# Ingedients in American beers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** beer\ **Created:** [January 30, 2013, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingedients-in-american-beers/648854 "2013-01-30T23:58:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![arielorchid3\_gmail.com](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@arielorchid3\_gmail.com](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arielorchid3_gmail.com)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingedients-in-american-beers/648854/1 "2013-01-30T23:58:55Z")
I’m trying to find out what is the ingredient that makes me sick in the American beers. I can drink imported beers, but what ever it is has caused me to have a medical condition. If I could find out then maybe I can eliminate this in my diet completly. I"m thinking its a preservative or… sonething ---
**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:** [January 31, 2013, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingedients-in-american-beers/648854/2 "2013-01-31T00:01:43Z")
You need to be a\*\* lot\*\* more specific about which American beers you are talking about. That said, if it’s an Anheuser-Busch product, it’s probably rice. AFAIK, no American brew uses preservatives other than hops. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingedients-in-american-beers/648854/3 "2013-01-31T00:07:06Z")
In addition to listing a few beers that do make you sick and a few beers that don’t, what kind of sickness are we talking about. There’s a big difference between breaking out in hives and getting a bad case of heartburn. For example, I get really bad heartburn from craft beers. I assume that’s the higher hops content. I don’t drink IPAs but even the regular, non-IPA craft beers tend to have more hops then Coors light type beers. I’d spend some time testing it out, but I really, really don’t like heartburn and it just takes a few sips and it comes on fast and furious. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingedients-in-american-beers/648854/4 "2013-01-31T02:03:38Z")
All the swillmeisters on the Board are over in Cafe Society. Let’s go there instead of General Questions. MOved. **samclem** , moderator ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingedients-in-american-beers/648854/5 "2013-01-31T02:53:59Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > You need to be a\*\* lot\*\* more specific about which American beers you are talking about. Agreed…“American beer” is about as specific as, well, “imported beer”. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingedients-in-american-beers/648854/6 "2013-01-31T03:29:33Z")
99% of beers have hops as their preservative, no matter their country of origin. If you’re talking American macrobrewed light lagers (Coors, Miller, Budweiser, etc.), corn and/or rice can be used in addition to the usual barley. You won’t find those in most proper imports. Note, however, that many “imports” from large companies are actually brewed in the US instead. Also, most American microbrews do not contain corn or rice. I agree that we’ll need to know what beers, specifically, do and do not cause whatever symptoms you may be having. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingedients-in-american-beers/648854/7 "2013-01-31T03:42:51Z")
Miller uses something that screws with me. Except their Milwaukee’s Best tasted like ass, but the problem ingredient must be too expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingedients-in-american-beers/648854/8 "2013-01-31T04:04:31Z")
It’s the cat pee. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingedients-in-american-beers/648854/9 "2013-01-31T06:17:38Z")
Perhaps corn? Miller brewed products usually have a lot of corn in the mash (well, it’s specifically corn syrup these days, as far as I know.) Miller-branded products themselves (like MGD or Miller Lite) also use isomerized hops extract that keeps it from skunking. But Bud, Coors, PBR, etc., don’t use iso-hops, so if those beers make you sick, it’s not that. How do you react to Corona? (Which has corn and/or rice)? Or Japanese lagers like Kirin or Sapporo, which have rice adjuncts? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingedients-in-american-beers/648854/10 "2013-01-31T06:25:10Z")
> [@arielorchid3\_gmail.com](#): > > I’m trying to find out what is the ingredient that makes me sick in the American beers. I think it’s something it picks up on the way through the horse’s kidneys. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingedients-in-american-beers/648854/11 "2013-01-31T06:31:55Z")
You’re not drinking Sierra Nevada’s lineup. There’s your problem. ---
**Author:** ![Enlightening\_Meditation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecc23a/32.png) [@Enlightening\_Meditation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enlightening_Meditation)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingedients-in-american-beers/648854/12 "2013-01-31T06:35:21Z")
Which American brewer? The two largest American owned breweries are Yuengling and Sam Adams. I think Pabst (and its subsidiary brands) is third. Those three are trailed by numerous microbrews. Anheiser-Busch, Miller, and Coors are all foreign owned but mostly brewed in the US. Which imports are friendly to your health condition? ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingedients-in-american-beers/648854/13 "2013-01-31T14:57:13Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > …no American brew uses preservatives other than hops. Do hops really function as a preservative? Seems I recall hops were originally added to beer because brewers \*thought \*it acted as a preservative, and it was later determined to be untrue. > [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > …many “imports” from large companies are actually brewed in the US. A beer brewed and sold in the U.S. can’t have “Imported” printed on the label. This is why Guinness won’t brew in the U.S. for the U.S. market. If it did so, they would not be allowed to print “Imported” on their bottles. Apparently the “Imported” status is worth something… ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingedients-in-american-beers/648854/14 "2013-01-31T15:42:34Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Do hops really function as a preservative? Yes. Hops are mildly antibacterial, and this helps prevent contamination to a degree. Brewers thought it was a preservative because hopped beers were observed to last longer than non-hopped beers. It’s also not just the preservative function but also the flavor. There are some American brewers experimenting with natural yeasts (whatever is in the air) and using other ingredients rather than hops (dandelion is apparently ok fresh but doesn’t travel well). The results vary, but the bittering you get with hops really is pretty good. > [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > A beer brewed and sold in the U.S. can’t have “Imported” printed on the label. Not strictly true but probably true in practice. The [TTB](http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=d473aa9e89b3f7135e18c8da635f26aa&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title27/27cfr7_main_02.tpl) rules on beer labeling require that imports list the country of origin. But that’s about it. The real reason may be that deceptive labeling can’t be used to obfuscate the origin of the beer. So, using “imported” on a bottle produced domestically may be close enough to trip that rule. ---
**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:** [January 31, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingedients-in-american-beers/648854/15 "2013-01-31T15:47:13Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Do hops really function as a preservative? Seems I recall hops were originally added to beer because brewers \*thought \*it acted as a preservative, and it was later determined to be untrue. I don’t have access to my references from work, but yes, hops **do** function as a preservative. At least as far as I remember from all my readings. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingedients-in-american-beers/648854/16 "2013-01-31T16:14:27Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > This is why Guinness won’t brew in the U.S. for the U.S. market. And so they brew it in Canada instead, heh. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingedients-in-american-beers/648854/17 "2013-01-31T16:19:14Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > And so they brew it in Canada instead, heh. Wait - Canada is outside the U.S. now? Since when? ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingedients-in-american-beers/648854/18 "2013-01-31T16:35:42Z")
I know someone who seriously claims to get sick if she drinks any beer other than Heineken. Her disease is Hipsterism. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingedients-in-american-beers/648854/19 "2013-01-31T16:48:27Z")
Sort of a hijack - but ages ago in college, one of the guys in the dorm was rich (and I mean, really rich family) and said his money came from great-grandpa (a chemist?) who invented a way to put something in American beer that put a “head” on the beer when poured. Apparently the beer here looked, and tasted, really flat when poured until grandpa’s concoction was added. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingedients-in-american-beers/648854/20 "2013-01-31T16:57:28Z")
Needs more tick. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ingedients-in-american-beers/648854.md?page=2)