Resolveed: THe US makes the Best Beer....and the Worst Beer

[Yookeroo]

@jjimm

I’d say that, unless you’re a professional beer taster, there are simply too many beers available in the world ever to be able to taste them all and make a judgement about which country’s beers are ‘best’ - a judgement that is largely subjective anyway.

I agree. But pulykamell makes a good point here:

@pulykamell

With some reservations, I would generally agree with the OP. If you’re a beer lover, there really is no better place to be than in the US right now–at least in a large urban area or elsewhere with a large beer selection. There simply is just so much going on right now, so much experimentation, so much fun, and so many choices. Now, there are plenty of beer styles of which I think non-American beers are the best. Belgians excel at their craft; I love the lagers, weissbiers, alts, kolschs, etc., of Germany. The UK rocks at bitters, ales, and session beers. But for the sheer breadth and depth of what is available and what is going on, I honestly do think the US offers the widest selection of domestically brewed beers and styles. And, yes, I’ve drunk around the Benelux region, Germany, the UK, Czech Republic, etc., and lived in Europe for over five years, and am not particularly known for any sort of American exceptionalist attitudes. As a beer lover, I honestly do think this is the best place to be. I mean, the brewpub (Goose Island) I was at for lunch today had twenty five of their own beers on tap, encompassing styles ranging from American wheat ales to English bitters to Belgian sours, to a German alt beer, to a barrel-aged maibock, etc. And this is just one brewery in one city in the US. And they, in my opinion, created successful and faithful versions of these styles.

You can probably find great US beers in any style. And probably a great variety. I wouldn’t necessarily say that any of these are better than their Euro counterparts (I’m partial to the trappist ales myself), but the the sheer breadth & depth is hard to beat.

[pulykamell]

@BMalion

Here in Cleveland the Great Lakes Brewery is turning out excellent brews.

2 of my favorites are their Christmas Ale and Nosferatu.

Great Lakes brewery is AWESOME. The West Coast and Colorado beers are probably the best known, but the Midwest has all of my favorite breweries: Bell’s, Three Floyd’s, Founders, Goose Island, and Great Lakes.

[silenus]

Sierra Nevada/Bud Light

Yep.

[Chimera]

Only the USA makes “beer” that could be used to kill Elder Gods.

USA! USA! USA!

Honestly. You’ll thank us when the stars align and the Old Ones come forth.

[Swords_to_Plowshares]

I think Belgium has the overall best quality beers, but the US has far more variety in its craft beer options. Love 'em both.

[blondebear]

I can only say that both the best and the worst beers I’ve ever had were made in the USA. The beers I’ve tasted from other countries fall somewhere in between.

[pulykamell]

The worst beers I’ve had were absolutely American beers. Busch Lite. Milwaukee’s Best. Natty’s. Europe has some piss-poor pale lagers, too, but the bottom-of-the-barrel American versions are just in a completely different ballpark. It takes effort to make beer that bad.

As for the best, it’s hard to say, as it’s really style dependent. The best lagers I’ve had were in the Czech Republic and Germany. Even great brews like Prima Pils fall short of what I’ve had in those countries. The best German-style wheat beers I’ve had were, unsurprisingly, German. Same with bocks and double bocks. The Belgians rule over their various styles, but Ommegang and Allagash can give 'em a run for their money. I’ve found it difficult to find good British-style bitters, milds, and other low alcohol (under 4% abv) session beers in the US (though there are some, particularly Goose Island, but only at the pub, and they’re only sporadically available.) Sour beers (like Belgian lambics or Flemish red ales or Berliner weisses) are similarly few and far between in the US (although there are breweries trying out those styles), and tend to fall short of their inspiration.

That said, there are plenty of styles in which the US dominates, especially when it comes to the “bigger” beers featuring a lot of hops (like IPAs or Imperial IPAs) or a lot of malt (like Imperial stouts) and a high abv. This is perhaps not surprising, with American’s reputation for “bigger is better” and perhaps the stereotype of a blunter palate that is not appreciative of subtlety, but that’s not quite accurate, either. There are a ton of breweries producing what are, in my opinion, underrated, well-balanced, subtle, middle-of-the-road styles of beer that don’t get the press the hop bombs and thick, high alcohol imperial stouts get.

[coremelt]

@Gangster_Octopus

But I honestly believe that the American Craft Beet industry has surpassed…in general terms…the European beers, especialy in terms of the breadth and depth of choices.

Unless you’ve or travelled in the EU for at least one year I don’t believe you are in any position to make that claim. The vast majority of “craft beers” in the EU never make it over to the US.

And yes I’ve lived in the US for more than a year and lived in the EU for more than a year at different stages of my life.

