# Haven't been in the U.S. in three years ... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 27, 2010, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517 "2010-04-27T13:39:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/put_down_the_sabre)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517/21 "2010-04-27T19:49:48Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > 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. Hey, if an American came to the UK and said that, then aside from the inflammatory (dogshit) comment, I couldn’t disagree. I certainly couldn’t tell her that she’s just ignorant or looking in the wrong places – she would be right to say this. pdts ---
**Author:** ![put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/put_down_the_sabre)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517/22 "2010-04-27T19:52:27Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Oh, and by the way, [this](http://www.cask-ale.co.uk/us/statemenu.html) list, which is 2 years out of date, mentions 508 sources for cask ale in the US and Canada. I mention that it’s 2 years out of date because I’m sure in two years, that number has increased. Oh and I looked at that list again – it is out of date, in that some places on there no longer serve cask ale, or they only have it very occasionally. And I know that two of the places on around here that _do_ have it, have a British general/bar manager. These brave missionaries are bringing real ale to the American heathens, but there’s a long way to go yet. pdts ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517/23 "2010-04-27T19:53:17Z")
Now, now. Let’s just all have a beer and relax. Barmaid, bring my friend **pdts** here a Bud Light! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517/24 "2010-04-27T20:01:59Z")
C’mon ptds. You know that stereotype about British food? You’re doing the same, but about US beer. Both have had a horrible nadir (WWII food rationing for us, Prohibition for them) and the long aftermath is yet to completely unravel in either country. Both countries have awoken an old tradition, and both are accepting of outside influence, and both are doing great things. So there. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/put_down_the_sabre)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517/25 "2010-04-27T20:02:25Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Now, now. Let’s just all have a beer and relax. > > Barmaid, bring my friend **pdts** here a Bud Light! > > 😃 Thanks! I actually quite like all beers, including most of the bud light types. After two or three cans it gets a bit too metallic, but up to that point why not enjoy it? It’s like the dollar menu cheeseburger of beer. pdts ---
**Author:** ![may\_be\_ignorant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@may\_be\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/may_be_ignorant)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517/26 "2010-04-27T20:12:37Z")
> [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](#): > > Hey, if an American came to the UK and said that, then aside from the inflammatory (dogshit) comment, I couldn’t disagree. > > I certainly couldn’t tell her that she’s just ignorant or looking in the wrong places – she would be right to say this. > > pdts Unlike in Europe, American is civilized. Only a fair percentage of our 320 million is legal to drink this cask beer. These 508 locations are not confined to one bar or pub either, note the chains please. This beer thing is off topic anyway. We have a black president. I was shocked too. Please note this is a joke. Not having a black president, although that kind of is too. I’m being offensive. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517/27 "2010-04-27T20:12:52Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > My favorite style of beer at the moment is Flanders Red Ale. Try finding one of those in a bar in the US. Stupid elusive **Flanders**! > [@Oliveritaly](#): > > So what did I miss? Oh man! In those three years, you’ve missed countless offerings from **Taco Bell** — innovative combinations of meat, cheese, veggies, sour cream, and tortilla wraps that surprise and delight us all, every financial quarter it seems, and which you may never live to see repeated. Who could forget the Enchirito? The Quesadita? The Toastichunga? (One of those, I am not making up.) ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517/28 "2010-04-27T20:13:35Z")
> [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](#): > > Oh and I looked at that list again – it is out of date, in that some places on there no longer serve cask ale, or they only have it very occasionally. I noted that in my post. > [@](#): > > And I know that two of the places on around here that _do_ have it, have a British general/bar manager. > > These brave missionaries are bringing real ale to the American heathens, but there’s a long way to go yet. > > pdts Dude. Like I said, wait another 10 years. There’ll be yuppie cask ale bars in every mid-sized city in America. That’s kinda how it works here. > [@](#): > > Hey, if an American came to the UK and said that, then aside from the inflammatory (dogshit) comment, I couldn’t disagree. You might not be able to disagree on a factual level, but you’d certainly think of her as an utter ass, and you’d be right to do so. Which brings me neatly back around to my point. ---
**Author:** ![put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/put_down_the_sabre)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517/29 "2010-04-27T20:22:37Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > You might not be able to disagree on a factual level, but you’d certainly think of her as an utter ass, and you’d be right to do so. Which brings me neatly back around to my point. Don’t tell be what I would think – I have had American friends say that the food in the UK sucks because there’s no Mexican food to be had there. And you know what? I didn’t think they were asses. A bit closed-minded, maybe. But if that’s what they look for in food, then yes for them food in the UK sucks. Not all of us are as defensive as you seem to think. pdts ---
**Author:** ![put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/put_down_the_sabre)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517/30 "2010-04-27T20:23:40Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > Stupid elusive **Flanders**! > Oh man! In those three years, you’ve missed countless offerings from **Taco Bell** — innovative combinations of meat, cheese, veggies, sour cream, and tortilla wraps that surprise and delight us all, every financial quarter it seems, and which you may never live to see repeated. Who could forget the Enchirito? The Quesadita? The Toastichunga? > > (One of those, I am not making up.) And the KFC double down! pdts ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517/31 "2010-04-27T20:27:22Z")
> [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](#): > > Don’t tell be what I would think – I have had American friends say that the food in the UK sucks because there’s no Mexican food to be had there. > > And you know what? I didn’t think they were asses. A bit closed-minded, maybe. But if that’s what they look for in food, then yes for them food in the UK sucks. > > Not all of us are as defensive as you seem to think. > > pdts Uh huh. I’m sure you were all “Jolly good! Right you are! Pip pip cheerio!” and not one tiny little bit “Prat”. They were asses for saying such an ignorant, closed-minded thing, and you know it. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517/32 "2010-04-27T20:37:57Z")
