So what did I miss?
Boss told me yesterday that I was going to Atlanta for a week, next week.
But I’ve been here in Europe for far too long … so besides the national news worthy items what did I miss?
You all still have Arby’s right (my planned first stop after the rental car agency)? Does the beer still generally stink?
If you were here 3 years ago, and thought the beer stunk, then you simply are not buying the right beer. American beer can hold its own with anything Europe produces. Heck, in a recent tasting of 20 Belgian Golden Ales, an American beer won.
Athena, you may be right … last time I was there it for another conference … I remember drinking Samuel Adams and found the other euro dorks preferred it too but again … we were trapped in a hotel so …
I just remember it taking me a lot MORE beer to get the same effect that two or three here.
I am looking forward to a bit of the history channel though too …
Arby’s locations in Atlanta.
You are mistaken about this. I think American beer stinks. It is cold and fizzy.
Let me be more specific… If you like cask ales (what the English call ‘real ales’) then you are more or less out of luck in the USA. I mean, they are starting to appear, but you really have to look for it. A nice pub with a beer engine and everything is hard to find.
Americans don’t know what they’re missing.
pdts
Couldn’t you find a bigger brush?
I’ll match American micros and pub brews against anything else produced in the world.
BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse chain out west has cask ale. I know a couple of the brewers.
Right, I didn’t deny that there are places in the US that do cask ale – but it is very rare here.
Fact is, especially if you want a nice nonfizzy ale, you are going to have to look pretty hard for it in the US.
There are only a couple of places within 30 miles of me that do cask ale, and they only just started doing it. The one place that does it regularly has an English bar manager: stands to reason, he knows good beer.
I know that American beers have come a long way. But if you don’t like it fizzy, and you don’t like it in a bottle, and you don’t like it cold, you are going to have to look around in the US.
But in the UK, you can walk into (pretty much) any pub and find a nice cask ale out of a beer engine on tap.
It just doesn’t compare.
pdts
I think you should eat here.
It’s Abdullah the Butcher’s House of Ribs. BBQ and Chinese food, owned by pro wrestling legend Abdullah the Butcher. If you’re lucky enough to visit when Abby is there, I’ve heard he’s more than willing to pose for pictures, and may even (pretend to) gouge you with a fork–as he was known to do to his opponents in the ring.
I’ve always wanted to go there sometime…
(bonus points for me, as the link is to a Creative Loafing page for Atlanta with the restaurant info)
So you’ve decided that all American beer stinks, because the one style you happen to love isn’t all that popular here? I’m with silenus - that’s an awfully big brush.
I could easily turn things around and say all UK beers suck, because I happen to be partial to American Pale Ale, and just about every bar in the US has some reasonable version of an American Pale Ale, but I can’t find it hardly anywhere in the UK. All I can find is flat, warm beer. I don’t like it. Therefore UK beer is crap.
Doesn’t make much sense to say that, though; I’ve had cask ales, and they can be quite good. But there’s more than one style of beer around, and we do plenty well in the US with many of them.
Things that have changed since you last visited:
Smart cars are the new motorcycles. Be very careful driving around them, as they disintegrate at the smallest touch.
Not only do we still have Arby’s, but they now have mozzerella sticks. They have so much salt in the breading that it burns my lips. And I salt everything. Mmmmmmmm.
It is now possible to get a restaurant meal without Cilantro in it.
It is no longer possible to get a fast food sandwich that is not at least 30% capsaicin by weight.
In all seriousness though, if you have seasonal allergies, be sure to come prepared with whatever medicines you need to get by. The pollen level in Atlanta is unlike anywhere else in the world. Atlanta Pollen Count
Make that “most of them”. Give it another few years, and 7,000 US microbreweries will be churning out 7,000 different cask ales that will compete in quality with anything in the UK.
You are right, of course – I was tarring with a very broad brush. But I was responding to your rather defensive claim that
which seems to imply that there could be no possible reason for not liking American beer. But of course there is, and one example of that is that there is a whole style of beer available elsewhere which most Americans don’t even know exists, and which you have to look hard for here.
