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?
Im not sure about other countries but something to take note of is that American ‘light’ beers are light flavour, not ABV%.
In Australia a ‘light’ beer is usually around 3.5% ABV, but intended to taste like normal beer (i say intended because usually they taste more watery).So i personally think a bit of the hate on American beers if that they seem to be fans of the ‘light’ flavours more, (ie prevalence of Bud light, Miller Lite, etc.) and they generally taste a lot like soda water to the non-american beer drinker that is used to a lot more body and/or bitterness.
taste a lot like soda water to the non-american beer drinker that is used to a lot more body and/or bitterness.
This right here, you’ve nailed it exactly!
Otherwise described as “tastes like piss”, they usually taste like a watered down version of a proper beer.
It’s like being used to freshly squeezed orange juice, then someone comes along and adds half a cup of water and a bit of sugar because it’s “too acidic” or something.
Tried different IPA from Belgium and Netherlands as sugested by coworkers and frienda and I fucking hate it. It taste like diluted beer. If you get the chance try Icnusa non filtered, IMO best beer ever. Also I dunno if it’s sold outside Italy, have not seen it in other countries
ichnusa tastes exactly like every other mass produced lager that you can buy a euro a pint
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Not a European, but a well traveled person who has drunk beers in Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Botswana, Senegal, UK, Poland, China, and the UK, as well as drunk beers from Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic etc, I stopped drinking beer when I drunk American beer. Sure, there are some good microbrews, but holy moly, there are some questionable things that pass for beer in America.
Long time American beer drinker here. The craft breweries here brew some strange stuff these days. There are sooo many breweries now it’s hard to stand out brewing something as simple as a porter. Now it has to be chocolate pecan graham cracker infused porter.
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.
I think it’s of-a-kind
Domestic/mass-produced European beers are much better than domestic/mass-produced American beers.
And European craft beers are better than American craft beers.America has a lot of bad domestic and bad craft beers, but there are enough craft beers that some have gotta be good even if just by luck.
Personally I don’t think it’s a big deal: yes American beers taste like water or fruit water, but I like water, it’s refreshing. Water that gives me a buzz if I drink enough is a win in my book.
I think a lot of American breweries confuse “interesting” beer with “good” beer, because in the US, as long as it doesn’t taste like Coors, you’re fine.
It’s the chicken bacon ranch pizza problem. It’s good. I like it. But I don’t want it every time I have pizza. I definitely can’t eat a whole chicken bacon ranch pizza, even if I spread the leftovers over the week. But a slice every now and then is great.
“Good” American beer is generally pretty fatiguing to drink. Good European beer isn’t. That’s how it is for me at least.
I thought you meant chicken bacon ranch pizza flavoured beer, which I also wouldn’t be surprised about if it existed in the US
Same. Also. Now I’m hungry.
But that’s kinda what I’m talking about: by sheer luck some of those interesting beers have gotta be good.
People hate Coors because it tastes like water, but idk why someone would hate that; water is good.
Sure it’s a bad beer in the sense that it isn’t very beer-ey, but it’s a fine drink because it doesn’t taste like anything. I don’t see how someone can like Perrier water, but not like Coors, they’re practically the same.
Beer is good only in Belgium.
- An Italian
You Italians have a beer up by Lago di Como called “Spluga” or something like that. It was damned good especially with the wood fired pizza I had there.
Belgian beer is good but it is so heavy I can only drink one before I feel off.
Heavy in taste or heavy in abv? We have both light in taste and light in alcohol beers, sometimes even both at the same time :)
Heavy in taste/texture. It feels like a rock in my stomach. They still taste good!
They are heavy in both really. In Amsterdam I had my first quadruppel though and now my threshold for heavy in taste is much higher.
Might I suggest Carrobiolo, in Monza? They make some pretty awesome stuff.
Are you south-tirolian or why do you have a German nickname?
That is called a nickname, it has nothing to do with my real name. I am originally from Rome.
Just curious, how did you come up with that nickname?
I was studying biology, and I would sell my soul for a passing mark on my exam.
Belgian beer is sooo good, but your local (southern) german beer is always better
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.
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.
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.
Stella Artois
Alright, let me finish my beer and then we throw hands. Belgian beer is meh.
come at me bro
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.
Some are okay-ish. But there is nothing compared to european beer. German especially.
Germans make great lagers. But that’s it. There’s a lot more beer styles out there and the American microbreweries excel at a lot of them.
The best beers in the usa (said microbreweries) are mediocre at best compared to the low standard European ones. Sorry to say this, but there are very, very few acceptable beers in usa. Mexicans and Canadian are better.
No hate, but they all lack a flavourful taste.
German, belgium and czech beers are great, Irish stouts are wonderful, and so on. You can grab a random (best: local) beer and it will be a good one.
You have to really look out for an acceptable one in usa. If you are lucky, a microbrewery in your area will produce a good one, but you have to have a good portion of luck here. Most of those good ones are brewed by an „imported“ german brewer who got a formal education on this. You can actually study this in the city nearby me and some students think of opening a brewery in the usa. So naturally i got in touch with some of them. One factor is the hops you can get in the us. The quality and taste is very different to the one we produce. You almost cannot reproduce the conditions you have here in the holledau. Even if you get very good hops the malting and the grain is different (mexicans use corn, which actually tastes very good). Barley doesn’t equal barley, so you have the differences here.
Long story short: the ingrediens are different due to locally available products, the methods are slightly different, so you have a different product. Unfortunately the circumstances in the us are what they are, so you need very experienced personell to produce a good beer.
No hate, but they all lack a flavourful taste.
Wat?
We’re gonna need some names here, so we can evaluate this take.
There’s over 400 distinct breweries in Washington State alone, you can’t possibly have enough personal experience to justify sweeping claims of trenda and quality. And we export most of the hops that we grow to countries like Germany, Belgium, and the UK so they’re using the same stuff. I don’t even like beer and it’s obvious you’re talking out of your ass to support preconceived anti-American notions.
I would question your friend on what they are drinking and where.
The easiest to find Australian beer in the US is Fosters. But go to Australia and few people there actually drink it because it’s not good and there are so many better options.
I once traveled to the UK and had a Newcastle Brown straight from the tap and it was delicious. Went back home to the US and picked up some bottles, it was old and tasted like barely a shadow of the fresh UK stuff.
If I judged Australia or UK beers on what I can find easily in the US, I would also think their beers are ass.
So if he is trying only what he can get in his country, 1) it’s probably old and 2) it’s rarely the “best” a country has to offer.
It’s funny as I was reading the comments and I was actually thinking about fosters specifically and how ass nasty it is
I have had a good Newcastle and boddington’s and Sammy smith on tap in the states at a Irish bar so frigging delicious although Sammy smith is good in general but probably some of them are too sweet to be considered beer.
