Does anyone know when American brewers starting using/increased use of corn?
It seems to me that more & more beer is starting to taste more & more like corn water.
I’ve got gout, so I have to lay off the beer. But when I finally break down and have one (like tonight) after not having one for a long time, I can really taste the corn. And it sucks. This crap wouldn’t even be legal in some countries.
I’m old enough to remember when Schlitz change their formula in the late 70’s. It was quite good before the bean counters got ideas in their heads. The outcome was regular Schlitz drinkers were not happy and sales lagged. So how are all brewers getting away with this? Is it just that the younger generation doesn’t realize what swill their getting? Some of you may r:rolleyes:ll your eyes at the mention of Blatz, Schlitz, Olympia, or Strohs. But guess what? Those brands didn’t always taste the way they do now (especially Strohs. Miller has really ruined it!).
Increase in corn content, decrease in hops & barley, as well as shortcuts in the brewing process has made modern beer a mere shadow of its ancestors. Good beer should be a bit bitter & hearty, not sweet & syrupy like soda.
To get good old fashioned beer one has to pay through the nose for it.
How about having a purity law like the Germans have and outlawing corn in beer. Think we could get that passed?d
The German purity laws are now optional as part of their domination by (we used to say domination of) the Eurpean Union.
Try Labatt – it’s still made with corn and rice, but at least it has hops in it – that’s the bigger failing of the American breweries; more than the corn and rice. We buy it by the half-barrel.
Finally: Relax. Don’t worry. Have a homebrew. The yeast have started their orgy and in a couple of weeks I’ll have a keg conditioned, very drinkable, India Pale Ale. You alluded to the liking of hops, right? You’d love an IPA.
If your gout only lets you have a beer once in a while, don’t waste it on a Coors or Miller or Bud.
Oh, as for when rice and corn started to get used in such quantities: I’d always imagined it was after prohibition. If anyone has a link to a good, comprehensive history of North American beer production, that’d be a swell read.
IIRC from Papazian et al is that corn is used in the US because it was so widely available. It’s been used for a long time and not just from the 1970’s. Basically, you brew with what you have available, and in the US that meant corn.
I don’t remember ever having a sweet beer, and ironically the ones I consider syrupy like are stouts like Guniuss, which sometimes I consider it more like a food then a drink. For a more bitter and hearty brew I suggest some darker ale (but then again more syrup like).
I agree with the above, if a beer is a rare treat for you, go for the high quality ones, don’t try to relive your youth trying to find the beers you drunk behind the school after class - they are gone.
It does seem like a lot of homebrew kits, esp. on the lower price end, do contain a fair amout of corn syrup.
As with any food product, you’ve always got to read your labels. If you like to use kits, stick to the high quality ones. Even so, people always laugh at the Mr. Beer kits, but they’re a fantastic introduction to making your own beer; they taste better than Budweiser; they’re quick; and they lead to bigger and better things. Can you guess that I started with a Mr. Beer? I’m still an extract user, but I’m getting ready to try my first all grain, and it won’t contain rice or corn.
Darkness doesn’t actually necessarily relate to bitterness. I’ve had (and made) a dunkelweiss that was sweet, as well as Baltic porters which are typically not hoppy/bitter, but rather tend towards flavors that are chocolately, hints of raisin, etc., and which I would characterize as being “malty” or “sweet.” Guinness is a very dry (and low-carb!) beer with a fair amount of hoppiness. The only thing that affects darkness is how roasted the grains are. Now, you can get bitter characteristics from some of the grains, but that’s not guaranteed.
Depends on the manufacturer. Reputable malt companies will steep barley like any all-grain brewer/homebrewer, but then simply concentrate down the results into a thick concentrated syrup (who’d want to buy 5 gallons of thin liquid for each home batch?), or even further into a dry powder. It shouldn’t contain corn syrup at all.
If taste and cost are both considerations (as damned well they should be), I’ve been getting JW Dundee’s Pale Ale for less than $5 a sixpack at my local mart. I was wary, as after all this is the same JW Dundee of Honey Brown fame, but this is some good, cheap beer. It comes in at a rather nice 38 on the IBU scale, which may not thrill a IPA junkie but certainly ranks as passable.
Midwestern breweries have always used corn because it was cheap and plentiful. You should actually taste less corn flavor nowadays because most places are using adjunct syrup instead of actual corn grits.
Schlitz’s downfall was due to a number of problems, but you are correct that all of them can be traced back to the bean-counters.
Since you are right here in the Milwaukee area, look around for Klisch Pilsner from Lakefront Brewery. it will be a little more expensive, but I think you will enjoy it. It’s an all-malt beer.
I like “corn” beer for a change…every now and then. As AW mentions, it is usually the Midwest brewers who use this as an adjunct. But if you look for microbrews, you will find some delicious beers with little if any “other grains.” With the proliferation of regional and microbreweries, there is really no reason to buy the Big Guys swill. Go have a Leinie’s or a Sierra Nevada instead.
Also, if you mourn the passing of the classic Milwaukee beers (well at least their original recipe incarnations), look up LaCrosse Lager. It’s original Old Style, just marketed under a new name. They even use the “kraeusening” process of old.
I also recommend going on their tour! They are very generous with their samples, informative and fun, and you get to take home a pint glass for the price of admission ($5 IIRC). It’s one of the more fun beer tours I’ve been on.
I’ll note that rice is a common adjunct as well. IIRC according to the brewing books I’ve read and specials I’ve seen on TV, corn and rice were used due to supply reasons, then for price (cheaper than barley), and then to create the most commonly sold beer in the US, the American Light Lager - which is basically most of the common beers from the major breweries. Corn and rice lighten up the flavor, a preferred characteristic of this beer style, and are still used today by the “macrobreweries.”
I can get good beer any 'ol time. Getting good cheap beer…THAT’S a different story.
Some of the cheaper brands did not taste the way they do now 20-25 years ago. I’m willing to bet that the amount of corn has gone up over the last 20 years. And that is not a good thing.
I wish there was a way to find out. The brewers certainly won’t tell us.
Most? I presume you’re not American, or you’d know better (1). There are perhaps a dozen (I’ll be safe and make it two dozen, if you prefer) beers made in the U.S. that are Bud-style flavored water. There are many hundreds of excellent beers of just about every style produced here. All of my favorite bars have at most two taps of Coors light or Michelob, and the rest of the backbar is filled with wondrous stuff, much of it produced right here in the U.S. of A.
Next time you visit, go to a supermarket or liquor store and check out the beer section. Be adventurous. Buy some American-made dry stouts, porters, pale ales, IPAs, imperial stouts, barleywines, steam beers, dunkels, hefeweizens, Scottish ales, pilsners, cream stouts, and oatmeal stouts, and then apologize for saying “most” of our beer is that unspeakable drek that comes from Anheuser-Busch, Coors, and Miller.
(1) Unless you’re speaking only of volume, not of styles, brands, breweries, or any other measure, in which case “most” of the beer produced elsewhere in the world ain’t that hot either. Been to Japan, Canada, Mexico, or France lately?
You are correct. I am not an American, rather a Canadian. I was kidding about the most comment. I am well aware of the numerous beer choices in the US (well to be honest, I just assume, when I go to the US it seems like all bars I go to are full of the aforementioned swill), however when you say “American Beer” you think Bud and Coors Light, when you say “Canadian Beer” you think Labbat Blue or Molson Canadian. I’ll give you that both are not very good, still miles ahead of Bud and Coors though. Much the same way when you say “Mexican Beer” you think Corona, and…umm… tequila! Dutch you think Heiniken and so forth. I submit American is the crappiest by far.