And yes, I happen to think that cask-type ales are much better. That’s a personal preference–others disagree. But I think American beer stinks, generally, since it is normally so cold and fizzy.
And I don’t mean that every single American beer stinks. I mean that the general American beer scene stinks, at least as far as I’m concerned.
pdts
You’re right; I didn’t take into account that there are some people out there who only like one style of beer and if that style wasn’t readily available in the US, then all US beer must “stink.” My bad; I’ll remember that in the future and make sure to make a note of it every time I post about American beers. 
But in truth… it’s not really American beers you have a problem with, right? It’s all non-cask-type-ale. You just happen to only like that one kind of beer, which is fine and good and all that. But I still think it’s a bit misleading to say that all American beer “stinks” because your style isn’t available. I don’t particularly like mushrooms, but I do like morels. I don’t, however, march into France and declare that all the truffles and chanterelles and various other French mushrooms stink because none of them are morels and those are the only mushrooms I like.
Lessee… if you’ve been out of the country for three years, I think you missed paying state income taxes upon your return.
If I recall correctly, if you are out of country for less than three years, when you come home, if you return to your original state of residence, you own state taxes for the time you were gone. (If you return and establish residence in a different state, you owe nothing.)
If you are out for three years or more, you are considered to have un-established residency, and can come back to the same state, re-establish residency, and not owe anything.
Mind you, this is all anecdotal from co-workers at an job I had more than twenty years ago, so take it with a very large grain of salt. Some of those workers had worked in a European branch for a couple of years, and took up residence across the river (in another state) to avoid being taxed.
You might have a point here – though in fact I do enjoy lots of American beers. But I do think that the American beer scene stinks, since it lacks the best kind of beer.
I was mainly just pointing out that criticisms of the American beer industry are not always rooted in ignorance or prejudice, as you seem to assume: there are reasons for disliking the US beer scene, like the fact it doesn’t have nice cask ales. So if your tastes don’t run to fizzy, you might have a problem here.
I tend to think of the American beer scene the way I would think of a Starbucks that doesn’t sell drip coffee: ok you’ve got all the nice flavoured/sugary/fizzy/cold stuff down, but what if you just want a nice plain drip coffee or real/cask ale? Sorry, out of luck.
Plus you Americans all have your beer so cold. Don’t you find that masks the taste?
pdts
Definitely. Lots of styles are better if they’re not served straight out of the fridge. And most people’s fridges are too cold. At Chez Athena, we keep the beer fridge only moderately cold, and even then tend to let some styles warm up before drinking them.
Oh, and for the record? My favorite style of beer at the moment is Flanders Red Ale. Try finding one of those in a bar in the US. So you and I are the same as far as getting beer we really like, though at least mine is available in bottles if you look around and go to the right stores. You’d have to install a beer engine for yours.
Check out The Brick Store. It’s in downtown Decatur, which is like six miles from downtown Atlanta. You can thank me later.
Also, from The Brick Store website: In 2004, House Bill 645 brought an end to Georgia’s 6% A.B.V. (alcohol by volume) law and allowed beers up to 14% to be sold in the state. This was the catalyst for our Belgian Room, a cozy host to all the new and amazing beers we could offer and the beer lovers who were eagerly awaiting their arrival. “Upstairs and to the left” is where you will find the Belgian Beer Bar, featuring 8 rotating draughts and over 120 Belgian/Belgian-style bottled beers. Our relationship with importers and breweries allows us to offer beers you will find nowhere else. The Brick Store and its exclusive beer list have received national & international acclaim on the world’s two biggest beer websites– Beeradvocate.com & Ratebeer.com. We’ve also racked up ten consecutive years of “Best of Atlanta” recognition for our fabulous beer list and pub fare.
No, you’re completely wrong. The UK beer scene lacks the very best kind of beer, which is a cold, fizzy American Pale Ale. Therefore, the UK beer scene is dogshit.
Oh, and by the way, this list, which is 2 years out of date, mentions 508 sources for cask ale in the US and Canada. I mention that it’s 2 years out of date because I’m sure in two years, that number has increased.
508 places serving a population of 320 million (?) … weak.
pdts