Bias for US Beer?

People often paint bland lagers as an American problem, but relatively cheap pilsners actually dominate beers in most countries, including Belgium and Germany. The fact that the craft breweries starting up in these countries are trying to emulate American business models suggests the bias factor, if there is one, correlates well with actual quality. Even in Belgium, craft beer is largely an export industry.

 

Most BA's are American...

 

I suspect that there a fair number of BAs who focus on imports because they've found some that they really like, but for me, early on in my 'fancy' beer career I shied away from imports. The reason was that the ones that I tried seemed stale, which I assumed was a result of a 'long boat trip' to get here, and also because imports were probably sitting on the store shelf longer because the price was generally higher for them, thus minimal demand. Since then I've never really gotten back to trying to get imports into my drinking regimen.

 

Yeah, there's a definite bias going on re big beers but my bias boils down to the freshness factor.

 

Sure--American all the way for for IPAs and Imperial stouts.

Nobody, NOBODY makes a Roch 10 or Westmalle Tripel and I has gots to have one sometimes.

 

I have no such bias, American beers just have more diversity and greater availability.

 

So many imports I see around here are more expensive, less fresh & generally just beat up. I lived 8 years in Germany & the UK, I know what most are supposed to taste like under better TLC & less travel. It usually takes something really good to move off the American offerings. Now when I go to the east coast find a good store, I'm willing to roll the dice a little more..

 

American craft brewers may have more home runs but also a lot more strike outs using a baseball analogy, but there are just so many more beers and choices of styles today across our 50 states. I think in UK, Belguim and Germany you'll get alot more likelihood of base hits, a few home runs but not nearly as many strikeouts at all. Walk into a random bar in the US and choose any random craft beer from their taps. Quite a lot of risk of it not being a very good beer. Do the same random beer selection in a pub in UK, Belgium or Germany and I'd bet the odds are a little better in your favor over there.

 

I take pride in our beer. It is so easy to buy. There is such a variety.

I was told by a German (not much of a beer drinker) that American beer was way better than German beer because of their purity laws. Brewers in America get to have more fun with their recipes and I want to try strange beer (for example: Right Brains Spear 'asparagus' beer / Beet Saison). American brewers are in a bit of a renaissance where they can brew anything crazy and find a market for it. That's my thought / bias.

Do other countries experiment with random ingredients as much as we do? My understanding of this could be very wrong.

 

You have an interesting analogy between home runs and strikes (and hits in between). Because of social media (both electronic and in person) I have found it very easy to 'find' the home runs (and triples and doubles) and avoid the strike outs and singles. The fact is that there is a lot of US craft brewed home runs (and triples and doubles) out there. I think that maybe in another 10 years I may get a chance to try them all (and needless to say avoid the strike outs and singles). There really is so much good US made beer available right now.

I also enjoy drinking beers imported from Europe when I can find them fresh. It takes some effort and luck to find fresh European brewed beer but I do find it from time to time. When I can't find it there are tons of well made US brewed beers to buy.

Oh, and then there is homebrewed beer. Lots of that in the US (in my basement).

Its all good!

Cheers!

 

1. Most BA's are American/Canadian
2. Import selection is limited compared to U.S. selection(we don't get many hyped up non-North American walez)
3. Long transportation of imports and low turnover leads to lower quality
4. Outside of the U.S. doesn't produce as many beers that climb the charts here (hyped, limited quantity, special release, etc.)
5. Most BA's are American/Canadian

 

I've drunk a lot of imports over the years and in fact recently had some German beers. The craft beers that are my regulars offer more of what I want in a beer, i.e. great taste, and being fresher doesn't hurt. There is very little reason for me to go back to imports now. I've never had an import that comes anywhere close to matching, let alone besting, a Bells Amber or Two Hearted, a Dogfish Head 60 or 90 minute or Aprilhop. And the list goes on and on. Being able to support US businesses and workers is a bonus.

 

How about state bias? I think California breweries make the some of the best beers

 

I dunno...once upon a time I was all about imports because all American (and Canadian) beer seemed pretty much the same. I drank a lot of UK, German and Japanese imports. Then I quit drinking so I could quit smoking and when I started drinking again, there was such a huge variety of really good US beer that I just didn't see a point to spending the extra cash for an import. I got a case of Heady Topper two days after it was canned...no import is ever going to match that for freshness, if not taste!

 

I simply prefer to buy beer brewed locally to me (same state), although I do make some exceptions...

 

U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A!!!!!
What bias?
There is no bias

 

I go by taste.

 

Yeah, I'd have to say there's definitely a bias in the rankings, but it makes sense. In order to be truly objective, you'd have to drink and rate beers in a totally blind fashion. I don't think that the majority of BAs are trying to promote American beer over European (or otherwise) beers, but at a subconscious level we all have many biases on a variety of subjects. So yeah, of course there's a bias. If anything, the facts presented in the original post state that clearly enough.

 

I was guilty of bias for a very long time. Now I'll try anything from anywhere at least once.