I usually assume when Europeans complain about American beers, they just are complaining about our “domestic” beers like Bud Light, Coors, PBR, etc. which makes sense, they are our bottom shelf beers.
I recently chatted with someone at a party who said “no, all American beers are bad” including microbrewery beers.
I’ve never been to Europe so I wouldn’t know, but I do like my Left Handed Milk Stout, NWPAs, and hell even the hipstered out IPAs.
Are these what y’all are referencing?
Never had it
European mainstream beer isn’t anything to brag about.
That people in the Netherlands actually buy Heineken’s makes me thing that they must like skunky beer there.
One thing to note is that there are a lot of bad American beers in small and mid-sized cities. Basically what happened is that in the 2010s it became trendy to go to a brewery with a food truck and just hang out. As a result a ton of “breweries” opened that were more or less selling the experience, with a handful of low effort trendy selections to serve as a hook.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t good beers though. America is the land of people who do their own thing, often regardless of social norms and established conventions. There’s a lot of great beers across a broad range of categories, it just takes a bit of digging.
As a sidenote a lot of these D tier breweries are closing and/or rebranding. Changing consumer sentiment means merely being a craft brewery is no longer a hook, while rising real estate costs make the entire endeavor more expensive. The breweries in shitty locations tend to close. The ones in good locations tend to massively reduce their own output, while offering a variety of local alcohol and expanded food options.
I recently chatted with someone at a party who said “no, all American beers are bad” including microbrewery beers.
That person has not tried “all” American beers. So their view can be safely disregarded IMO.
Beer-drinking European living in 'Murica here. For certain styles, the US has fantastic beers available. In particular IPAs (which don’t always have to be mega hoppy!), pale ales, pilsners, amber ales, and stouts. Plenty of great choices to be found here, if you discover the right breweries. That’s key, because there are a lot breweries with imo questionable taste.
What’s harder to find are good beers of other styles, such as Belgian or German beers. US breweries try, sometimes, but they aren’t succeeding.
The Belgian and German styles are largely ignored by the national breweries, but a lot of more local or regional microbreweries are crushing it when it comes to them.
I’m particularly fond of Belgian beers and my partner is fond of German beers. They’re of course not as good in America as the real thing, but there are definitely some solid options. In fact that’s what I will say is nice about American beers: you can find something decent of any style of beer you can imagine, and some truly excellent ones in a handful of styles as you mentioned already.
That’s kinda the difference - local specialties mostly can’t be beaten on their own turf. Also, in America you’ve got to actually seek out the good stuff and go local, the InBev stuff is meticulously targeted at swine with no taste.
I’ll say that you’re generally right that American breweries don’t do Belgian beers perfectly always, but there are a handful that are great. The thing about craft brewing is you have to go around and try new things. There’s so many options, and most are mediocre at best. However, with there being so many options, a small few nail certain things, whatever that may be.
This is the correct answer. Pacific Northwest microbrew is awesome for many styles. But not German/Belgian style beers - you guys haven’t figured them out yet. The big nationally distributed beers like coors and bud are basically horse urine.
yes.
I’m an american who lives in france, and i brew my own beer. American beer tastes like shit, even the microbrewed stuff. Everyone wants to make an IPA, and they all taste over hopped. It’s either that swill or the staples of the American frat party: bud light, miller light, coors, etc.
Best beers are hands down made in Belgium, and i will throw hands.
Stella Artois
IPAs suck, it’s true.
the thing is, pale ales don’t have to suck. with the right hops and the right amount at the right time, it can be almost pleasant. Not my favorite, but i could understand the appeal.
However, you want a good beer, check out a lambic.
Or gueuze. They tend to be a bit hard to find in the US. Sour Flanders red ales are another good style, and also difficult to find.
IIRC, a proper lambic is made with spontaneous fermentation, which makes each batch slightly different.
Meh, I prefer Pilsener. Either the Czech stuff or from Northern Germany. Sometimes a nice wheat bear is good too. The only beer one can drink in Bavaria, the rest tastes like shit.
I do like a Grimbergen Blonde every now and then though.
Alright, let me finish my beer and then we throw hands. Belgian beer is meh.
come at me bro
I mean when I was in new York they drank bud light with Tabasco on the can rim to make it taste something. So I guess it’s not only us
As a New Yorker, I apologize for how they hurt you. I promise the NY beer experience is rich and inviting.
American here:
There’s a LOT of bad American beer, but to say ALL is just plain dumb. The micro brewery boom made a lot of small breweries pop up and about 90% had no idea what they were doing so yea a lot of them are kinda garbage.
I personally know micro brewers in NY who studied their ass off to make some incredible beers that I would put right up there with Westies and Cantillon.
One of the best beers I’ve ever had is from a Gypsy brewer in NY called Cantina Cantina. The guy used to work in my local distributor, then went to work for our favorite local brewer Barrier, then took his expertise to Greenport Brewery and turned around their whole operation, then started brewing his own absolute masterpieces.
My point is the best of the best is probably going to be buried deep under a pile of garbage beers cause they’re usually obsessed with making art and don’t focus on getting their name out there.
My American friends made me drink Keystone Ice and this was one of the most disgusting things I did ever drink. The rest was also not great. A few American beers were passable but I had better ones in most European countries.
We have many options for people who just want to drink a bunch of cheap beer. Bud Light, Miller Light, Coors Light, Natural Light, Milwaukee’s Best Light, the list goes on. Most agree the stuff you can buy in a 24 pack at Walmart isn’t good quality beer.
But places like Dogfish Head, Ardent, Foothills, Bell’s, Cigar City, Oskar Blues, Three Notched, Flying Dog, Elysian, Anchor, Lagunitas and many others produce some great beers.
I’ve had plenty of really good craft beer but anything mass produced is fine at best and gutter water at worst.
Exactly. Imagine if we judged European beer based on nothing but Heineken.
Short answer: yes
Long answer: yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees
European here. Germans just think their beer is the best in the world and if you’re not doing it like them, you’re not doing it right.
Don’t get me wrong, the standards Germans apply to their beer production means that it’s rare to get a terrible beer there, but IMO it’s also not that innovative and the range of styles is fairly limited. There is a ton of choice in the US both in terms of breweries and styles. The variation means you get more duds but also more excellent beers.
American craft beers get pretty crazy and experimental! You also have styles like black IPA, hazy IPA, cream ale, pumpkin ale, steam beer, and bourbon barrel beer that are all very American
Oh come on. We do have the best beer. And a lot of breweries.
Or so they say about the former.
I wouldn’t know. I don’t even like beer 😁. So I really don’t care what is true regarding this.
Yeah no doubt German beer tends to be similar in taste. What is refreshing though is to be able to taste a remarkably distinct beer that still follows the rules. And there are a few breweries that are able to do that
I’m from the Netherlands, and we say the same for Heineken and also for the Belgian variant Jupiler. The truth is, at a party or festival it’s mostly these or Bud that are available, and people drink a lot of it. At home I’ll mostly drink Krombacher, or some other German brand since I live close to the border.
I’ve been to the US once, and stayed in the Boston area. I drank a lot of Sam Adams lager there, which was decent enough for me. I’d assume every region will have it’s own decent brand of lager, just as it is here in Europe.
Generic American beer sucks. Craft American beer is fucking awesome.
I experienced the same in Australia when I visited so assume it’s probably the same most places.
Not as bad as American “chocolate” .
