For the record I really don't like Cracked, but every so often a friend links an interesting article from it:
http://www.cracked.com/article_19293_the-5-most-ridiculous-drinking-myths-you-probably-believe.html
I guess American beers are just as potent as the rest of them, not that I trust Cracked all too much.
Maybe this is something I just wish were true, because that is my normal beer of choice. And frankly, I have a hard time picturing the Europeans stronger than us in anything (j/k).
"As in a kaleidoscope, the constellation of forces operating in the system as a whole is ever changing." - Ludwig Lachmann
"When A Man Dies A World Goes Out of Existence" - GLS Shackle
I remember a mises daily article not about beer, but about american soda vs foreign soda.
You can already predict that its going to favor the foreign sodas.
I rather personally would drink foreign soda rather than american soda.
Infact its not so much as american vs foreign, its the fact that most american sodas use HFCS, and foreign sodas use sugar
“Since people are concerned that ‘X’ will not be provided, ‘X’ will naturally be provided by those who are concerned by its absence.""The sweetest of minds can harbor the harshest of men.”
http://voluntaryistreader.wordpress.org
I always assumed that "stronger" referred to taste. I drink stouts almost exclusively, whether Irish or American or whatever, so I consider bud and miller to be weak as hell, but I don't consider the taste of American stouts to be necessarily weaker than Irish stouts. Bu then again, I guess everyone was just referring to the alcohol percentage.
The "American beer is weak" also is supported by the fact that Bud/Coors/Miller Light DO taste like weak corn water compared to some of the mainstream European imports. However, American beer has a huge and building tradition outside of the macrobrews. Basically every type of beer known to man is brewed here, and most of our stouts are way bigger than the European offerings. Drink craft beer. It's good for you.
Oh no I just meant alchohol content.
Yeah Stout would be the opposite in flavor. I drink many different types and styes of beers, though beer isn't really my thing. But I tend to prefer North American and Asian beers as a standard. I think the virtue of Coors, Bud, Carling, Corona, etc is they aren't heavy. Really good for summers, eating, and all day events. I think they are great beers in their own right.
I like Stouts, but I have to be in the mood for one. I doubt I could drink more than two, and I doubt I woud really ever want one in the summertime.
I do get a bit fiesty though when I meet a beer snob going on about the evilscorporate beer, or going on about the "glories of Europe", or random esoteric companies for their own sake. Food and politics don't mix - and yet I have to deal with it all the time, especially in a city like Chicago. Luckily I don't live on the Pacific Coast that would probably give me an aneurysm.
@LogisticEarth
I drink American stouts all the time. I'm not picky as to where it comes from, I just like my stouts to be good. I'm not entirely up on craft beer. Is it basically just a small business brewery? Are there craft stouts? And if so, do you recommend any?
@vive
Haha, I just love stouts, I drink them in the summer np. I do drink other types, but only if I can't find a good stout! And I also love flavor in my beer, so it pains me when people chill beer. I know it's what you do with most American beers (and from what I understand, there are actually plenty of European beers that are meant to be chilled too), but I love room temperature beer and especially stouts (if you couldn't tell yet :p).
I usually just ignore beer snobs. I like hearing good recommendations for beer (I'm looking forward to hearing what LogisticEarth says about craft beer and whatnot), but there were some people in college I would just nod and smile at as they told me about the best beer they had (and of course it always changed from week to week).
There are a lot of craft beers in California. Even Bakersfield has Lengthwise. San Diego has more than a few I don't care to remember, Stone probably being the biggest. I don't perosnally go for any of them. It's all hops. But they are certainly a higher quality than a Bud or MGD. Then let's not forget Schlitz...
"Craft" beer, at least in the US, is beer from smaller breweries, typically having brewhouses somewhere between 10-50 barrels, although you can go much larger than that. They tend to brew a variety of styles and use much higher quality ingredients than the Bud/Miller/Coors macro lagers. The macro brews are brewed mostly to be bland, "drinkable", and watery so they appeal to a lot of people. Craft is mostly the opposite of that, they go for specific styles with a wide variety of flavors and whatnot. Are there "craft stouts"? Yes, there's craft everything! :)
Generally in the US, stouts and porters are similar styles, with the stouts tending to be higher in alchohol, body, and flavor. You can get russian imperial stouts that are heavily hopped and have 11-12+% ABV, or dry Irish-style stouts/porters that are in the 3-4% range and are basically in a similar style to Guiness. As for recommendations...
That's a pretty good start. Again, those are just stouts/porters. A few other favorites of other styles are Bell's Two Hearted Ale (Pale Ale/IPA); Victory's Prima Pils (Pilsner); Most stuff by Troeg's; Old Chub (Scottish Ale), Mama's Little Yella Pils (pilsner), and Dale's Pale Ale from Oskar Blues; I could keep going... haha.
Oh, and regarding serving temperature, I think it depends on the beer style. Stouts, porters, and other darker beers I usually like served somewhere around 55-60 degrees. Not ice gold but just below room temp, it warms up in your hand and the flavors change as you drink it. For IPAs and the like, usually another 5-10 degrees cooler. For Pilsners, get them pretty damn cold, 45 degrees or so, fridge temperature. For macro lagers, ice the crap out of them so you can't taste anything! :-P
Weird fact: Guinness is only 4.2% abv.
Also only has 125 calories/12 ounces.
American light beer sucks.
That is all.
OK I just had an oatmeal stout today for dinner. So summertime stout has happened