I’ll defer to native Swedes if they show up in this thread, but my impression here is that Pripps and Spendrups occupy the low mass-market rung 'round these parts. I haven’t looked too closely but I don’t recall having seen Bud for sale either at the liquor stores or the grocery stores here. Will keep an eye out.
Don’t know what it’s like in the rest of Europe, but Sweden’s got a funky arrangement for beer selling. It’s available both in the state-run liquor stores (Systembolaget) and in grocery stores, but the groceries are only allowed to sell Utah-strength beer (3.2%). It’s weird, and a little saddening, to see bottles of 3.2% Guinness on the shelf when I’m grocery shopping.
Yes, Pripps Blå would probably be the best equivalent of Budweiser in Sweden, if I understand the attitude against Budweiser in the US correctly. Not sure why though, it’s not that bad a beer.
Oh, and nitpick, the beer at grocery stores are up to 3,5%.
I doubt Pripps puts adjuncts in its beer like Anheuser-Busch does. I think the similarities lie more in the fact that Pripps is mass-market and cheaper than most other beers in Sweden (give me Oppigård or Nils Oskar any day!) than in the two beers’ respective ingredients and quality.
In Ireland (both sides of the border) I’m pretty sure Harp must hold that distinction. Rather more tasteless than Heinekin or Stella Artois, despite being “brewed with pride” at the “Great Northern Brewery” :dubious:
Here in Korea, a popular-but-bland local “premium” beer is Cass. Not great, but in quantity, surprisingly okay. Budweiser and Heineken are pricey imports and lose some flavor this far from their point of manufacture. The kids love their Soju, though (a rice wine that tastes like watered-down vodka).
I’d say in the UK it’s not really UK brands that share the reputation. I inwardly groan when I go into a pub and see Skol, Lowenbrau, Budweiser, Carlsberg, Kronenbourg or Fosters on tap.
(And I inwardly cheer when I see Staropramen, Budvar, Nastro Azzuro, Becks [not that ghastly Vier stuff], or Pilsner Urquell - I’m surprised to see that disdained in its home of origin, it being an award-winning lager.)
Dutch here. No, Heineken is a premium brand. Instead, most supermarkets got a home brand, a brandless brand. Those are the cheapest. For instance, Aldi beer.
Otherwise, there are just too many brands, because there are so many local brands. It can’t really be compard to the US.
Well, to me, Staropramen tastes really great. It’s fairly light and smooth but still enough beer to be satisfying. I don’t know if it’s one of those cases where its price point hurts its reputation, i.e. it would be more appreciated if it was more expensive. Or perhaps it’s the ale boars who thinks it’s beer for girly men.
When I think of really cheap beer, I too think of those strangely cheap, run-of-the-mill mass-market beers that Maastricht mentions. Also Löwenbräu.
In Scotland it’s Tennents, although we get our fair share of imported swill too.
The general configuration of lager taps in a standard pub will be to have one or more “cooking” lagers (Tennents, Carlsberg, Carling, Fosters), and at least one “premium” lager (usually Stella or Kronenbourg, sometimes something like Staropramen, Budvar or Krusovice in the better pubs).
When I lived in Norway, Ringnes seemed to be the main offender.
The three mass market beers in Sweden (i.e. those that represent the mainstay of a pub’s sales, i.e. what you get when you order “a beer”) are Pripps Blå, Spendrups Export and the Danes’ Carlsberg Export (depending on who is the primary supplier of that particular proprietor).
The draft versions of these are considered equally bad (though in my opinion Pripps Blå is undrinkable and tastes of soap), but their status as Budweiser equivalents is also due to their equally hyperbolic advertising campaigns and slogans.
The Swedes, like the Americans, produce some darn good beers from microbreweries though.
I don’t think this is what is meant. Your absolutely right that supermarkets sell boatloads of cheap, bad beer, but you would not be able to get them at a cafe or bar.
I personally do feel heineken is often seen as the standard - don’t want to think about it - beer. And people who will bring a sixpack of Brand, hertog Jan, gulpener or even Grolsch will be complimented for that ( at least in my group of friends:))
Heineken is definiately not the worst beer you can get, but given the choice many people will prefer something else, and if somebody would specifically order a Heineken over other possibilities I would assume it was a tourist and would find it hard to stop myself from having alittle eye-roll.
On another note add gambrinus to all your Czech bear lists please
In '95, we spent 2 weeks in Ireland. As beer lovers, we enjoyed the Guinness, and that’s where we discovered Smithwicks (which is finally available here in the States).
We also noted that, at nearly every tavern, there was a Bud tap. Needless to say, we never had it.
At the end of the trip, we were dropping off our rental car, and the shuttle-bus driver was taking us from the car rental facility to Shannon Airport. He asked us, “so, did you have any Budweiser while you were here?” “Umm, no.” “Oh, you should have. We like to call it, ‘getting kicked in the head by a Clydesdale!’”
No idea if that was meant to be a compliment to Irish Bud or not.
Doesn’t InBev own most of the breweries of any size in Europe? And the Americas?
Yep. They own most of them: …including budweiser.
Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (AB InBev) is a Belgium-based company engaged in the business of brewer and consumer products. It manages a portfolio of nearly 300 brands. The Company had operations in over 30 countries across the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific, and sales in over 130 countries. The Company has global brands, which includes Budweiser, Stella Artois and Beck’s; multi-country brands, which includes Leffe, Hoegaarden, and Staropramen, and local brands, which includes Alexander Keith’s, Alexander Keith’s Stag’s Head Stout , Andes, Andes Red Lager, Antarctica, Apatinsko Pivo, Astika, Bagbier, and Baltica, Bass. The Company works in six operation zone, which includes North America, Latin America North, Latin America South, Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and Asia Pacific.
I’ve noticed a lot of Polish beers appearing lately (due I’d imagine in no small part to the numbers of Polish immigrants to the UK in recent years - which is no bad thing in my opinion. As long as immigrants bring beer I have no problem with them moving here, but I digress)
Most off-licences now sell Tyskie and Lech (which I’m quite fond of), and for a while my local had Okocim on draft, which gave me a hangover of truly epic proportions.
I’ve no idea how these beers are viewed in Poland, but in the case of Okocim at least it’s once bitten twice shy as far as I’m concerned.
