I’m envisioning the following situation. I am at someone’s home, and they ask me whether I’ve ever had, say, a Grolsch beer. I answer no. (Which is in fact true.) So they get me one out of their fridge. I can see that they will be interested to know whether I like it or not. I try some. Since Grolsch comes in a green or transparent bottle (depending on the type) the beer tastes bad.
The totally polite thing to do is, of course, simply to smile and claim to like it.
But I am wondering whether it is possible to somehow say something to them about the fact that something (is it the alcohol?) in beers degrades rapidly with exposure to light, such that beers from green and transparent bottles are generally not good beers once they reach the consumer. Is there any way I could bring this up with this person in this situation without speaking improperly and without seeming condescending? I.e., could I give them this information on this occasion while we clearly remain on totally friendly and non-awkward terms?
This is not a situation which has actually happened to me. I simply began today to wonder what I would do in such a situation.
I’ve had beers from green bottles that taste perfectly fine. Pilsener Urquell, for one. While green bottle are more easily light-struck, green bottles do not mean for certain that the beer will taste bad or even be skunked.
Thanks for the link. I didn’t mean to imply that beer from a clear or green bottle will inevitably be bad. But I am usually afraid it will be. Your link reminds me that I need not fear quite so much.
[singing]Ten green bottles, hanging on the wall,
Ten green bottles, hanging on the wall,
And if one green bottle should accidentally fall
There’ll be nine green bottles hanging on the wall!
Nine green bottles, hanging on the wall…[/singing]
Don’t say it tastes bad. Say there’s a flavor that all light-bottled beers "seem to have’ that you don’t really like. This keeps it a matter of personal preference–which is fine to express–and not a condecending know-it-all lecture.
Following up on this, is it just possible that you don’t like the types of beers that are generally served in green bottles? I know I don’t, but for me it’s not a factor of them tasting skunky or “off” to me. They just have that generic Euro lager flavor that I don’t like. I’ve always been more partial to ales.
That said, there’s decent beers that come in clear bottles, too. Look at Samuel Smith and Wychwood. I do agree that it’s preferable to get bottle beer in brown bottles, and green and clear-bottled beers certainly are more susceptible to skunk (excepting Miller, which doesn’t skunk because it uses some kind of hop extract that isn’t sensitive to light.)
I don’t think so. To my knowledge, the Heineken and the Grolsch I can get at my local grocery store is of the same type (“pale lager”) as a Sam Adams “Boston Lager,” a Henry Weinhard’s (is that how it’s spelled?), and a Harp Lager. I know I like the latter three. I also know I like Heineken on tap at the pasta place down the street from my home.
Huh. Well, I like Boston Lager, but I don’t like Heineken or Beck’s. They taste very different, tap or no tap. Harp also tastes different than the continental lagers. I mean, these beers that you’re tasting from green bottles, are the actively skunky? You know, like Corona skunky? Because I can’t really say I’ve had this problem with green-bottled beers (the few times I do end up drinking them.) Some people even seem to prefer beers in green bottles. While researching for that link I supplied upthread, I found a thread entitled something akin to “Is it true that good beers come in green bottles”?
I wouldn’t tell your friends their green bottled beer is inferior or bad unless it truly is skunked. And that you don’t need to convince anyone about. A skunked beer is a skunked beer (or a Corona.)
Maybe I’m more of a beer snob than I give myself credit for, but if someone hands me a beer and asks me what I think of it, I’ll tell them. I certainly wouldn’t be rude or anything, but unless they have some emotional investment in the beer (they made it; their brother works at the brewery) I don’t see any reason to keep my opinion to myself if asked for it.
Even if it’s skunked I never could understand why everybody just sat there watching those bottles fall one after the other. What a waste of beer! Now the “take one down and pass it around” line may disrupt the rhyme scheme but after the first few nobody’s going to care anyway.
Don’t forget that most of the time, beer is transported in opaque cardboard cartons or six packs where only the label covered neck is exposed. They don’t often sit out naked to the world for extended periods.
By all means, tell them you don’t particularly like the beer. There’s no reason to lie about liking something, the only thing you’ll get out of that is a six-pack of the stuff when they come over to watch the game.
However, when you start up with green bottle = skunked, you’re now opening up the discussion from being about personal taste to being about your friend being stupid. He’s so dumb he keeps buying skunked beer and doesn’t know it. That’s not a direction I’d wish to tread.
<the scene is set up on a tour bus filled with scientistsgoingto a convention>
<scientists> Infinity bottles of beer on the wall,Infinity bottles of beer, if one of those bottles should happen to fall, Infinity bottles of beer on the wall… (repeat 3X)
<Bus Driver> Will you all SHUT UP!, you have INFINITE beer on the wall, it will NEVER be fewer, geez!
Haven’t imbibed in the past 2.5 years, but put considerable thought and effort into brewed beverages for the previous 20.
IME (which was considerable) I rarely encountered skunked beer, whatever color the bottle. You might wish to read up on different kinds of beers, and intentionally compare different styles and brands side to side, to learn what you are actually tasting. IME far more beers are bland than are actually bad-tasting. Moreover, it is pretty meaningless to generalize between beers as different as Grolsch and Corona, or Heineken and Becks, based solely on their non-brown bottles. I also recommend checking the brewed date on the beer you purchase, and buying from high volume distributors.
I agree that when someone asks your opinion of a particular beer, you should give it. But you may not like the taste of a particular beer for reasons other than skunkiness. I also am of the opinion that free beer is rarely bad beer!
Remember that the problem with beer in green bottles only holds true for the first beer. After that, you don’t much care. Do you really wanna piss the guy who still owns the rest of the case?
Still, in the situation outlined, the guy wants to know what I think. I’m just wondering if there’s some way to not just give a “white lie.”
