Beer That Tastes Like Beer?

I hope that anyone who has an issue with saying “tastes like beer” (in that it reduces beer to a singular expression) isn’t also saying any of the following in their beer reviews: wine-like, bready, tea-like, vinegar-like, fruity, etc. When people on soda review websites say a soda has beer-like carbonation, I'm always left wondering if they mean Orval levels of carbonation or cask ale levels. Well, not really... I made that last part up. Beer has many varieties, but it isn't anything special.

 

Ha - "beer that tastes like beer" was an early expression for those of us who didn't know what beer tasted like. It's also what people who DON'T drink beer say when they are forced to taste beer of any kind: "it tastes beer-y" however, is an expression that my wife uses for any lager that is skunked or in her mind, too lager-y.
Onward.

 

This reminds me of a brewery in the Houston area called Ingenious. I really don't know what any of their base beers taste like as everything has a flavoring or adjunct or something in it. Where they make cheesecake or PB&J "wheat beers" and anything else along those lines you could imagine. Like Vanilla Coconut Froyo IPA Everything tastes like a food stuff you would get from your pantry or a desert from your fridge/freezer. For me personally, they would be better at just making ice cream and pastries, or maybe teaching about food science. While some of that might be interesting, and some people might actually like it (though try as I have, I haven't found anything I would come back to again), it is the perfect brewery that makes beer that doesn't tastes like beer.

So, I guess I'm trying to say, beer that does "taste like beer" is pretty much the opposite of everything Ingenious makes

 

To me 'beer that tastes like beer' should have the idea of balance and drinkability. To style is a good call for that. Celebration from SN for me was a beer that tastes like beer for a fresh hop west coast ipa. Miller High Life is also a beer that tastes like beer to me. I love having it with a Chicago style dog and fries for lunch at this one place I am near a couple times a week.
I also strongly suspect that beer that tastes like beer will not contain any thing outside of water, grain, hops, and yeast.

 

Sugars or starchy things that are fermentable into sugars, corn, corn syrup, rice etc?

 

There's an understandable basis for the frame of reference/sentiment. At least two generations grew up drinking beer between the end of Prohibition in 1933 and the beginning of the 'craft' era circa 1980. The beers available during those decades had a relatively narrow range of styles and flavor profiles, and that range diminished even more over time, eventually inciting the craft beer revolution. A lot of people are still around who came of drinking age before that revolution and during its first decade or so, when craft options were still scarce and lacking in the huge variety currently available. But even now, at least two generations into the craft era, the vast majority of people who drink beer still drink only AALs, the descendants of brews from that dark age when beer was made by fewer and fewer breweries for the lowest common denominator. So it shouldn't be surprising that the phrase "beer that tastes like beer" is one which will likely live on longer than we craft adherents think it should. We're seriously outnumbered.

 

The folks over at Hard Seltzer Advocate use that phrase a lot

 

Oh, I'm sure. I was totally kidding about that comment. My post was a little weird, so it's worth mentioning that my point was that it's possible to use the word beer in a generic fashion despite the variety of it... much in the same way that people on BeerAdvocate reference other foods.

 

Well, I'd say the expression is used for beers that don't
TASTE JUST LIKE (from a simply search of BA forum posts):

Yoohoo
Neapolitan Ice Cream
Oranges
Creamsicle
Margarita
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
Chocolate Milk
Hawaiian Punch
Oatmeal Cookies with raisins
Juice
Coffee
Weed
Pumpkin pie candles
Chocolate-covered Cherries
Smoked Country Ham
Cinnamon Roll
Buckwheat pancakes with maple syrup, and coffee
Jalapeño
Snapple Tea
Lemonade

 

Yeah, I'm gonna pass on ham flavored beer

 

Serious?!

 

Only in NJ Flying Fish Exit 7 Pork Roll Porter
https://www.bing.com/images/search?...index=13&ajaxhist=0&vt=0&eim=0,1,2,3,4,6,8,10

 

I think it is beer made without the exotic ingredients. All Malt, Water and Yeast. Some adjuncts are ok as long as they don't change the basic aroma and flavor. JMO.

 

My reaction to the first rauchbier I ever had - might have been either Spezial or Kaiserdom* - back in the late 1970s was:

"Uggg... tastes like liquefied smoked fish".

* Came in a light greenish-brown, 11 oz. stubbyish bottle, so besides being old maybe a bit lightstruck, too. I recall some of the leftover bottles way in the back of the fridge that sat around so long the caps rusted.

 

Here's one reason to avoid ham beer
https://kafkadesk.org/2020/01/15/missing-polish-farmer-eaten-by-his-own-pigs/

 

This makes me feel strange, considering human flesh is supposed to taste similar, their intelligence, and the fact that the opposite happens a lot more.

Still, love those meaty notes

 

Well, c'mon, whose pigs would you want to be eaten by?
Your own or some goddam stranger's?

 

pretty much any smoked beer from against the grain has a distinct smoked ham flavor, sometimes it works, but mostly it just...sorta is smoked hammy

 

My mind jumped immediately to the Schmaltz Pastrami Pilsner. I wasn't exactly shocked to see it sitting on the shelves for a while...

 

Uh, oh, found a Donner Party descendant.