Drinking less European beers?

This is neither here nor there, but my OCD is driving me bonkers.

Can we please change the title of the thread to "Drinking less European Beer" or "Drinking fewer European Beers."

Thanks

 

I thought it was a thread about Canadian brewers like Unibroue; they make less European (than Belgian) beers.

 

i took inventory and 21% of my beer is european. just german and belgian
im more willing to try new domestic beers than european beers just because at the very least i assume it will be fresher

 

This made me laugh. I love a good grammar joke.

 

Of the nearly 3900 beers I've tried over 2800 of them are from the U.S. I think it has something to do with availability.

 

Harviestoun? Brewdog? JW Lees?

Now, I was just there for 4 full days and it wasn't a trip dedicated to beer. There was one "craft beer bar" that we spent an afternoon hunting down and another that happened to be right around the corner from our B&B (where a 12oz bottle of Founders Double Trouble went for 9 quid), but overall Central London seemed to be a wasteland of macro-lagers.

I suppose the challenge coming in was that I hadn't researched the London beer scene properly before landing. I was used to the US, where we can swim in strong IPAs if we so choose and hadn't realized that flying into Heathrow was going to basically take me back to the same beer scene that I left at age 19 in 1996.

 

I can't even remember the last time I bought a Euro beer. Might've been last October. Pretty sure going forward I'll only be buying an octoberfest or two, here and there, and similarly infrequent Belgians.

 

Which is why Stone's expansion into Berlin is so interesting. I have no idea how successful it will be. Looking strictly at the numbers, the German beer market would seem ripe for some creative destruction, but are the Germans ready to make the leap culturally?

 

Oh, no I agree with you 100%. I don't like sours or the vast majority of IPA's. I know I am in the minority buy like you said, to each their own. It just seemed like you were comparing Euro rauchbiers to american sours as opposed to euro rauchbiers to american rauchbiers. Just wondering why you were not comparing apples to apples. That's where I was confused.

 

I've always drank less Euro beers just because it's less expensive to drink US beers. I love the US craft, but I have a soft spot for English ales, mostly stouts(!!!Youngs DCS nitro!!!), and cask conditioned beer (US,UK, or otherwise) is fantastic. I usually only drink German when at German style bar/restaurant. As far as Belgians, I'll occasionally buy a Rochefort 10, St. Bern 12, Petrus, but I really like the stuff from Ommegang and Unibroue. Yeah, it's not really Euro, but it's in that vein and satisfies my cravings while being less expensive.
The Scandinavian stuff looks interesting and I will try it eventually. And Czech stuff, I've only had Urquell a handfull of times.
Cheers to all good beers around the world.

 

The majority of everything I drink - like, say, 80% - is proudly 'Murican. Drinking hoppy beer from Europe is like drinking spoiled milk: pointless and rather stupid. Even something like a simple UK pale ale or German pilsner can be a hard sell, due to the one-two punch of being both less-than-fresh (usually) and more expensive. This isn't 1990, the import cachet has almost lost all of its luster.

Having said that, there are still some styles that 'Murican brewers haven't fully nailed yet, like saisons and quads - luckily they're styles that age well...or, WOULD age well if Dupont would stop using green fuckin' bottles. Also, Scandinavians make kick-ass imperial stouts that easily measure up with 'Murica's best.

 

I had/have a hard time finding not old German stuff many times in the heartland. I would drink more of that if I had some labeling that gave more arm fuzzies. Now the Belgian stuff, not near as worried...

 

Or, god forbid, Smithwicks and Newcastle!

 

Doing zero research, then claiming that the London beer scene is a macro wasteland, and no different to 20 years ago doesn't really make any sense to me. Are you an American that used to live there or a Brit that emigrated?

If a beer-lover from the UK did no research and stayed near Times Square in NYC, they could be forgiven for thinking exactly the same about the US beer scene (they wouldn't be swimming in any good beer, "strong" IPA or otherwise). And obviously as we both know they'd be mistaken.

I think many would disagree about Brewdog being "high-end", but if that's your thing, a quick google would show that there's a Brewdog bar in Shepherd's Bush. As for the lack of JW Lees and Harviestoun - yes they produce high ABV beers that are popular with US beer geeks and travel/age well - doesn't mean you should expect them to be flowing at every bar/pub in the country of origin. Back to the scene of the UK beer geek in Times Square - "... and there was no HOTD Adam anywhere".

London isn't my favourite place in the UK for beer, but even with no research, I find it hard to believe you were faced again and again with places only serving macro lager. There are not that many places that are truly like that - far less than in NYC or most other cities in the states.

The UK beer scene was good 20 years ago. Now, thanks to the positive influence of the US craft movement on beer globally, it's even better. But your desire for craft beer bars (as opposed to pubs) and higher ABV styles / American style breweries makes it sound like you were hoping to find an extension of the US scene, so perhaps disappointment was always on the cards.

If/when you go back I can give you a laundry list of good places to visit.

 

I would be very surprised if Fullers didn't have their own pubs there.

 

I'd say I drink maybe 1 European beer for every 10 to 15 American beers I drink... With at least a handful of extremely innovative beers coming out every week (per area/allocation -- obviously there's way more than that nationwide) in the US it's hard to not be intrigued by them; where as beers from Belgium, Germany, England, etc are all always pretty much the same. I personally try to drink as many new and interesting beers as I see and while I still haven't tried everything Europe has to offer yet, I know they'll always beer [sic] there.

 

Can saying "Merica" please go the way of "twenty four-seven"?

 

I don't drink less of it, except when compared to a brief period in the late 80's when I had a fondness for Harp and Newcastle. That was really my bridge to craft beer. That said, I don't drink very much. I don't care for pilsners, or Belgian pale ales, and find both Heffeweizens and Wit beers to be just ok. I do like Fuller's Porter, Black Cab Stout and ESB and get those on draft...Hobgoblin too. My preference in German beers runs to Maibocks, Schwarzbiers and Dunkels and I don't find those often. Celebrator is fantastic, but not an every day beer. The same is true of something like Rochefort 10 or St. Bernardus abt 12...I mean, you can't drink those often. It's a special occasion beer.

Your everyday beers should be local and fresh. So mine are not only mostly American, but mostly New England/NY (main exception Lagunitas).

 

So much this. Every big city i've been to has, for the most part, had mostly macro beers available. You have to dig a little deeper. I think sometimes people forget how small the "craft" beer industry is.

They do. A lot of good ones in fact. As do Harveys and many other breweries.