Yeah, as I restocked my fridge last night with Saint Arnold Oktoberfest and Duvel pale ale, I found myself reflecting on how great it would be if Miller and Coors joined forces*. Hooray for American efficiency.
- Not really.
Well no kidding. I’ve ALWAYS wondered what that yellow and blue equals sign on peoples cars meant. You’ve no idea the gap that you’ve narrowed in my life this afternoon.
I doubt that. There’s a reason that companies like Anheuser-Busch and SA Miller are so huge and that microbrews, well, aren’t. People the world over who just want to get drunk will often sacrifice taste in exchange for a lower price. Even in parts of the world famed for “good beer” there are definitely lower-tier beers which typically outsell the better tasting, higher-tier ones.
Plus, it’s sort of like the difference between a McDonald’s and a 4-Star restaurant. If you don’t have a refined palette you’re probably wasting your money at a 4-Star restaurant. There’s a strong correlation between the type of people who would eat at McDonald’s and think it’s “decent” food, and the type of people who would drink Budweiser or Miller Lite and consider those “decent” beers. It’s not strictly a lower socioeconomic class thing, I’d say even most people within the middle class who can afford better beers do not have a very refined palette when it comes to beer consumption, because they started drinking when they were young and poor and have never advanced to better beers as their disposable income has increased.
Then we must edumacate them! It is our Duty.
Gentlemen (and Ladies)! To your alehouses! Every time somebody orders a MGD instead of a Fat Tire, the baby Jesus weeps. Every time a Coors Light is poured, it’s a victory for the terrorists.
We shall defend our microbrews, whatever the cost may be, we shall drink on the beaches, we shall imbibe on the landing grounds, we shall quaff in the fields and in the streets, we shall guzzle in the hills; we shall never surrender.
Not to mention that not everybody cares for beers that are 10% ABV, or blacker and thicker than used motor oil, or so hop-laden that they fry your taste buds for a week. The whole Bud-Miller-Coors realm of light, fizzy lagers are intentionally bland, inoffensive and easy to drink, and because of that, they outsell microbrews like Nickelback outsells G.G. Allin. I think a lot of Bud Light drinkers wouldn’t choose more extreme beers even if they were the same price.
ETA: And let’s not forget that macrobrews, in the ultimate scheme of things, are still beers and therefore not the real enemy. The real enemy is Smirnoff Ice and Zima and all those other sweet, fizzy malternatives that are crowding bars and liquor stores.
Can we also include drinks that are called “Martini” simply because they are served in a traditional martini glass, but do not include gin, dry vermouth, or olives in any way shape or form?
Yes. Especially those drinks with -tini added to some other ingredient name. Appletini. Chocolatini (urk). :mad:
I happily make exceptions for the vodka martini, because at least someone who asks for a vodka martini is tacitly conceding that a standard martini contains gin.
These people need to be weeded from the gene pool before they reproduce. But I’m right there with you on the Zima issue.
checks Anheuser-Busch sales figures versus New Belgium Brewing Co. sales figures
That’d leave us a with pretty small gene pool, Captain Trips. 
Ah, but you forgot to include the sales figures for Sierra Nevada, Stone and quite a few others. Sure, there will be a few webbed feet for a few generations, but weeding out the BudLight drinkers is the higher priority here.
Won’t somebody think of the children?
The irony here is that this survey puts Coors at a rating of 100%. The question then is what to beleive. It seems that on the one hand, the ownership of Coors donates money to conservative groups that are against gay rights whereas the company itself supplies gay rights.[/hijack]
Made all the more appropriate by Churchill’s reputation as a teetotaler of epic proportions.
But, really, this news does sort of bum me out. I’ve always found Coors the worst of the worst, while Miller’s never really bothered me (they do make the champagne of beers, people). Pete Coors, furthermore, is not really my kind of people. And as someone who often finds himself in some far-off city, destitute, but with drink tickets good only for crappy beer, news like this is damn near earth-shattering. There’s always Lone Star. And Hamm’s. Sweet, sweet Hamm’s.
My only real concern is what will happen to Leinenkugel Brewing, since they merged with Miller not that long ago.
I hate to break your heart friend, but Lone Star and Hamm’s are both Miller products these days. Lone Star is brewed at the Miller Brewing Company of Fort Worth Texas after it was aquired by Pabst, which was aquired by Stroh’s which was aquired by Miller, and the Hamm’s brand is outright owned by Miller and is listed under beers produced by them.
Uhh, yeah. I wouldn’t be too cocky there, Canuck. There was a Coors-Molson merger 3 years ago, lol.
Pssst…posts 18 and 19.
I’m guessing alot of that is going to be drivers and trucks. If they can brew (or at least can/bottle) both beers at both plants they can save a ton on transportation. If you need Coors East of the Mississippi, it’ll come from Milwaukee. Need Miller in California, get it from Colorado. Even if they don’t make it in those plants, they can brew it in one and ship it to the other to be put into bottles/can/kegs and probably cut shipping in half.
There are certainly days I prefer a Coors to a Fat Tire. I personally don’t think Fat Tire is a terribly good beer, but it tends to be a crowd pleaser. I just don’t like that biscuit-malty backbone all those New Belgium beers have. Sure, most days I’ll have the Fat Tire, but I wouldn’t look askance at someone who order BudMilCoors in preference to it.
I’m with you on this one. Fat Tire, which was once the stuff of legend in my social circle due to it’s only being available from Western Hippies in concert parking lots back around 10 years ago is really nothing to get all that excited about. Although it could be used as a decent weaning beer if you were trying to get someone off of macros and more into micros.
Yes, it’s definitely a good “starter” microbrew. So is Sierra Nevada, and so, honestly, is Sam Adams, even though they’re far from tiny. I think they make a terrific line of beers, and they’re great for introducing a newbie to the taste of hops. 