Weird how things work. I was just thinking of the subject of this thread, when I stumbled upon Jacknifed Juggernaut’s
thread about Budweiser.
Budweiser is the default beer of the US. Pretty much everyone here who’s ever had a beer has had a Bud.
The Bud of Canada would be Blue, I guess.
Australia - Fosters?
So what is the Bud of your country?
Castle and Lion Lagers
Not surprisingly, Heineken.
In the UK, I’d say Stella Artois.
In Aus, I reckon it’s Victoria Bitter (VB).
Nobody in Australia drinks Fosters. It is far to horrible. Good enough for export, but not for local consumption. The big sellers are Tooheys Old (in NSW) and Victoria Bitter (in Victoria).
For New Zealand probably add Lion Red. Not that anyone would admit to drinking it. Or Steinlager perhaps
Carbona
Yeah, NZ would be Steinlager, IIRC. I think it was the only brand in the Auckland Airport bar.
I guess Foster’s is like Molson Golden from Canada. Nobody in its country of origin drinks it.
Thought of another one. Italy - Peroni.
Carling’s the top selling lager in the UK, so my bet would be that.
When I lived in New Orleans, one of my favorite things about the city was that the “default” beer was a local beer. This may have been true of lots of places in the distant past but these days, as NutMagnet has pointed out, the default is Bud. If a bar has one beer on tap- it’s Bud. The beer you can safely assume a place has, without asking, is Bud.
But in New Orleans, wonderful cool quirky New Orleans, the default beer is Abita Amber (There are a few Abitas, Amber is the default). If a place has only one beer one tap- it’s Abita (You don’t have to specify Amber, you only need to specify if you want one of the other ones- my favorite is Abita Turbodog) If a place has two beers on tap then, yeah, the other one’s probably Bud- but Abita comes first!
(I moved away from New Orleans six years ago, I sure hope this hasn’t changed. When I moved away six years ago they didn’t have Starbucks either, unfortunately that has changed- Long Live PJ’s!!!)
I’ve lived in a few different major U.S. cities and I’ve travelled much of the U.S. but New Orleans is the only place I found Budweiser NOT to be the default. If anyone can point to another example I’d love to hear about it.
Yuengling has pretty much taken over every bar in Eastern Pennsylvania as the default beer, and is gaining market share quickly in other eastern markets.
As it should, as it is a tasty beverage.
Venezuela - Polar (very good, BTW, and the Venezuelans like their beer ice cold too)
Brazil - Antarctica
Guinness is the biggest seller in Ireland but a lot of people don’t drink stout. I’m not sure what the biggest selling lager would be. Heineken maybe.
In Buffalo, the default beer is Labatt Blue in white-collar bars, and Genesee Cream Ale in blue-collar gin mills. Head to a supermarket, and you’ll see far more Labatt and Genny products than Bud, Miller or Coors.
Have to disagree. Yes, Blue is available most everywhere and is a mass-produced fairly inoffensive beer that is best served cold, but I’d say that Molson Canadian would have to be the Bud of Canada.
Why? Canadian is available everywhere. I’ve been coast to coast in Canada, and the only bars I’ve found that don’t have Canadian on tap are those that consider themselves too upscale to serve common swill. (And even in one or two of those, it’s been the only non-micro or import available.) It’s available in every beer and liquor store I’ve been in, in both bottles and cans, in all package sizes. All in all, it’s a pretty safe bet that if you walk into a bar or liquor/beer store, they’ll have Molson Canadian.
The widespread availability is there; what about taste? Not much of one really. It has been brewed and is a lager beer, but it doesn’t hold a candle to European or North American micro lagers. It’s great on a hot day after you’ve been working outside and just want a cold beer or two, and don’t care much about taste. Blue, I find, has at least a little flavour.
As for popularity, when I’ve worked blue-collar jobs, most of the times I’ve gone for a beer with the gang after work, Canadian was been the beer of choice for most of the beer drinkers. (Not mine though.) And when I worked in a beer store, Canadian sold like crazy to everybody. If they didn’t know what they wanted when they came in, they usually walked out with a case of Canadian.
Labatt Blue? No, the Bud of Canada has got to be Molson Canadian.
Seconded.
When I was in Fiji for my honeymoon, the biggest label was Fiji Gold. And yeah, it pretty much sucked.
Re the “New Orleans default,” here in Seattle there’s a similar story, but it’s more from the sheer variety of microbrews available. If we have any default at all, it would be Redhook. Sure, every place with a tap has Bud, MGD, etc., but nobody I know drinks them :p, and every bar and tavern also has Redhook.
I third Molson for Canada. And they’re trying to merge with Coors. :eek: Ian Molson is against the merger. He resigned as deputy chairman a couple of months ago. He’d prefer a merger with Heineken.
Anyhoo…
Spain - Cruzcampo. It’s what I always got in response to “Una cerveza por favor.” (The other beer they had everywhere was Heineken. I can’t really explain that.)
Portugal - Definitely not Cruzcampo! And they give you a really dirty look when you order it before saying no. Sometimes it helps to notice you’re in a new country. Too bad I don’t remember what we did get instead.
Spoons/St_Ides
I defer to your better judgement (I assume you’re in The Great White North[sup]tm[/sup]). We do see more Blue than Canadian around here, but that would be an import/local thing.
I guess the way to test this anywhere would be to do as SmackFu did, just ask for “a beer” and see what you get.
Singapore - Tiger
Ireland - aside from Guinness how about Smithwicks?
AUstralia - Had quite a lot of Victoria Bitters there but not sure if it’s univeral.