[Becky2844]

@jz78817

a thread’s worth of snobbery in one post. Bravo!

golf clap

[NDP]

@Dr.Strangelove

I have nothing to say except that Old Rasputin is delicious. I also like their Old #38 Stout; I have the better part of a case of it in my fridge and am trying to make it last since I don’t go to Fort Bragg much. I guess I could probably get it locally–I haven’t really looked very hard.

Ever have Old Rasputin on-tap? I recently had the pleasant surprise of finding out a billiard/sports bar not far from where I live had this (and I live a long way from Fort Bragg, CA).

[MsWhatsit]

FTR, I don’t think it’s snobbery to specialize in knowing a lot about a particular food or beverage, and try lots of different types of it in lots of different places.

I am not really knowledgeable about beers and therefore can’t contribute much to this thread but am finding it interesting anyway.

[madsircool]

@coremelt

Why would we agree on that when the European “craft beer” tradition is hundreds of years old while in the US it at most 30 or 40 years old? Whiskey brewers take hundreds of years to perfect a craft and Beer brewing seems to have just as much room for nuances. For the range and variety, I’d assert that across the entire EU there is as much or more varieties to choose from as in the US.

Look I’m willing to agree I’ve had some great craft beers in the US, but the OP’s assertion that they make the “best” is pretty strong.

Coremelt…one craft brewer immigrating to another country can make a world class beer anywhere.

[NDP]

Interesting and relevant video link.

[Dr.Strangelove]

@NDP

Ever have Old Rasputin on-tap? I recently had the pleasant surprise of finding out a billiard/sports bar not far from where I live had this (and I live a long way from Fort Bragg, CA).

Yep, the last time I was in Fort Bragg I had it on tap at their bar. I live in the CA Bay Area, so I visit the area from time to time. But now that I think about it, there’s at least one local place that has it on tap. Somehow I didn’t make the connection until just now that it was the same beer.

[coremelt]

@madsircool

Coremelt…one craft brewer immigrating to another country can make a world class beer anywhere.

By that logic China or India with a billion people should have the best craft beers?

OTT claims like the OP’s are rank, it’s just yet another outlet of the tired american exceptionalism meme. Cool, you used to have awful beers and now you have a range of decent beers. I’m happy for you, really I am but lets be real here.

Personally I’ve never tasted anything that matches Chimay and that’s just one of a range of exceptional trappist beers.

[amanset]

Lots of countries make brilliant beer. Really, really brilliant beer.

The US is one of those countries.

[coremelt]

@amanset

Lots of countries make brilliant beer.
The US is one of those countries.

This I can agree with. I really liked the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale last time I was in the US.

[Smid]

@pulykamell

Agreed on the “British food” count, too. I lived in the UK in the mid-90s and was floored by the food culture there. I ate as well in the UK as I have anywhere else in the world, and am constantly surprised at how local pubs would offer inventive and interesting food options that I would more expect to find in more fine dining type of establishments. The whole “gastropub” type culture has certainly been finding a foothold in the US the last decade, but, in my opinion, it’s still well behind the British dining scene.

Really? You must have some sort of different diet from me, I live in the uk, and have lived in Belgium, Germany, Ireland and have visited the US. Only Britain has tiny microwaved steaks and the food is often so bland with miniscule portions overpriced…

However, for certain ethnic foods such as Indian, it is world class. But general level food, it aint great.

Bizarrely it doesn’t do Mexican very much at all (and makes it bland the few places it does), and just the other day I had an excellent and hot Thai food in Brussels (a country famous for not having much spice in its food), much more so than any Thai food I’ve had here for years.

But general level british food? Overpriced and underwhelming. Even with the currency conversion so good for visitors now…

[Roland_Brooks]

That stuff is all the same.If you try something new and like it,would you stick with it.It’s over priced,and there are to many to count.Whatever happened to blatz,or special export,old style,and pabst.Those were the beers you can stick with.Ofcourse my alltime favorite is leinenkugel bock in the spring.High priced,high end specialty anything won’t cut it with the old stand by’s

[Eonwe]

I love beer. I spend time with people who really love beer. I’m hosting a friend at my house right now who was in town to give a lecture on beer history. I think there are very few people in this world with experience and objectivity enough to claim that ‘America makes better beers than Europe,’ or the opposite.

The biggest problem is accessibility. Even if you drink a lot of varieties, being in America will mean that you have years and years of access to countless ‘local’ beers, while being aware of only a small fraction of what Europe has to offer.

The OP said:

Some are strictly local, some have a national footprint. Some beers are made year round, others are special occasion brews you need to be on the look out for. But the variety is undeniable.

. . . and I don’t doubt for a minute that the same is true of the European beer world, but unless you live there, you wouldn’t know it.

It’s like eating at a few dozen Chinese restaurants (some of which are quite good and authentic) in America and then claiming that China doesn’t have the variety of foods that we have here. Unless you’re living in it and experiencing the non-exported culture for long extended periods, you don’t know what you’re talking about.