Since you’ve been gone 3 years you must have missed our recession with the housing bubble burst. Check out some home prices from what you remembered when you left. “Flip this house” reality shows seem to have disappeared overnight. The mega home improvement stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot were like ghost towns for a couple years (they seem to have picked up a bit since then). With Obama in office it seems to have brought out the worst in people who don’t like him with Fox News stoking the fire on a daily basis. Check out Mountain Dew and Pepsi throwback. They use sugar in them. McDonalds has new Angus burgers. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517/33 "2010-04-27T20:39:50Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > 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.. Oh, he (she?) did not. Based on what you quoted he merely stated an accurate fact. I agree with you on the better brews we have here, but there’s no question the UK has more local variety, and also that American drinkers heavily favor very cold beer, which makes it hard to find something different here. The fact that **pdts** is far from the major metropolises undoubtedly increases the difficulty. ---
**Author:** ![put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/put_down_the_sabre)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517/34 "2010-04-27T20:42:11Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Uh huh. I’m sure you were all “Jolly good! Right you are! Pip pip cheerio!” and not one tiny little bit “Prat”. > > They were asses for saying such an ignorant, closed-minded thing, and you know it. You lose – first person to resort to lame ethnic-linguistic stereotypes Loses at the Internets. In any case, those stereotypes apply only to (Southern) England, you ignorant idiot. And actually, the Americans were right: food in the UK _does_ suck. Sure, there are pockets of excellence, and you can usually find nice food in any medium-sized town, but in general the food that’s usually consumed is pretty bad, and you have to go out of your way to find nice stuff. A very similar situation to American beers, in fact. pdts ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517/35 "2010-04-27T20:50:25Z")
> [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](#): > > You lose – first person to resort to lame ethnic-linguistic stereotypes Loses at the Internets. In any case, those stereotypes apply only to (Southern) England, you ignorant idiot. > > And actually, the Americans were right: food in the UK _does_ suck. Sure, there are pockets of excellence, and you can usually find nice food in any medium-sized town, but in general the food that’s usually consumed is pretty bad, and you have to go out of your way to find nice stuff. A very similar situation to American beers, in fact. > > pdts As a non-drinking American, I’m glad that’s the way it is. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517/36 "2010-04-27T20:54:21Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > 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,](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/dining/reviews/24wine.html?scp=1&sq=jolly%20pumpkin&st=cse) an American beer won. This is extremely misleading, as seem to be many other things published by the Times lately. If you read the link, four Americans, or people from America, try 20 beers selected more or less at random, with half of them being relatively local, and the other half traveling across an ocean. Then the four Americans find that they prefer American beers. Color me shocked! The reality is that North American microbreweries and the Belgians make damned good beers. Just don’t try to pretend that the North American brews are superior just because four local persons decided they liked them better. As one should infer from the silly pissing contest preceding, beer tastes are very much personal. Of course you can get good beers in the USA, if you know where to look. You can also get crap without trying. The Brick in Decatur, as noted, is a good place to look. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517/37 "2010-04-27T20:54:51Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > McDonalds has new Angus burgers. And they are heavenly, at least by fast food standards. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517/38 "2010-04-27T21:32:12Z")
> [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](#): > > You lose – first person to resort to lame ethnic-linguistic stereotypes Loses at the Internets. In any case, those stereotypes apply only to (Southern) England, you ignorant idiot. See, I knew you were hypersensitive. You DID think they were prats, and you were correct. > [@](#): > > And actually, the Americans were right: food in the UK _does_ suck. Sure, there are pockets of excellence, and you can usually find nice food in any medium-sized town, but in general the food that’s usually consumed is pretty bad, and you have to go out of your way to find nice stuff. A very similar situation to American beers, in fact. > > pdts Ah, my friend. You’re not dealing with someone who has no experience with UK food. I have spent many days there, in large cities (London, Sheffield), mid-sized cities (Chester, Swindon, others), and in small towns (Gamlingay, Biggleswade, Buxton, etc.) I don’t think I’ve ever had any trouble finding excellent food in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517/39 "2010-04-27T21:34:24Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > This is extremely misleading, as seem to be many other things published by the Times lately. If you read the link, four Americans, or people from America, try 20 beers selected more or less at random, with half of them being relatively local, and the other half traveling across an ocean. Then the four Americans find that they prefer American beers. Color me shocked! Oh come on, the four people in question are hardly 4 random people. Two are New York Times food critics. Another owns a very highly regarded Belgian restaurant. The fourth guy runs Bierkraft, a place specializing in beer from around the world. None of these guys are going to just blindly pick American beers when asked to do a tasting of Belgian style beers because their tastes are patently American. And of course beer tastes are personal - I wasn’t suggesting that you blindly drink what’s recommended. And it is something for an American beer to show so nicely in a highly regarded tasting. Disregard it if you must, but I think it’s disingenuous to say that just because they’re Americans they have American tastes and therefore their findings are somehow skewed. The French insisted that their wines were the best and that their tastes were the most refined, but the rest of the world took notice when the American wines won the blind tasting in the [Judgement of Paris](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_of_Paris_%28wine%29). Reviews do mean something. ---
**Author:** ![put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/put_down_the_sabre)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517/40 "2010-04-27T21:34:50Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > See, I knew you were hypersensitive. You DID think they were prats, and you were correct. I’m not following you. Do you have any evidence for this? pdts [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/havent-been-in-the-u-s-in-three-years/537517.md?page=3)