuff to be had everywhere but I guess locality is also a big factor. I mean, Belgians and domestics are pretty much the most bang for your buck stuff I can get here so that's what I'll gravitate towards. With some Brits thrown in. Still have to try some of the Scandinavian brews.

 

the bolded was the most hilarious part of this post. Of all the breweries in Europe you choose to roll with them?

 

I like to drink the Euros that are UNlike Americans.

This summer I got hooked on THe Monarchy's Munchhausen and Methusalem. Both Sour Alt Biers! The former at around 4.5% and the latter 10%. Both finish nice and dry with a slight sourness. I love them!

 

I used to be in the same boat as you, OP, but now I'm on the other end of the spectrum. For example, I bought a case of beer yesterday that consisted of Weihenstephaner Oktoberfestbier, Paulaner Oktoberfest, Spaten Oktoberfestbier, and Sam Adams Octoberfest. The thing about a lot of the imports that I think that the lagers brewed overseas (not just in Germany, as my latest case of beer would suggest) are just plain better than a very high percent of American brewed lagers in my opinion, and I'd say that 3 out of every 4 beers that I've been drinking lately have been lagers.

For those of you that are saying that the freshness (or lack thereof) of the import beers is deterring you from buying them, I'd say that learning to read dates will easily fix that problem. While there are a lot of old imports sitting on the shelf at the bottle shop I venture, I could easily find 4 relatively fresh (within 3 months old) 6 packs of import beer within 10 minutes if I wanted to.

 

Weihenstephaner Oktoberfestbier is on my top 5 list of favorite Oktoberfest beers. My local beer stores have them in stock already; they were bottled in April (about 4 months ago). The fact that this beer is already over 3 months old won’t stop me from buying it. I will buy it and enjoy it.

I will complement the Weihenstephaner Oktoberfestbier with fresh Oktoberfest beers from Sly Fox, High Point (Ramstein), Spoetzl (Shiner) and others.

I do indeed enjoy quality Oktoberfest beers.

Cheers!

 

I'll never give up Newcastle and Urquell (unless they're bought out).
Grolsch and Old Speckled Hen are also very old favorites of mine.
I even have a soft spot for St. Pauli Girl but it's just so often skunked it's ridiculous.
Still love St.PG Dark though!

 

The Weihenstephaners I bought were also bottled 4 months ago, and it didn't stop me from buying it either. I usually don't mind if I find an import beer (or American brewed, I guess) that is 6 months old or less, but 3 months or less will put a big smile on my face.

The next case I buy will include Spoetzl, as well as a few other Oktoberfests. I've not tried that one, but you bringing it up has given me more confidence in trying that one. I still doubt that I'll like it more than Weihenstephaner's, which is also one of my top 5 Oktoberfest beers.

Cheers!

 

Newcastle is owned by Heineken, Pilsner Urquell is owned by SAB Miller, and Grolsch and St. Pauli Girl are owned by AB InBev. I don't buy Newcastle, but I still buy the other three of those on occasion.