Why do big breweries mainly create lagers?
 

It can't be for the flavor. ;)


Seems that lagers take longer and require more resources to produce than ales.

So why are all the main breweries concentrating on these?

They create them for the masses. American light lager is what people drink. BMC is what beer is to the majority of Americans. I'm not knocking it. I love an ice cold fizzy yellow beer almost as much as I love a craft brew or my own home brew. The big breweries cut costs by brewing with rice and a scant amount of hops. I'll bet the turnover time for a batch of Bud is one week from grain to bottle. I doubt time is a concern to the big breweries.

Many of the big breweries started in the north so maybe the cooler temps were a natural way of forcing lagers to begin with. Also, you work with the yeast you have, again maybe naturally more lager yeast originally available.

And most of the big breweries were started by Germans who were traditionally inclined to brew lagers anyway.

In other words, lots of underlying factors led to big lager brewing early on.

my 2c/theory: Lagers have (usually) lighter, less noticeable flavor. Easier to market to a mass audience.

Lagers are more stable too; they ship farther better.

I thought I saw somewhere the brew cycle is ~30 days.

The German aspect is most likely the original reason. And now after so many years of light lagers, our taste buds have become accustomed to those flavors. There were only a handful of breweries that made it through prohibition. Our big 3 being the majority. Since they pretty much dominated the beer market, their styles prevailed and have now created the mass taste.

If people are under the assumption they brew these beers because its simple for them, that's untrue. In fact the lighter the beer the easier it is to taste off flavors. I will agree the use of rice and other ingredients for cost reduction isn't the best of ideas. But even if you dont agree with the taste, you must have respect for a brewery who is able to push that quantity out every day with the consistency and quality that they do, it's a phenomenal feat.

Can't agree more. Personally, I think it tastes like $h!+, but I know I can't and may never brew anything with as much skill and control as they do. To get a consistent, clear, clean product out the way they do is no small task.

There are a lot of things that I am not a fan of, but I can appreciate what they take to create. I try to keep that in mind for some perspective.

last year i brought some Anchor Steam Christmas Ale to a Christmas party my fiance and I go to every year. They had a beer contest; whoever brought the best "Christmas" beer won a prize (it was a Jagermeister package w/ shot glass - I love Jager lol).

Anyway; nobody liked the Anchor Steam, they all preferred a Bud Light (yea I know its not even a Christmas beer lol). There was a bit of a heated argument and eventually I said f*** Bud Light! Whoa they were pissed.

I'm not a fan of the "light" or "low calorie" beers; I usually have something always negative to say about them. Maybe its just me; but I like the flavor of beers and yea I've gained some weight b/c I don't care about calorie counts and whatnot lol What's the point of drinking a "light" or "low calorie" beer.. IMO mine as well drink a girly drink. :D

We have similar tastes (or more likely just similar distastes), but you still have to admit that what they do is impressive. You don't have to like it to appreciate it.